Edwin Nasr
Would Curators Unionize? (cancelled)
© Appointed Curators (2022), Ahmet Öğüt. Courtesy of the artistThrough an assemblage of readings and reflections, this intervention will playfully speculate on the paradoxical position of the 'curator' within broader structures of the global art circuitry and, by extension, the social totality. It primarily draws on Marxian class theory and literature on the relationship between contemporary art and class, but also anecdotal observations, to ask: Should a curator be likened to a precarized worker or a hedge fund manager? Have there been attempts in recent history to situate the 'curatorial' within expressions of class struggle? What is the real 'value' of the social capital that curators supposedly hold? Can they - would they - unionize and see themselves as operating from a ? And most importantly, does the curatorial refer to a specific form of labor or class position, or is it a portmanteau concept that obfuscates class positionalities instead of rendering them more legible?