Curating

           During the most recent lecture in the Art Now lecture series Candice Hopkins discussed the challenges and rewards of co-curating an aboriginal exhibition in the Royal Ontario Museum. As a curator the first step in preparing to group and organize an exhibition is understanding the space. The new addition to the Royal Ontario Museum as Candice points out “you either love it… or hate it” On the outside you are confronted with architecture that appears very dreamlike and whimsical as Candice elaborates “the building  joins the old with the new almost bypassing the past and being confronted with the future. The space affected the display of the exhibition, there are no ninety degree walls and you enter into the gallery with a distorted sense of volume. You can find yourself beginning to focus more on the power of the architecture than the art. This is often a problem in many modern gallery spaces as architects have taken the liberty of creating spaces that are so visually stimulating that they often distract from the display of the art work.  To combat this Candice found she was very interested in the careful selection of each piece of art work, and the relationship between the past and the present. This constant juxtaposition is a theme that seemed to define the exhibition as it began to unfold.

         Candice is quick to point out that “The act of curating and the act of an exhibition is to create a frame for the work to be viewed, create a lens without altering the artwork while being as transparent as possible.” As selection began of the artworks that would become the focal point of the exhibition great care and attention was taken in looking at the authenticity of the work in respect to native culture and representation. Artist were chosen and work selected such as Paul King, Candice states” He was the first artist to travel and document a changing culture, documenting a vanishing race.” Also Nanok of the North a documentary of the native’s in the north. This film was particularly relevant in theme of balancing the past with the present as it depicts the first encounter of a record player with the native culture. Ironically as Candice points out towards the end of filming the native people became more familiar with repairing and operating of the record player than their European counterparts. This film was also important because prior to this many films depicted the life of native people through re-enactments and did not truly portray a culture.

                Candice closes in saying “the end goal of the space was to evaluate the institutions interaction with the First Nation people, and their ability to access the art” Many good things came as a result of this contemporary display of First Nation's art and artifacts, a new residency program was implemented as well a dialog  started between the gallery and the First Nation's people that had not existed prior. Despite all the struggles and rewards Candice points out that being a good curator is “being a good diplomat of the arts” Her experiences describe a great example of the many challenges faced when attempting to represent a culture through art and artifacts. Removing ones expectations and bias is key in presenting a transparent view of a culture and their traditions. Finally, on a personal note I felt the talk could have been split into two lectures, as the amount of information seemed somewhat overwhelming at times.