Carolina Lio
MA work
MA work
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Carolina Lio's dissertation / CCA 2017
Why Don't Curator Like Art?
My dissertation for the MA in Curating at RCA, 'Why Don't Curators Like Art?' originates from the observation of the shift, over the last two decades, of curating from exhibition-making to the curatorial discourse, which has caused a progressive detachment of curators from art, in some cases even becoming hostility towards certain practices. Some preferential forms in which the curatorial takes shape are programming, archive studies, and the inflation of pedagogical models of curation, amongst others; while they nourish distrust and suspicion towards the white-cube model, exhibition-making and art history research. Curatorial courses and academic debate are the starting point and the main field in which these (former-radical, newly-canonical) practices are fostered. However, when these positions migrate beyond the academic ambit, we should wonder about causes and consequences.
Two consequences are particularly apparent: the museums’ most significant recent shift from collection-driven institutions to visitor-centred organisations; and the change of the set of values applied to assess art projects, which are ever more based on demonstrable outcomes, and ever less on considerations about quality.
With regards to causes, this shift towards ‘Visitors Studies’ and non-object-practices can be explained with the pressure for fundraising to which public institutions need to respond, inscribing their models into a market of socio-political commodities built up by cultural policy, of which the UK is a paradigmatic case.
The dissertation argues for the necessity to question the set of values behind these practices and the veracity at the base of their orientation; to recognise instrumentalisation; to restore expertise in art, to resolve dichotomies between exhibition-making practices and the curatorial discourse; and to refocus the curatorial work around art and artists.
This change could be initiated within the frameworks of the curatorial courses, which can propose the reconciliation of curators with those currently marginalised art practices and promote the collaboration between theoreticians and practitioners as the most auspicious manner of moving forward.
Info
Info
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MA Degree
School
School of Humanities
Programme
MA Curating Contemporary Art, 2017
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Contact
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I was born in Italy and lived in Berlin, Hong Kong and Barcelona before moving to London.Â
I hold a degree in Semiotics from the University of Bologna, course directed by Umberto Eco, and attended the School for Curatorial Studies in Venice. In July 2017 I graduate from the Curating Contemporary Art MA at the Royal College of Art in London, tutored by Victoria Walsh and Michaela Crimmin.Â
I have been working in curating since 2010 and I have curated a number of exhibitions and research projects for, among others: Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa in Venice; MACBA Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona: Hong Kong Arts Centre; EAC in Montevideo; Oslo Fotokunstskole; ACCEA Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art in Yerevan; IIC Los Angeles; IIC Barcelona, and Guangdong Museum of Art in Canton. I have already been selected for the NEON curatorial exchange of the Whitechapel Gallery (July 2017).Â
My curatorial projects have received grants and support from important worldwide institutions like European Cultural Foundation of Amsterdam, Open Society Institute and Soros Foundation in New York, MART in Trento and Rovereto; Catalan Government; Italian Government Ministry of Youth and Finnish Government Ministry of Culture.
My most recent projects investigate instrumentalisation in cultural policy and advocate the necessity to refocus the curatorial practice around art and artists and I have been experimenting with new models of curating that include programme and interdisciplinary knowledge while keeping in the foreground art research.
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Degrees
- MA Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, London, 2017; BA Communication Sciences / Semiotics, University of Bologna, 2008; Diploma from the School for Curatorial Studies, Venice, 2005.
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Experience
- Neon Curatorial Exchange, NEON Organisation, Athens, and Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2017; Contributor in Ctc Curating the Contemporary platform for curatorial studies by Metropolitan University and Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2015 – 2016); Guest Researchers Programme, MACBA Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, 2015; Independent researcher in the project Opera Italia, Consulate of Italy in Guangzhou and Guangdong Museum of Art, Canton, 2013; Regular contributor in Flash Art Italia, 2009 – 2011
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Exhibitions
- Selection of curated exhibitions: Doing It In Public, Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall, London (2017); POST.COM, EAC Espacio de Arte Contemporaneo, Montevideo (2016-17); Aqua Aura: The Hidden Project #2, IIC Italian Institute of Culture, Barcelona (2016); Aqua Aura: The Hidden Project #1, Galeria H2O, Barcelona (2016); Renzo Marasca: Barcelona 13.2, Piramidon Centre d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona (2015); Her/Story: Women Behind The Camera, Oslo Fotokunstskole in Oslo, H2O in Barcelona and El Patio de San Martin de Los Heroes en Madrid (2014); Someone To Love, Cristina Nuñez's solo, Boiler Room Gallery, Oslo (2014); What Are You Looking For, Phillip Hui Kim Ho's solo, Red Elation Gallery, Hong Kong (2014); Sonia Barrett: Othering Sea/Home, Trapani Biennale (2013); Renzo Marasca: Ideologie der Natur, Corpo 6 Galerie, Berlin (2013); Felix Deac: The Essence Of Presence, 3)5 Arte Contemporanea, Rieti (2013); State Of Matter, co-curated with Lili Leung, Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong (2013); Boston - Como: A Comparison Between Two Different Cities Within The Western Society, co-curated with James Hull. Palazzo del Broletto, Church of San Pietro in Atrio and Spazio Natta in Como (2013); Growing In Lightness, Kaleidoskop, Berlin (2012); Doomed Scape, Michelle-Marie Letelier's solo at Galleria Perlini, Padua (2012); Mentre cammino penso di non galleggiare, Claudia Campus's solo, 3)5 Arte Contemporanea, Rieti (2012); Mattia Novello: Nascita dell’individuo libero, Villa Bolasco, Castelfranco Veneto (2012); Schimmel auf Leinwand, Walter Bishop Galerie, Berlin (2012); Vulpes pilum mutare, Musei Civici of Bassano del Grappa, Vicenza (2011); Faulty Fables: Wicked Tales For Telling A Wicked Country, 00130 Gallery, Helsinki (2011); Ararat Stories: The Best From The Armenian Videoart, Visual Container, Milan (2011); Fragile: Handle with care, Lu.C.C.A. Lucca Center of Contemporary Art, Lucca (2011); Suspense, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice (2010); ArtsLive, Prize For The Young Art In Veneto, xx.9.12 Fabrika, Padua (2010); Italian Container, ACCEA Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art, Yerevan, and Visual Container, Milano (2010); Opening, Castello di Rivara Centro d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin (2010).
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Conferences
- 'Back to the Future. Can new art practices arise from curating archives​?' Presentation included in the symposium '​Institutions and Archives' ​at the Royal Festival Hall, London​ (2015).