Ten international art related professionals consider the increased influence of independent curators and cultural producers and how the role of the curator has changed over the last ten years. Using examples from past exhibitions and personal experiences, the writers address how working within an institution differs from being independent, the difficulties of balancing artistic vision with expectations of funders and institutions, and the ethical issues of working with artists and collectors, among many other subjects. A resource text for students and others interested in the curatorial field, Cautionary Tales: Critical Curating will provide valuable and interesting reading for students considering a curatorial career and others interested in current trends in today's art world.

Cautionary Tales: Critical Curating

Jean-Hubert Martin

Sara Arrhenius

David Carrier

Boris Groys

Kate Fowle

Dave Hickey

Geeta Kapur

Young Chul Lee

David Levi Strauss

Arts & Photography

apexart

"On Cultural Influence" offers a unique perspective of international viewpoints on the changing cultural landscape. This collection presents over thirty papers delivered at three apexart international conferences--Wroclaw, Poland (1999), Rio de Janiero, Brazil (2001) and Honolulu, Hawaii (2004). The continuing conference series is intended to promote an open dialogue among notable cultural practicioners, including curators, writers, historians, arts managers, artists, sociologists, and others, about various cultural concerns and how they change from each gathering to the next and differ among the participants. The wide range of perspectives and wealth of examples and references to artistic activity around the world will provide an unusual resource for teachers and students of art, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies as well as readers interested in diverse views of culture in a changing society.

On Cultural Influence

Steven Rand and others

The perceived rules of the development and running of alternative spaces, and where those rules came from, are among the questions answered by the authors of Playing by the Rules: Alternative Thinking/Alternative Spaces. The underlying message in the publication is the importance of critical thinking as well as the need for alternative thinking. In the book s preface, Steven Rand (artist and the Founder and Executive Director of apexart) addresses the role of the alternative space and the need for alternative thinking to challenge some of the art world s practices and the ways apexart has tried to address them over the last 16 years. A few of the essays provide some history of alternative spaces. Robert Atkins (art historian, critic, and curator based in California) uses as an example the salons of the 1920s, specifically Mabel Dodge s, to show how a true alternative functioned. René Block (gallerist and former director of the Kunsthalle Fridericianum in Kassel, Germany) gives a brief history of how alternatives began and an introduction to the Berlin space TANAS. Using case studies of art venues in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia over the last 20-30 years, Biljana Ciric (independent curator based in Shanghai) explores the potentials of alternatives. Other essays use other alternatives as example. Irene Tsatsos (writer and curator and former Executive Director of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) uses examples of permaculture housing as alternative living arrangement and Matta-Clark s restaurant Food as alternative venue in the 1970s to demonstrate the importance of critical thinking and unrestrained creative expression. Marina Grzinic (philosopher, artist and theoretician based in Ljubljana) presents the construction of normality to help define alternative. Naeem Mohaiemen (writer, artist, and technologist working in Dhaka and New York) uses as main example the Paris exhibition of works from Bangladesh to show how an alternative approach to standard procedure is necessary. Other essays reaffirm the importance of thinking critically. Sofija Grandakovska (academic, theorist, and poet in Skopje) uses the dissident, as an example to explore the importance of critical thinking and searches for the alternative space for the dissident. Julie Ault (artist, writer, and editor based in New York) reviews her previous writing on alternative spaces and shares the importance of reflexivity in continually asking what we are doing and why. Winslow Burleson (Assistant Professor of Human Computer Interaction at Arizona State University; received his PhD from the MIT Media Lab) shares his work in the field of Human Computer Interaction to present a series of motivational tools for young people working in the arts today. Some texts reveal ways to achieve a new alternative space. Renaud Ego (poet based in Paris) shows the alternative aspects in the field of writing and mentions technology, specifically the Internet, as a place for free expression. Boris Groys (philosopher, essayist, art critic, media theorist, and professor at New York University) also explores the power of the Internet as he argues that the de-professionalization of art is a highly professional operation and further that weak images have the most power. The future of alternative spaces may lie in a non-venue. Pablo Helguera (artist and Director of Adult and Academic Programs at the Education Department of MoMA, NY) suggests we ought to (re)consider our audience and that perhaps the public program and a traveling venue is a more appropriate approach to reaching current audiences. Raphael Rubinstein (New York-based poet and art critic and past editor at Art in America) reviews some of the changes that have evolved since alternative spaces began in the 1970s. More information: apexart.org/publications/playingbytherules.htm

Playing by the Rules: Alternative Thinking/ Alternative Spaces

Robert Atkins

Marina Grzinic

Raphael Rubinstein

Julie Ault

Steven Rand

Rene Block

Winslow Burleson

Biljana Ciric

Renaud Ego

Sofija Grandakovska

Pablo Helguera

Naeem Mohaiemen

Irene Tsatsos

With globalization theory on our minds for more than twenty years and mobility becoming more commonplace, and even expected in contemporary art, it is no wonder our identities are bound up with our own sense of involvement in mobility. We move so easily, and relatively freely, around the world that it has become normal to move to new countries for a job, to live somewhere temporarily, and to adapt readily, all while being required to understand cultural customs before we even get there. With all these expectations and exposure, how do we reconcile our own cultural identity? Life Between Borders: The Nomadic Life of Curators and Artists aims to consider the formation of identity in what has become the norm of a nomadic, migrating lifestyle.

Life Between Borders: The Nomadic Life of Curators and Artists

Melissa Chiu

Jimmie Durham

Heather Felty

Gitanjali Dang

Mahita El Bacha Urieta

Mekbib Gemeda

Pascal Gielen

Lamia Joriege

Sebastien Sanz de Santamaria

Niels Van Tomme

Yannis Ziogas

Not Going It Alone: Collective Curatorial Curating

Paul O'Neill

Gerrie van Noord

Maria Berrios

Pip Day

Sofia Olascoaga

Nikolett Eröss

Eszter Lázár

Index and Praksis Teen Avisory Boards

Elizabeth Larison

Nina Möntmann

Agnieszka Pindera

Serubiri Moses

Gregory Scholette

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung

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