On template exhibitions and opportunistic art
For the ‘Experiences’-section of the academic journal Image[&]Narrative I published an essay on my experience of the Taipei Biennial 2020 “You and I Don’t Live on the Same Planet” in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan. This text explores a mental visit through the contemporary arts exhibition star curated by Bruno Latour and Martin Guinard. I argue that Latour took the curatorship invitation as an opportunity to propagate a simplified version of the academic theories put forward in his book Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climate Regime (2017/2018). Latour, I claim, uses his personal discourse as a template for addressing contemporary art. This strategy is part of a trend in the artworld where curators, through their discourses, increasingly dictate the pulse of time. I argue that this can lead to artists creating opportunistic art, in order to get selected by curators. I call for curators with more artistic sensibilities and local anchorage.
Happy reading!
http://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/imagenarrative/article/view/2782
