In his book “Curation: The Power of Selection in a World of Excess,” Michael Bhaskar defines curation as “using acts of selection and arrangement (but also refining, reducing, displaying, simplifying, presenting, and explaining) to add value.” Originating from the Latin word curare, meaning to take care of, the curator’s role in dissecting our understanding of the world around us cannot be overlooked. Over time, as the definition morphs into different bodies, the practice of curation continues to evolve, filling the roles of caretakers of our built environment and thinkers of different forms for the overall bettering of society.
In the early 1800s, Baron Dominique Vivant Denon was the first director of the world-renowned Louvre Museum. He inherited a significant excess of art under Napoleon’s rule, an amount that could not fill the vast salons of the museum. Denon’s first job was to organize the collection, and through the themes of both chronology and national schools, he was able to find a logic for the artwork and its place in the museum. Shaping the institution into a world-class museum, Denon is the earliest curator as we understand the word today.
Interestingly, during the Roman Empire, the term curatores referred to officials holding positions of responsibility and authority. Civil servants, or curatores, were held accountable for the empire's roads, river traffic, public games, festivals, and public goods. In fact, the role of this “caretaker” was highly intertwined with that of the built environment during the Roman Empire, interacting with the city on different scales to ensure its viability for all.
The curatorial practice today extends far beyond traditional art exhibitions, including forms of cultural events and platforms. In fact, the practice of architecture has extended outwards, morphing at times into curation and vice versa. This new age multidisciplinary outlook refers to an architect’s involvement across different fields, from urban planning, landscape, writing, curating, and roles that go far beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture.
Today, curation can be seen as a form of constructing narratives. Building on Baskhar’s understanding of the world of excess, curation can be understood as a channel for telling meaningful stories to the masses. Through thoughtful curation, the role can shape how human beings contextualize stories. Moreover, the practice can give value to otherwise overlooked stories or shed light on parts of cultures that have not been carefully told. In an age of excess and endless forms of storytelling, curators can begin to make sense of histories lost, materials overlooked, and connections between territories, providing people with critical thinking tools necessary for our near and far futures.
Lesley Lokko
In an onsite interview with ArchDaily, Lesley Lokko defines curation as a form of storytelling. As a fictional writer, she believes that “culture is the sum of stories about ourselves we tell ourselves.” Lokko is the curator of this year’s La Biennale di Venezia, one of the oldest and most prestigious art and architecture international exhibitions worldwide. This year, the theme of the Biennale, set by Lokko, is “The Laboratory of the Future.” The theme considers the African continent as the protagonist of the future, “the one place where all these questions of equity, race, hope, and fear converge and coalesce.”
Featuring 63 National Pavilions, 89 Participants, and 9 collateral events in the city, the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale represents a crucial international event for the field of architecture. The curated theme, setting Africa as the “Laboratory of the Future,” stems from Lokko’s design to rethink authenticity and empathy in the future. Moreover, through this defined curation, thinkers, architects, builders, philosophers, ethnographers, urbanists, and teachers can begin the process of piecing together parts of the globe’s overlooked histories and look collaboratively toward the forthcoming construction of built environments.
I think all cultural output is a form of narrative. Somebody once said that culture is the sum total of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. So, there's a very deep need to say something, to impart something. In these questions of colony, identity, territory, and history, there is a sense amongst many black practitioners that we've never had the space to tell our own stories, and part of the act of recuperating what has been lost is the desire to speak. In some senses, the Biennale has been a healing experience, a kind of closing over of a wound, of a void. -- Lesley Lokko
In conclusion, Lokko’s role as a curator is looking toward the future, curating a way to think about a problem in the current structure of the built environment, and extending an open-ended invitation for participants to collaborate in the thinking process. Moreover, the curation in this exercise simply sets the narrative through which the built environment can be viewed.
Søren Pihlmann
Søren Pihlmann is the founder and lead architect of Pihlmann Architects, a young Copenhagen-based architectural practice. In an interview with Louisiana Channel, Pihlmann clearly states that his practice has transformed from being a traditional architect into becoming a “type of curator, selecting very few things with great sensitivity.”
In fact, in the interview, the architect describes his architectural practice with the idea of “absolute care.” He emphasizes the significance of thoroughly examining the surrounding context before embarking on a project. Furthermore, Pihlmann expresses that his approach now involves dedicating more time to this initial phase of research, immersing himself in data, and comprehending the existing conditions. Claiming that through this process of curation, the architectural narrative emerges organically.
Interestingly, Pihlmann also points out the new multidisciplinary approach to the architecture practice, relating it to different scales of interactions and different modes of curation. The comparison he draws between the curation of social interactions in developing a city and the curation of different materials when the architect arrives at a site encapsulates a holistic view of the architectural practice today.
Although his practice has been more traditionally understood as “architecture”, Pihlmann was recently appointed as the curator of the Danish pavilion at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition in 2025. The Danish Pavilion, led by Pihlmann, will be circling around the transition into a truly sustainable society through preservation, reuse, and thoughtful curation methods.
We demolish and build anew more than we use what we already have, and we do it in a way that damages not only our basis of existence but the basis of existence of future generations especially. Has this harsh reality truly not dawned on us? -- Søren Pihlmann.
Sumayya Vally
This year saw the first-ever Islamic Arts Biennale, directed by architect Sumayya Vally, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The event was curated partially by Vally, set in the Western Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In an interview with ArchDaily, Vally expresses that “there is an inherited definition of Islamic art that comes from 17th century France, and Islamic Arts have continuously been defined and redefined…but they have never really been defined from within by us, from our perspectives.”
Vally is the founder, architect, and director of the Johannesburg-based collaborative architectural studio Counterspace. The practice of the studio centers around simultaneously defining and reimagining histories and futures. Chosen to design the 20th Serpentine Pavilion, Vally works between research, interdisciplinary art-based projects, architectural projects, exhibitions, urban research, and design.
I believe that biennales, pavilions, and platforms for experimental art and architecture are essential because they provide a space for imagining the future. –Sumayya Vally
In conclusion, the practices of curation and multi-disciplinary architecture intersect in powerful ways. Human beings can shape their understanding of themselves and the world through the choices made in curating the built environment, reinterpreting historical narratives, and taking cautious stands in the present. The practice sheds light on our narratives, picking things apart that have been often overlooked or encouraging new methods of thinking about our stories and cultural output at large. The curator can work at many different scales, but what is common is a thoughtful selection of displaying and explaining concepts in a world of excess with absolute care and concern.
At the small scale, architects like Søren Pihlmann demonstrate curation by deciding what is visible or concealed, what is foregrounded or backgrounded within a building through contextualizing materiality. This form of curation shapes our experience of space, affecting our perceptions and interactions within it. Another curation scale involves revisiting past narratives, as exemplified by Sumayya Vally. Through careful curation, stories can be retold, reshaped, and explained under new lights to modify and transform the present understanding of them. By engaging with the past in this way, human beings can gain new insights, challenge preconceptions, and foster a more inclusive and nuanced understanding of history. Finally, Lesley Lokko showcases the curatorial power of taking a stand in the present. Through what is presented, considered, and explained, we engage in a form of curation that shapes our collective narrative. By actively pursuing this curated narrative, collaboration and meaningful work toward a better future can be fostered.
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