ABSTRACT
Curating in a Time of Ecological Crisis investigates how the world’s most ubiquitous and high-profile contemporary art exhibitions – biennales – are addressing the major challenges of our time – climate change. The book proposes that in order to maintain relevance and maximise their impact on environmental discourse and action, biennales require a new paradigm, one that emphasises continuity between editions over bi-annual renewal. The existing model involves re-inventing a biennale’s thematic and curatorial premise every two years, which is an approach that has defined the unique agility and contemporaneity of biennale exhibitions. However, it is argued, it is no longer a model able to effectively support a growing sense of responsibility in biennale organisations to address the most urgent global issues, of which the ecological crisis is paramount. The books focus is on the role of the curator as an instigator and facilitator of environmental art projects with real-life application, invoking the original meaning of ‘curator’, a term that derives from the Latin ‘curare’ – ‘to care’ or ‘to cure’.
