Perspectives of the Curator, Panel Presentations, March 26th, Pratt Institute, NYC

Perspectives of the Curator
Panel Presentations in conjunction with SAWCC's Process/ Practice/Portfolio: A Seminar for Emerging Artists.
(This event is open to the public)

March 26th , 2:30 – 3:30 PM, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Campus.

Presentations By: Jaishri Abichandani, Avni Doshi, Maymanah Farhat, Baseera Khan, Meenakshi Thirukode, Jasmine Wahi.
Facilitated by: Meenakshi Thirukode.

The role of the curator has been the center of most contemporary art world discussions. In fact it would be naïve to say that the roles are specific to the realm of contemporary art. Curators exist within the realm of academics, commercial institutions, non-profit initiatives, activism, political campaigns and individual branding. Alongside that line of thought exists the fact that curating is not a specific role. This individual, particularly the independent curator, creates a complex set of relationships between themselves and other players within the industry. Not only is the role ambiguous, in that curators can be artists and/or critics and/or entrepreneurs and/or doctors (the permutations and combinations are innumerable), but cultural specificities and gender politics exert their own influence on the work these individuals pursue while constantly molding the way the rest of the world perceives it.

Perspectives of the Curator brings together young emerging and established critic/curators working within the contexts and complexities of history, gender, geography, politics and social systems that are particular to the sub-continent, Central Asia and the Middle East. The idea for this panel stems from the fact that there have been limited platforms from which these cultural practitioners have voiced their opinions alongside their peers. Individual presentations will give an insight into each critic/curator’s intellectual pursuits while potentially addressing some of the issues described above. The idea is to bring out the similarities, differences, cross pollination and connections between ideologies, in an attempt to further the critical theories and practices that surround South Asian/Central Asian/ Middle Eastern Art.