Curating and Care

Tools

Reckitt, Helena; Shaw, Christine; Wilkinson, Jayne and Rage, Raju. 2017. 'Curating and Care'. In: Care Crisis, Care Corrective: An Open Forum on Cultural Work. Blackwood Gallery, University of Toronto, Canada 23 September 2017. [Conference or Workshop Item]

Preview

Image
Raju Rage_Yeah but can we listen tho_Facebook Screenshot_as part of Habits of Care_Blackwood Gallery_curated by Helena Reckitt_2017.png - Supplemental Material
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.
Download (144kB) | Preview

Preview

Image
Care Crisis Care Corrective_Blackwood Gallery_2.png - Supplemental Material
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.
Download (702kB) | Preview

Preview

Image
Care Crisis Care Corrective_Blackwood Gallery.jpg - Supplemental Material
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.
Download (149kB) | Preview

Preview

Image
Care Crisis Care Corrective_Open Forum.png - Supplemental Material
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial.
Download (274kB) | Preview

Official URL: http://blackwoodgallery.ca/events/2017/CareCrisis....

Abstract or Description

Helena Reckitt participated in Care Crisis, Care Corrective: A Public Forum on Cultural Labour, as a speaker. She also contributed to the programme’s themes and selection of presenters. She invited Raju Rage, who presented a Skype performance Yeah But Can We Listen Tho?, and introduced participants to the three-part workshop, Curating and Caring, that had taken place the run-up to the forum.

Reckitt’s introduction remarked on the preoccupation with the etymological root of the word ‘curating’ in ‘caring’ in recent curatorial literature, pointing out that the question of who and what is actually cared for often goes unchallenged. Noting that curatorial labour entails the creation of sociality in time and space, she remarked how these relationships often take place virtually and are mediated by social media - something that she had been particularly aware of, when the emotional and practical labour of The Blackwood Gallery's curatorial team had compensated for her inability to be present to run the Curating and Care workshop in person.

In contextualizing the workshop on Curating and Care, she noted that it was grounded in the premise that in order change social structures we must first analyse the value systems that individuals have inherited and internalized, and then initiate actions that will challenge and change people's own habits and actions.

Reckitt highlighted some of the principals that underscored the workshop’s approach: of duration, repetition, recycling and upcycling; of inter-dependency and vulnerability; of the power of definition and redefinition to highlight under-valued caring and other gendered activities; the dangers of cultural workers over-identifying with their work, instrumentalizing their personal relationships and resources, and risking the exploitation of self and others and eventual burn-out. Introducing the presentation by workshop participants of their collectively-generated propositions for curating and care, she highlighted how the workshop sought to move beyond diagnosis and abstract theory to generate concrete propositions for change.

Item Type:

Conference or Workshop Item (Talk)

Additional Information:

The programme took part in tandem with the exhibition 'Habits of Care', curated by Helena Reckitt, as part of the year-long curatorial research platform 'Take Care' at the University of Toronto's Blackwood Gallery

Keywords:

Curatorial Care, Cultural Work

Related URLs: