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© François Dion, 2005. Used by permission
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The independent curator: the art of posture and flexion
by François Dion
Date: 16 July 2005
Event: Banff
François Dion
François Dion has organized several exhibits since 1995, both as independent curator and director of Galerie 101 in Ottawa, between 1998 and 2001. These include the Fin de siècle series, organized for Optica (Montreal) in 1998-1999, and, more recently, Sylvain Cousineau : Coq-à-l'âne, for the Ottawa Art Gallery in 2004. He is presently preparing a publication titled Abus mutuel, co-directed by Marie-Josée Lafortune, which will be published by Optica in 2005. Since 2001, François is the chief executice officer of the Centre d'information Artexte, which has the mandate of gathering documents pertaining to contemporary Canadian visual arts, and of supporting increased research and ("diffusion") in this field.
Abstract
To begin, I would like to offer the following reaction to the formula chosen for the preparatory discussions to this exchange on the role of the arts curator. My intention is not to contribute to a lexicon or a definition of this practice. I believe that by its very nature, the independent curator's position is flexuous, and it should remain so. Therefore, my contribution will focus on certain competencies, as they pertain to observation and representation. These skills, to me, are key components of the curator's role.
From this outlook, my presentation will dwell more directly on the representation of the community in which the curator works, with an emphasis on the discourses and gestures of curators working in Montreal. While conducting research at the Centre d'information Artexte for a critic from abroad, I came to the realization that the different "agents" of Montreal's artistic milieu (including curators, of course), had seldom attempted to formulate an understanding of the environment in which they work, and had even more rarely tried to express opinions on the dominant traits of this community. Furthermore (and I wonder if this does not betray a specific reticence), art exhibits seldom address the issue of "who we are" as a community. Does Montreal not have its own scene(s)? Why are we so reluctant to represent the networks of affinities which form the thread of our collaborations and research? What is the role of the curator in Montreal, when it comes to formulating a representation of his or her community? Would this representation be of any use?
I believe it would be. To illustrate this, I would like to revisit a few exhibits presented in Montreal over the past five years. For some of these, I assumed the role of curator. For others, I was a well-advised spectator. Certain observations emerged and repeated themselves. This brings me to the hypothesis that I would like to put forward at this seminar: our inability to represent ourselves (or even to observe ourselves) prevents us not only from seeing and contextualizing the artistic creation around us and the reasons for the existence of these gestures or objects, but it also restricts the development of curatorial approaches. This shortcoming makes us inflexible and encourages the proliferation of curatorial habitus.
Why is this simple principle of human psychology applied with such hesitation?