
The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design
Fleur Watson(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 31. May 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
302 pages
978-1-138-49273-8 (ISBN)
Description
The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design examines the challenges inherent in exhibiting design ideas. Traditionally, exhibitions of architecture and design have predominantly focused on displaying finished outcomes or communicating a work through representation.
In this ground-breaking new book, Fleur Watson unveils the emergence of the 'new curator'. Instead of exhibiting finished works or artefacts, the rise of 'performative curation' provides a space where experimental methods for encountering design ideas are being tested. Here, the role of the curator is not that of 'custodian' or 'expert' but with the intent to create a shared space of encounter with audiences.
To illustrate this phenomenon, the book explores a diverse, international range of exhibitions. Divided into six themes, a series of project profiles are contextualized through conversations with influential curators and cultural producers such as Paola Antonelli, Kayoko Ota, Mimi Zeiger, Catherine Ince, Aric Chen, Zoe Ryan, Beatrice Leanza, Prem Krishnamurthy, Marina Otero Verzier, Brook Andrew, Carroll Go-Sam, Rory Hyde, Eva Franch i Gilabert, Patti Anahory and Paula Nascimento.
Featuring over 100 color illustrations, this highly designed, beautiful book offers an innovative contribution to the field. An essential read for students and professionals in architecture, design, art, visual culture, museum studies, curatorial studies and cultural theory. The book also features a foreword by Deyan Sudjic and an afterword by Leon van Schaik AO.
In this ground-breaking new book, Fleur Watson unveils the emergence of the 'new curator'. Instead of exhibiting finished works or artefacts, the rise of 'performative curation' provides a space where experimental methods for encountering design ideas are being tested. Here, the role of the curator is not that of 'custodian' or 'expert' but with the intent to create a shared space of encounter with audiences.
To illustrate this phenomenon, the book explores a diverse, international range of exhibitions. Divided into six themes, a series of project profiles are contextualized through conversations with influential curators and cultural producers such as Paola Antonelli, Kayoko Ota, Mimi Zeiger, Catherine Ince, Aric Chen, Zoe Ryan, Beatrice Leanza, Prem Krishnamurthy, Marina Otero Verzier, Brook Andrew, Carroll Go-Sam, Rory Hyde, Eva Franch i Gilabert, Patti Anahory and Paula Nascimento.
Featuring over 100 color illustrations, this highly designed, beautiful book offers an innovative contribution to the field. An essential read for students and professionals in architecture, design, art, visual culture, museum studies, curatorial studies and cultural theory. The book also features a foreword by Deyan Sudjic and an afterword by Leon van Schaik AO.
Reviews / Votes
"At a time of unprecedented interest in design and architecture, experimenting with new approaches to curation is more important than ever. In this timely and incisive book, Fleur Watson deftly maps the terrain while enabling design and architecture curators from all over the world to describe their practices in their own words."Alice Rawsthorn, author of Design as an Attitude
"If the traditional curator squirrels away and the acknowledged curator beavers away, well, Fleur Watson is a veritable sniffer dog who knows just when, where and how to pounce. The book is cosmopolitan and fearless in amassing both evidence and anecdote to suggest that curating is a creative as well as a coercive activity. In particular her sensitivity to place, context and appropriate action is fascinating."
Sir Peter Cook, Architect, CRAB Studio, co-founder of Archigram
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Postgraduate, Professional, Professional Practice & Development, and Undergraduate
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
6 s/w Abbildungen, 114 farbige Abbildungen, 5 s/w Photographien bzw. Rasterbilder, 114 Farbfotos bzw. farbige Rasterbilder, 1 s/w Zeichnung
1 Line drawings, black and white; 114 Halftones, color; 5 Halftones, black and white; 114 Illustrations, color; 6 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 173 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
780 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-138-49273-8 (9781138492738)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Fleur Watson
The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design
Book
05/2021
1st Edition
Routledge
€215.74
Shipment within 10-20 days

Fleur Watson
The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design
E-Book
05/2021
1st Edition
Routledge
€47.49
Available for download
Person
Fleur Watson is Executive Director and Chief Curator for the Centre for Architecture Victoria | Open House Melbourne. From 2012-20, Fleur was Curator at Design Hub Gallery, an exhibition space dedicated to cross-disciplinary design exchange and practice-led research at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She has held senior curatorial positions in Australia and internationally including as the founding executive curator of the Lyon Housemuseum Galleries; architecture curator for the National Gallery of Victoria's survey exhibition Melbourne Now (2013-14) and program curator (architecture) for the European Capital of Culture (Maribor, Slovenia, 2012). She was a co-founder of the independent gallery Pin-up Architecture & Design Project Space and former editor-in-chief of Monument magazine.
Content
Foreword: Deyan Sudjic Introduction: Fleur Watson 1. Design as Exhibit: (Curator as Space-maker) 2. The Prosthetic: (Curator as Interloper) 3. The Mediator of Process / Research: (Curator as Translator) 4. The Hybrid to the Digital: (Curator as Speculator) 5. The Advocate/Activist: (Curator as Agent) 6. The Event as Performance: (Curator as Dramaturge) Conclusion: The New Curator: Towards a Specialised Practice Afterword: Professor Leon van Schaik AO Selected Bibliography Credits and Acknowledgements Index