During the 1990s, especially on the so-called Western art scene, a „curatorial boom“ happened, but the lack of clearly defined methodologies, curatorial theory discourse as well as the unfinished and fragmented history of curatorial practices provoked critical introspection, and the need of re-questioning and re-definition of the same curatorial and exhibition practices, primarily so in the form of seminars, conferences and discussions.
There is something especially stimulating and fascinating about the art of the late 1960s and 1970s. Something incredibly vibrant was happening in the art world in many places at the same time; the radical rethinking of the art object led to wide ranging experiments in all media, to artistic practices, which, at times, literally moved out from the studio, in an attempt to be more responsive to the world. The political engagement and the critical position of art introduced radical changes in artistic expressions and behaviours, fostering innovations and challenges to traditional categories of art making, particularly in the exhibition and curatorial practices. The curator’s activity becomes separated from the museum collections and art institutions, more oriented to the close cooperation with artists, and with time the curator becomes one of the main protagonists in the production, presentation and distribution of artworks, and generally in the field of visual art.
One of such events was the “Curating Degree Zero. An international Curating Symposium”, organised by curators Dorothea Richter and Barnaby Drabble, in Nürnberg in 1998. Analogously with the Roland Barthes’ “writing degree zero”, the goal of the symposium was not the definition of curatorial practices, but the research and pointing out of the “experimental and critical curatorial practices“ in the contemporary art. This was at the same time the beginning of the project, itinerant archive and exhibition “Curating Degree Zero Archive”, composed of variety of materials: catalogues, magazines, books, articles, audiovisual records and different exhibiting ephemeris, and testifying the activities of a hundred international “curators, artist curators, curators of new media and curatorial collectives”
Thus, in the very focus of the archives are exhibition and curatorial strategies alternative to the standardised models, and following the lead from the 1970s, a special role is occupied by the “free-lance”, independent curator, operating outside institutions, whose activities are perceived as a form of cultural practice.
The exhibition, one of the primary curatorial activities, has primarily become a social, active space dealing with meanings, narratives, history and functions of cultural material, as well as with the political aspects and discourse dimensions of cultural production; a large portion of the material in the archive consists of catalogues and literature about exhibition models.
The itinerant archive ‘Curating Degree Zero…’, is primarily an open narrative and un-hierarchical structure, enriched on its every geographical stop by local contributions and displayed by new curators, offering an excellent insight into local networks, and enabling multiple critical and auto-reflexive considerations of the curatorial profession and activities, helped by the webpage of the project www.curatingdegreezero.org, and the newer web-project www.curating.org.
Taking into consideration the place of creation and the ’travelled road’ of the archive, it is obvious that it has been considered more through the “Western” perspective, while the Zagreb presentation is the first presentation of the archive in this part of Europe.
Curatorial practices in the Croatian context are closely connected to the issue of the terms „curator” and the neologism „to curate”, which hasn’t found yet a corresponding translation. It is also important to point out the already mentioned 1970s, when the profile of a curator was defined for the first time, still connected to the art institutions. Anyway, in the 1990s, in spite of the transitional society, the lack of artistic market, dysfunctional and nationally directed institutional model, the new curatorial collectives and the independent scene initiatives appeared; they re- considered new ways of cultural production, re-defined curatorial activities and introduced interdisciplinary cooperation and use of the new technologies and media.
As defined by Ana Dević“…The activities of the earlier generations, primarily related to the field of arts, have lately been intensified through the phenomenon of a self-organised and extra-institutional scene that is not strictly related to arts. Due to its progressive potential, however, it does focus on cooperation and social engagement, assimilating this heritage as the initial cultural capital, whilst redefining the issue of the production of critical discourse and critical positions.”
Therefore the ‘Curating Degree Zero Archive’ will be enriched in Zagreb by the materials of the following curatorial collectives and initiatives: WHW / Who, How and for Whom, Kontejner – bureau of contemporary art praxis, Galerija Miroslav Kraljević and BLOK organisation, which all testify with their activities the every mentioned aspect of interdisciplinary socially engaged artistic and curatorial practice.
The presentation of the international curatorial archive ‘Curating Degree Zero’ is also an additional impulse to the curatorial educational formations. In the last decade we can testify not only the greater visibility of independent curators, but also the proliferation of specialised curatorial studies. The education of curators has become a kind of pseudo-science, hence very often experimental exhibition and curatorial strategies are absorbed and used as paradigms and standardised models.
For the first time in Zagreb, the programme Curatorial Platform was initiated with the Student Centre. The participation of the young Platform curators in the activation of the archive is an important segment of the Zagreb presentation.
The Zagreb display, conceived by young graphic designers Dora Budor and Maja Čule, together with the two curators, primarily enables the Croatian audience to get to know the activities of numerous curatorial practices throughout the world, and offers an insight in the specialized literature, usually unavailable.
The Zagreb presentation supports and enhances the educational intention, but it also triggers some of the most important questions about curatorial activities through a flexible and transformative display, open to free reflexive deambulation.
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Curators of the presentation of CDZ at G-MK: Ana Janevski and Ivana Meštrov
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With the support of: Pro Helvetia, Embassy of Swiss Confederation in Zagreb, Croatia and Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Zagreb, Croatia.
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The program of Galerija Miroslav Kraljević is supported by:
City of Zagreb – City office for education, culture and sport, Ministry of Culture, Croatia, INA Ltd.
