ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the curatorial knowledge of exhibition concepts and the artworks they feature as literally tied to the affordances of objects and spaces as they are made, or unexpectedly become, relevant through the installation process. Curators act as public mediators in contemporary art by performing three tasks: managing and displaying collections of contemporary art, purchasing new artworks for permanent collections, and mounting temporary exhibitions. Curators often spend days in and outside of the gallery working with gallery managers, artists, and others to map out the placements of artworks in advance of the installation days. As demonstrated by DiMaggio (1982) and O'Doherty (1999[1976]), the main defining element of the institutionalization of high art is the isolation of different artworks from each other. This approach to knowledge and artistic practices resonates with work in the extended mind tradition of cognitive science that examines human cognition in naturally occurring activity.
