“Cultures of the Curatorial,” Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, January 22–24, 2010. The press release is available on the Academy’s website, →.
While I agree in principle with the description of “the Curatorial” as it has been articulated by Irit Rogoff and practiced by such figures as Maria Lind—insofar as that curatorial methodology and knowledge is not limited to exhibition-making only, and can be productively applied to many different activities from book publishing to teaching—my concern is with a rather large gap between theory and concrete power relations that exists within the culture industry, and only grows due to misunderstandings.
As Manuel Borja-Villel commented, “With all respect to Adrià, whom I consider to be an absolutely brilliant cook, I believe that he is responding to a certain dilettante extravagance of the artistic director (Roger M. Buergel), who, in my view, conceives of the political space as something merely festive and communal.” Jennifer Allen, “MACBA Director Takes On Culture and Cooking,” Artforum, → (accessed April 25, 2010).
Documenta 12 Press Release, June 13, 2007, →.
It is interesting to note that Adrià actually seems to understand this in a way, while Buergel does not. Here is a statement Adrià gave to the Guardian: I feel like an intruder. Artists all over battle all their lives to receive an invitation to display their work at Documenta and now I, a cook, am asked to go along! So I worry. It’s not going to be a dinner I am going to make and—while I do have some ideas—I am not sure yet quite what I am going to do. I have met the organiser Roger Buergel who believes that to create a new cooking technique is as complicated and challenging as painting a great picture. He says that he sees the work we do as a new artistic discipline. He says that our work shows cuisine should be a new art form. I am thrilled and honoured to be given the chance to attempt this leap.
See press release at →.
See →.
See Aleksandr Rodchenko, Experiments for the Future: Diaries, Essays, Letters, and Other Writings, ed. Ed. Alexander Levrentiev and Jamey Gambrell, trans. John E. Bowlt (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2005).
Michelle White and Nato Thompson, “Curator as Producer,” Art Lies, no. 59 (Fall 2008).