What Curating Is and Why It Matters

In the current Visual Arts guide, students do not only make artworks; they also select and present a body of them as an exhibition. This makes curating — the art of choosing and arranging works for an audience — a core skill. This lesson introduces curatorial practice and explains why how work is presented shapes how it is understood.

The role of the curator

A curator is responsible for selecting works, arranging them in a space, and shaping the experience a viewer has of them. Curating is a creative and intellectual act, not merely hanging pictures on a wall. The curator decides which works belong together, in what order and relationship, and how the physical space guides the viewer. These decisions affect meaning: the same artwork can read very differently depending on what surrounds it,