curator
noun
1. the person in charge of a museum, art collection, etc.; a custodian.
2. a manager; overseer; superintendent.
3. the person who brings together a number of performances of musical works, as for a festival.
4. the person who brings together and contextualises a collection of documents, especially online.
[Latin: overseer, guardian; replacing Middle English curatour, from Anglo-French]
~curatorial // adjective
~curatorship // noun
~curatrix // feminine noun

Throw away your traditional ideas of the ‘curator’ – it’s a term that’s not tied down to an art gallery or museum. We all curate our environment, and have it curated for us… whether we know it or not. The use (and abuse) of our environment is one of the hottest topics in Tasmania right now, so it’s pertinent for MADE Tasmania to devote our winter 09 commentary to it.

Of course, art is a beautifully evocative and elegant medium for explaining any issue. For example, the SEEING ANEW art exhibition, opened in style by Greens MP Nick McKim, with catalogue produced and published by MADE Tasmania (click thumbnails to view full images):

This exhibition was essentially about how we curate the environment – yet didn’t have a curator, per se. The undercurrent for the 28 works was the effects of society’s attempts to alter – ‘curate’ – our environment, to varying degrees of success or failure. Artists are just as likely as anyone to be victims of greenwashing or taking things only at face value, so it was heartening to view so many pieces that read between the lines…

Another who seeks to dissect how we curate the environment is local Hobart artist, Fiona Fraser, whose exhibition of suburban illusions: ‘Cul-de-Sac: scrutinizing the human compulsion to control nature in the suburbs’ reveals the darker undercurrents of a need to tame our surroundings (check out three of Fiona’s photos, POA, below: contact her on fineartfiona@gmail.com).

Fine art aside, there are some less obvious masters of curating in Tasmania.

Consider Rodney Dunn and wife Severine, from the Agrarian Kitchen cooking school. I worked with Rodney at Gourmet Traveller, and his food styling alone is a work of art; check it out at www.gourmettraveller.com.au. They curate their land at Lachlan in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley in a sustainable yet robust, artistic yet practical, way.

Graphic artist and interpretative consultant Travis Tiddy is another who’s caught our eye: his lateral thinking approach to town signage at Queenstown on the west coast should inspire state and local government to break free of the ‘one size fits all’ mould when it comes to information booths, interpretation stands, street signs, tourist maps etc:

And finally, bestselling Tasmanian author, Katherine Scholes, who was explaining her way with words to us recently: know what to keep, know what to throw away – the essential editing tool of any successful curator.

So, a foodie, a designer, and a writer. All seriously clever curators in their own fields.

Of course, there are sadly some with ‘curatorial’ responsibility beyond their talents. MADE Tasmania lives in hope that those in charge of curating Tasmania’s public space – particularly the Hobart waterfront – will learn from Danish urban master Jan Gehl’s ideas on ‘cities for people’, or Christopher Alexander’s beautifully holistic approach to building structures, towns, cities – called ‘A Pattern Language’. And the Tasmanian media (which, of course, we’re well aware MADE Tasmania is!) should take its curatorial responsibilities more seriously – their role as receivers and givers of information is a powerful one. Do we get the media we deserve – or do we become the information we’re fed?

As long as we’re aware that all the information we receive – visual, text-based, aural – has been curated to serve the giver’s interests, we’re in an okay position to arrive at our own opinions and decisions. But how many of us know, or know how, to do this? What’s the answer: a greater variety of information? Let me know what you think at hello@madetasmania.com or by commenting below.

Amanda Carmen Cromer
Founder (and curatrix)
MADE Tasmania