I am a Curator > Project Info

I AM A CURATOR: a project by Per Huttner

05.11.03 - 14.12.03

I am a Curator was a major project that empowered the viewer, giving Chisenhale Gallery's visitors the chance to be a curator for one day.

Over the course of six weeks, prospective curators booked a one-day slot at Chisenhale, and each individual was given the opportunity to curate their own exhibition during the course of the day.

Each curator selected artworks housed and indexed in Support Structure, an environment designed by architect Celine Condorelli and artist-curator Gavin Wade. Support Structure operated as a facilitating system for the show that also adjusted Chisenhale's industrial space.

Within Support Structure there was a large and diverse pool of work available to each curator: sculpture, video, ephemeral works, sound pieces, painting, performance proposals, drawing, social intervention and action descriptions. Support Structure was augmented by artist Scott Rigby’s card system that enabled daily curators to plan the selection of their exhibition.

The result of I am a Curator was 30 separately curated exhibitions, each being documented and presented on this section of the gallery's website.

I am a Curator was an ambitious experiment in democratising the curatorial process. For Huttner, democracy comes with great responsibility, and his project sought to encourage a dialogue about the complexity of the curatorial process. It also aimed to engage the visitor in a debate about the limits of interpretation of an artwork. The project began with the question: what are the intentions of the artist, and are those intentions more truthful than the interpretation of the visitor?

I am a Curator was initiated and directed by Paris-based Swedish artist-curator Per Huttner. I am a Curator was commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery and supported by: The Canada High Commission, London; Danish Council of Visual Art, Copenhagen; RSA Art for Architecture, London; Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen; Moderna Museet International Program, Stockholm; Swedish Embassy, London; Institut Français du Royaume-Uni.