THE CLASSIFICATION OF ARTISTIC STRATEGIES OF CURATORIAL PRACTICES OF CONTEMPORARY ART OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH AND THE EARLY 21ST CENTURIES

Abstract

The focus of this art history research is on the scientific problem of understanding the creative contribution of curators of art exhibitions and projects, which made it possible to identify the main curatorial strategies and represent curatorial practices in the contemporary visual art of the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The analysis of the curatorial strategies of today’s leading curators, the most important curatorial exhibitions and projects and a systematisation of curatorial approaches provided an opportunity to enrich the knowledge about the investigated period in the history of art. The choice is justified by the significance of the curatorial projects in the global field of contemporary visual art.

The art history study of major exhibition events of the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries has made it possible to identify the main curatorial strategies of the contemporary visual art in the stated research period and to propose their classification: 1) the identification of the potential of contemporary art; 2) the intervention of contemporary art; 3) the extension of the boundaries of contemporary art; 4) the institutionalisation of art and curatorial practices; 5) curatorial research.

Curatorial research in the late 20th and early 21st centuries became a leading curatorial strategy. Three broad directions of curatorial research problems can be distinguished: А. the visual experience of the 20th century; B. local curatorial and artistic practices; C. current contexts of the present (philosophical, geopolitical, ecological, social, gender, etc.)