tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057826380522065501.post6548012423022855741..comments2023-12-28T23:27:33.142-05:00Comments on DLK COLLECTION: Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance @GuggenheimDLKCOLLECTIONhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875914464454488384noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057826380522065501.post-63458923679125266062010-08-04T18:27:10.458-04:002010-08-04T18:27:10.458-04:00...and contextualisation. In a way, Museum curator......and contextualisation. In a way, Museum curators rejoin artists in the sense that they can interpret social and stylistic trends, draw attention to or underscore them - help us to make sense of them, even as they're happening. And this is an important role but, again, I don't think it's the same as taste making.<br /><br />And now it really is time for bed here! Cheers, Lucyf:luxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13783572597289061149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057826380522065501.post-5545116631733186942010-08-04T18:00:27.499-04:002010-08-04T18:00:27.499-04:00Maybe it's because I'm an English photogra...Maybe it's because I'm an English photographer that I'm bothered by the idea that museum curators might be taste makers?<br /><br />All the photographers you cite are American and were championed by John Szarkowski at a particular time in the history of American photography. I can't think of an English equivalent to Szarkowski, and more generally the British art establishment have taken little more than a mild interest in photography until fairly recently - the Tate Modern in London, for example, only really began putting together shows of the sort DLK describes in this post in the early 2000s (like 'Cruel and Tender' in 2003).<br /><br />But what about Szarkowski? Was he really a taste maker, in the sense of actively and consciously shaping trends, or was he an incredibly perceptive and intelligent bloke who, on arriving at MoMA, looked around at what photographers were doing at the time and ensured that the exhibitions he curated reflected the best of the work was being produced?<br /><br />Taste makers are publishers, collectors, gallerists, art critics and, most importantly, photographers themselves. Museum curators should, in my opinion, be responding to these, sifting through the trends (which are varied and overlapping and rich) and presenting us with intelligent, incisive overviews. To anyone not aware of what's happening in photography, this might seem like trendsetting, but actually it is, or ought to be, insightful interpretation.f:luxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13783572597289061149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057826380522065501.post-71464458761352993352010-08-04T15:25:43.147-04:002010-08-04T15:25:43.147-04:00I could not disagree more. Without museums as tas...I could not disagree more. Without museums as tastemakers, we wouldn't have Frank, Friedlander, Wall, Winogrand, Arbus etc.J. Wesley Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13978967238356104467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3057826380522065501.post-23840853451201689562010-08-02T18:51:19.978-04:002010-08-02T18:51:19.978-04:00I find the idea of museums as 'taste makers...I find the idea of museums as 'taste makers' very troubling. I really don't think it's the place of museum curators to be kingmakers.<br /><br />I think museums should be intelligently responding to and reflecting existing trends, with an awareness of their relevance to the past. This is not the same thing as trend setting.f:luxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13783572597289061149noreply@blogger.com