There’s an old joke: "If a man speaks in a forest and there’s no woman to hear him, will he still be wrong?" It came to mind when listening to an opening speech at a recent exhibition, Creator Curator/Curator Creator, at Jo’burg’s Absa Gallery. In this case it could be: "If an artist creates a work in a forest and there is no one to see it, curate it, critique it, is it still art?"The speaker was art historian and curator Warren Siebrits.The premise behind the exhibition, curated by Lucia Boer, was to explore the relationship between the curator and the artist, and how they work together to enhance the meaning and experience of viewing and understanding a work.Boer selected pieces by 22 current artists with whom she had a curatorial relationship or whose work she admires and collects. The result was a disconnected assortment of, in many cases, commendable work by artists at varying stages of their careers.Of course, that the exhibition didn’t hang together in a precise way might be ...
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