Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else

*Winner of the ICA Book of the Year, 2015* Now that we 'curate' even lunch, what happens to the role of the connoisseur in contemporary culture? 'Curate' has become a buzzword, applied to everything from music festivals to artisanal cheese. Inside the art world, the curator reigns supreme, acting as the face of high-profile group shows in a way that can eclipse the contributions of individual artists. At the same time, curatorial-studies programs continue to grow, and businesses are adopting curation as a means of adding value to content. Everyone, it seems, is now a curator. But what is a curator, exactly? And what does the explosive popularity of curating say about our culture's relationship with taste, labour and the avant-garde? In this vibrant book, David Balzer travels through art history to explore the cult of curation, where it began, how it came to dominate museums and galleries, and how it emerged at the turn of the millennium as a dominant mode of thinking and being. Recalling such landmark works of cultural criticism as Tom Wolfe's The Painted Word and John Berger's Ways of Seeing, Balzer asks whether curationism has finally reached its own limits, where its widespread success has paradoxically led to its own demise.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Prologue: Who is HUO? Part I: Value Part II: Work Acknowledgements About the Author

About the Author :
David Balzer is a writer, lawyer, editor, and educator. He is the author of Contrivances (2012), Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else (2014), and This is Not New: Art, Culture, and the Promise of Change (2025). His critical writing has appeared in the Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Artforum, and Frieze. He lives in Canada.

Review :
'Balzer writes with zest, scepticism and sly humour as he tracks the rise of the 'star curator' as marking the end of any possible avant-garde. Curationism is a memorable exploration that will change how you see so many daily activities. I loved this brilliant book.' 'Point[s] out how far we have come from the original avatars of the term: the curatores' 'A book you should read. Balzer traces the history and current hegemony of curationism—a practice of jumped-up interior decorators who double as priests explaining the gospel to the unlettered masses. A good read, if you don't mind reading things that you don't want to know' 'An insightful, provocative and entertaining overview of many of the key issues in both art and cultural life today' 'Curationism is increasingly persuasive as it nears the present. The best sections concern the rise of conceptual art from the 1950s onwards, the rise of international high finance, and the merging of the two' 'A polemical account of what curators do and why not everyone is one' 'A fast but deep account of the rise of the curator through the art world into popular culture' 'Game-changing' Best Art Books of the Year 'The kind of book I crave ... a beautiful, useful, and timely book'