Curating Chinese themes: cheap labour, migration and capital, Shanghai Biennale and Guangzhou Triennial

In September 2008 Dylan Rainforth went to both the 7th Shanghai Biennale (Translocalmotion) and the 3rd Guangzhou Triennial (Farewell to Post-Colonialism). While he found mixed messages in Shanghai which was curated by artistic director Zhang Qing assisted by Julian Heynen and Henk Slager, it was Guangzhou curated by Gao Shiming, Sarat Maharaj and Johnson Chang that hit the sweet spot with 'witty, people-powered ways forward.'

Published December 2008

Curating a psycho-geography Campbelltown Arts Centre and the genius of Lisa Havilah

Campbelltown Arts Centre's chief curator and director Lisa Havilah creates challenging and confronting exhibitions like For Matthew and Others (2006), News from Islands (2007) and Ai Weiwei: Under Construction (2008). She believes that: 'contemporary art centres that sit outside of the metropolitan centres provide the highest level of opportunity for the development and application of new forms of curatorial practice.'

Published December 2008

Curating paths, musical chairs

Outgoing Director of the Experimental Art Foundation Melentie Pandilovksi spills the beans on the current state of play internationally in terms of powerful independent curators moving into important positions in museums. He puts forward the prevalence of a 'new institutionalism' seeking to redefine contemporary art institutions from within. The EAF is about to release a Futures paper on this topic.

Published December 2008

Artrave

Published December 2008

To curate or not to curate, 2008 in Europe: urban BB5 and post-industrial Manifesta 7

London-based Macedonian artist and writer Nadja Prlja compares the urban and modern 5th Berlin Biennial BB5: When Things Cast No Shadow (5 April - 15 June 2008) with Manifesta 7 (19 July - 2 November 2008) which occupied the whole arae of Trentoni in Italy. Prlja pays particular attention to the differences in the ways the projects were curated.

Published December 2008

I've looked at love from both sides now: reflections on freelance / independent / guest curating

Juliette Peers, art historian and lecturer at RMIT, surveyed a number of freelance curators to find out how they work and why they embrace this insecure, interstitial existence. Hannah Mathews, Elizabeth Gertzakis, Vivonne Thwaites and Anne Kirker are among the freelance curators to whom she spoke.

Published December 2008

Curators, creators and catalysts

Marcus Westbury, former director of Noise, Next Wave, TINA (This Is Not Art) festivals, and writer and presenter of Not Quite Art on ABC TV, writes about the need for art to get away from reflecting too hard on gatekeepers and their requirements. He looks at the Biennale of Sydney at Cockatoo Island, the Next Wave's The Containers Village and the Melbourne Laneways projects as good examples of stepping outside the cube. He concludes that: 'Artists are best to invest their energy in finding their audiences and their communities.'

Published December 2008

Hello Tokyo! Process is all

Diorama of the City: Between Site & Space 13 September - 13 October 2008 Tokyo Wonder Site

Artists: Alex Gawronski, Gail Priest, Tim Silver, Hiraku Suzuki, exonemo, Paramodel

Published December 2008

Throwing voices

Senior Curator at Christchurch Art Gallery Justin Paton reflects on curating the exhibition that he remembers most fondly and that speaks to him of the magic of curating - the show of wall paintings called Big Talk by US word- artist Kay Rosen in 2004 at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Published December 2008

Editorial

Published December 2008

Shards: Judy Watson, Yhonnie Scarce, Nici Cumpston

Shards: Judy Watson, Yhonnie Scarce, Nici Cumpston
Curator: Mary Knights
South Australian School of Art Gallery (SASA)
30 September - 24 October 2008

Published December 2008

Emerging, educating and unruly: Vivonne Thwaites

Hahndorf Academy Curator Melinda Rankin reflects on the recent work of legendary freelance curator Vivonne Thwaites who introduced Rankin to the deep levels of research, the surprises, the risks and the sheer hard work of being a curator.

Published December 2008