Curator’s role in an art gallery

08 Sep, 2017 - 00:09 0 Views

eBusiness Weekly

Art Appreciation
Exhibitions come with extensive labour and effort contributed by organisations dedicated to promoting the business aspect of art exhibitions. Curators seem to make the task a bit manageable as they are the individuals behind most of the conceptual development.

They make possible the fund sourcing, layout and projection of the showcase. This will not only generate interest in the eyes of the viewer, but will most importantly interest buyers as long as everything flows and creates a complete picture.

Kendzulak (2017) states that: “To be an art curator requires multi-tasking as the job entails being responsible for a museum’s collection, selecting art to be displayed in a museum, organising art exhibitions in galleries or public spaces and researching artists”.

These characteristics have an impact on the business side of art. Curators should be able to multi task because they have to be proficient conceiving in exhibitions and the business, marketing and public relations of exhibitions.

As energy consuming this may all seem, the exhibition is entirely in the curator’s hands. This indicates that any mistake done by the curator is likely to affect the entirety exhibition.

A curator who is able to market an exhibition in a profitable manner, is able to promote the appeal and the credibility of the show, thus one can note that the business promotion of art lies in the curator’s concepts.

Most exhibitions have themes which guide people on what the exhibition will be focusing on. The curator’s mission is now to make sure that all the art work he is to select will fit well into the theme.

This is significant as it will ensure that art buyers understand the theme being reflected and also the logic behind the exhibition. A disorganised exhibition will leave the audience confused and indecisive on whether to purchase an artwork or not.

The business side of art means using art as a product in a money making sense. It incorporates the buying and selling of art, the valuing of art through different reviews and promoting investment in artefacts.

It also involves working with galleries in the hosting of events that market contemporary art and in such cases events like the International Conference on African Cultures 2017.

With the theme “Mapping the Future” guiding ICAC 2017, it means that whatever is to be exhibited, the curator’s selection of art work should be something he or she believes will not only fit into the theme, but will be something that will generate more investment in art.

A curator will never exhibit something that he does not believe fits well into the exhibition as this will distort the exhibition.

Since the digital age is now taking over the social set up of people, this means that people can now view an exhibition online and buy any art they find interesting. Not only is this limiting a more physical and deep discussion of art among people, it is also destroying an opportunity for people to experience physical social networking.

Though it has its own negative impacts the marketing of art online has generated a lot of business opportunities as business occurs in a virtual space. Globally anyone can purchase artworks online as it is occurs in a virtual space and curators publicise the best collection of art targeting specific people.

Business returns need to retail a good quantity of art, or a smaller quantity of expensive art and with online advertising and marketing this can be done at a large scale. Exhibitions that are done online are likely to reach a wider audience and this will escalate the commercial side of art. Since the art world is vast, both geographically and in terms of the types and price ranges of the art in which it deals this means art is able to accommodate different individuals.

Galleries invest in an artist’s career and if the artwork is of high quality then business partnership is initiated. In the future a curator may decide to work with that artist as his or her artwork generates more income and this therefore creates a mutually beneficial business partnership.

A curator with a good eye for fine art is able to establish a number of business partners through exhibitions that attract a diverse range of audience.

It is, therefore, the curator’s role to try and make sure that during exhibitions all artefacts selected will create a strong social network and promote investment in art.

Looking at art from a business perspective, physical art exhibitions will promote business connections among people and artists hence it is of noble value that exhibitions should immediately show the kind of art being represented, corresponding to the surroundings so that there is no room spared for mayhem.

Share This:

Sponsored Links

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds