Corporate art consultants are curators who create and administer art programs for private companies. In this way, the corporate art consultant follows the traditional definition of the curator as an individual who maintains art objects in a collection. However, as the contemporary role of the curator has shifted into the practice of exhibition making and the cultural influence that comes along with it, the ability of a corporate art consultant to provide clients with objectified cultural capital through art becomes significant to a broader understanding of contemporary curating.
This paper seeks to articulate the contrasting positions of corporate art consultants and independent curators and how both positions utilize art to benefit their respective …show more content…
Corporations who hire art consultants are usually just beginning their foray into art collecting, and often don’t have any clear plans for what kinds of art they are interested in. In my interview with Susan Blackman, she explained that as an art consulting firm “We represent our client to the art world and we figure out their aesthetic and go from there.” In other words, a consultant is hired to establish the kind of art that would best represent and benefit the client’s mission, and then to go out and acquire those …show more content…
“Although museums have not abandoned, art curating is no longer necessarily tied to them… Instead, curating now encompasses not only exhibition making but also programming at many kinds of alternative venues, and is often adjunct to even the most experimental art space.” (Smith, 19)
This shift in thinking about curating allows curators to work for multiple venues and institutions without associating themselves with a specific brand or institution, and perhaps even turning themselves into a brand and “Exhibiting themselves” (Plagens 42).
This independence feels similar to the corporate art consultant’s freedom to work for multiple companies with a degree of aesthetic freedom typically not allowed within the public sector, however this comparison limits limits the grander cultural and social goals of the independent curator. Terry Smith explains
This paper seeks to articulate the contrasting positions of corporate art consultants and independent curators and how both positions utilize art to benefit their respective …show more content…
Corporations who hire art consultants are usually just beginning their foray into art collecting, and often don’t have any clear plans for what kinds of art they are interested in. In my interview with Susan Blackman, she explained that as an art consulting firm “We represent our client to the art world and we figure out their aesthetic and go from there.” In other words, a consultant is hired to establish the kind of art that would best represent and benefit the client’s mission, and then to go out and acquire those …show more content…
“Although museums have not abandoned, art curating is no longer necessarily tied to them… Instead, curating now encompasses not only exhibition making but also programming at many kinds of alternative venues, and is often adjunct to even the most experimental art space.” (Smith, 19)
This shift in thinking about curating allows curators to work for multiple venues and institutions without associating themselves with a specific brand or institution, and perhaps even turning themselves into a brand and “Exhibiting themselves” (Plagens 42).
This independence feels similar to the corporate art consultant’s freedom to work for multiple companies with a degree of aesthetic freedom typically not allowed within the public sector, however this comparison limits limits the grander cultural and social goals of the independent curator. Terry Smith explains