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| Hans Ulrich Obrist |
I recently started reading 'A Brief History of Curating', a book by Hans Ulrich Obrist. This publication comprises of interviews by Obrist with iconic individual freelance curators and some of the pioneers of experimental programmes in established institutions as well as curators of biennales and fairs. Obrist remains a neutral interviewer and very little is divulged about the curator, critic and historian himself. Born in 1968 in Zurich, Switzerland, Obrist is currently the co-director of exhibitions and programmes and director of international projects at London's Serpentine Gallery. As all young curators should, Obrist exhibited works of contemporary art in an exhibition in his kitchen when he was 23 entitled 'The Kitchen Show'. Since then he has had a fruitful career with highlights including co-curator of the first Manifesta 1 (European biennale of contemporary art) and curator of contemporary art at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville in Paris. As well as these demanding curatorial positions, Obrist co-founded the Brutally Early Club, a discussion group that meets at 6:30am at Coffee Shops in major cities such as London, New York and Berlin and is also a major contributor to numerous art magazines including Artforum amongst others. Obrist's biography is vast but I am particularly interested in what he brings to curation that makes him stand out in such a competitive field. He prioritises flexibility and participation in his open-ended approach to curation. He stresses the importance of the interview, to interview artists, curators, directors, dealers etc. To interview, for example an artist, is to understand exactly what the work they are creating is about and how it stems from their own lives. It allows the curator to decipher what that individual wants from their exhibition, be it a thematic or retrospective show. He also emphasises the importance of globalisation and whether an exhibition intended for touring will be successful in 5 or 6 different cities. He stated in an interview he did for The White Review that it is important that an exhibition can reach the community on the right level and when an exhibition is successful then the model of it changes in order to adhere to the local audience. As a curator you can organise an exhibition but cannot always preempt its outcome and how it will be received in different countries.
'The important thing is that the show is defined not as a created, boxed exhibition which goes from A to B to C to D without changing, which would be an expression of that homogenising globalisation, but instead that wherever it goes it enters into a dialogue with the local community. In each case the show changes: there is each time a new artist who organises another artist-run exhibition. We’ve defined the rules of the game, but not the outcome.' Hans Ulrich Obrist
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