Is Curation a One Man Show?

‘Microstoria’ Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
An annual collaboration between Contemporary Art Theory students and  Visual Cultures students from Edinburgh College of Art


A group show with group curation could have gone horribly wrong! Imagine the pent-up tension that builds as a number of driven, creative individuals battle it out to add their two pennies worth to the final product, released from their solitary library-led existence. The ‘Battle Royal of Young Curators’ imagery that this conjures may be a slight exaggeration, however I have been informed by one of the curators involved, that it is not entirely myth. This unique approach to curation must work to broaden avenues not merely foster ill-feeling between its participants if it is to produce positive results. It must establish a diverse melting-pot of influences and direction which, at best, can open our eyes to a new way of viewing the world, (at worst make us want to close them and disregard contemporary art all together).

More established galleries in Edinburgh, for example The Fruitmarket have long-practiced this method of multiplying their curatorial tentacles. Once a year, as testified by its current show ‘Narcissus Reflected’, The Fruitmarket enlists the expertise of an outside voice to open the doors of perception, so to speak. ‘Narcissus Reflected’ has been curated by David Lomas, a specialist in Surrealism. Lomas has revolutionised the interpretation of Salvador Dali’s ‘Narcissus’ by reuniting it with Dali’s poem of the same date and title, as Dali himself intended. The poem contains a number of specific viewing instructions for the painting itself. Lomas also brings an artist known only as Jess to the UK for the first time in the form of a meticulous, hand-drawn collage and life-long project ‘Narkissos’. Lomas proves that the Narcissus mythological subject, far from belonging to a bygone era, still offers pertinent moral value to our contemporary climate.

I thought to lead this entry onto a discussion of the recent Talbot Rice show ’Microstoria’ and end with a few puns on the necessity and value of amicable collaboration.  I now find myself returning to the Talbot Rice tomorrow for an evening discussion. For this reason I shall hold fire on this subject as I fear that my youthful, ready-formed and fluffily-constructed opinions may suddenly be contradicted when vocalised tomorrow! To be continued…