sept 9

Today in class, we were split into groups and given two questions, 1. What does a curator do? and 2. What can be curated? We were given a few minutes to brainstorm and write out answers down on the white boards. Then we went around the room and told the class our ideas, these are the notes I took as everyone shared:

What can you Curate?

• playlists/music

• garden

• food/ menu/ pantry

• situations/ memories/ photo albums

• closet/ wardrobe

• literature/ library

• social media/ visual culture

• dance

• architecture

• gallery/art

• personal collections

Reading: David Balzer, Curationism, excerpt

This reading talked about curating content or “content farming”. This is something I have heard about before but not in this context. This reminds me of different social media apps like Instagram and TikTok because they use algorithms to produce a customized feed to ensure you keep scrolling. I was aware of this, I just never considered this a way of curating.

 “There is no better example of the darkest, most tautological aspects of accelerated curationism: Rather than the simulated democracy (or, at least, simulated beneficence) of curated works being presented as attractive to a potential audience because they have been chosen exclusively and carefully for their value, the value in these content-farmed works lies not in preciousness but in popularity.” - David Balzer

What is a curator/ what does a curator do?

• tells stories

• outreach

• reaserch

• intention

• design

• finds value and meaning

• teaching

• finds connections/motifs

• asks questions

• collaboration

• presents and promotes

Some notes I took during class