Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Inside 2 Interview with Tayeba Begum Lipi and Ronni Ahmed 3 The South Asian scene 4 Interview with photographer Shahidul Alam 5 Lifeblood: Bangladeshi Photography 6 Liberty: Bangladeshi Modern and Contemporary Art
7 Interview with painter Monirul Islam 8-9 The Exhibitionists 10-12 Solo Projects 13 The Samdani Award 14-15 Meet the Curators: Diana Belencourt Mahbubur Rahman
Schedule Friday, February 7 10 am 7pm (VIP pass holders) Saturday, February 8 11 am 7 pm (free to the public) Sunday, February 9 (free to the public) General Hours: 10 am 7 pm
INTERVIEW
CURATED EXHIBITION
Tayeba Begum Lipi and Ronni Ahmed participated in the first Dhaka Art Summit in 2012. Both have had considerable international success since then. Dhaka Tribunes Nader Rahman caught up with these superstar DAS alumni.
This years Dhaka Art Summit features five curated exhibitions: B/Desh, Citizens of Time, Ex-Ist, Liberty, and LifeBlood. The collections include work by artists, photographers and filmmakers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. They were selected by renowned and emerging curators and art critics from South Asia.
encourage others. Its an organic process. That being said, I think the summit will help many people in many ways.
This is the second Dhaka Art summit. How does it compare to the first summit?
LBL: The first time was much smaller than this. They were not experienced organisers before, but its safe to say now they are. It also helps that they are genuine art lovers, so its beginning to look like such events come easily to them. RA: Itll be better than the last time. This time its being done on a grand scale. There is going to be an exchange of art and ideas, along with important curators and galleries coming. So by scaling up they have really pushed the envelope. This summit is changing the whole landscape of art in Bangladesh and pushing it years ahead.
Do you think this summit will help new artists, or is it a showcase of already established acts?
LBL: Thats a difficult question to answer. If you go through their stuff youll see they have incorporated established artists as an attraction for the summit. But there is also a Samdani Award for the best up-andcoming artists. So Id say there is a bit of both. Mahbubur Rahman is showcasing a number of new artists in the film and performance category, so I would say they will have a voice at this summit. RA: Every organization has its own agenda, and through their work they
Lipis solo project for the Dhaka Art Summit, A Room of My Own, inspired by the texts of Virginia Woolf, provides context for the artists previous body of work, sharing the artists silent journey over the years, fighting her own body and soul in the wish to conceive a child. Lipi takes chronological steps into the special times of her life, sharing black and white photos taken at the time.
Participating Artists: Hemali Bhuta Remen Chopra Baptist Coelho Vibha Galhotra Nandan Ghiya Sonia Jose Manjunath Kamath Riyas Komu Nandita Kumar Ritesh Meshram Prajakta Potnis Gigi Scaria Kartik Sood Kiran Subbaiah
and then became interested in it. Subsequently one of my pieces was auctioned at Christies in London. The Guggenheim also acquired my piece from the last art summit, and it is now being shown around the world. RA: Yes, in fact it helped me out a lot. My work was praised by critics even by one from Paris who often curates Shahabuddins work.
INTERVIEW
CURATED EXHIBITION
What changes do we need to bring in order to make photography a part of the mainstream art?
From the gatekeepers, to media, to writers, to audience it needs a revolution and it is taking place. Dhaka Art Summit is a very good example as it could do something that Shilpakala Academy has not been able to do in so many years. In the previous DAS, the grand award was won by a photographer.
Abir Abdullah
Curated by: Rosa Maria Falvo Venue: 3rd Floor This exhibition aims to present various angles on Bangladeshs unique relationship with water, and the palpable and often precarious existence of living in and around the waters edge. Participating Artists: Abir Abdullah Shahidul Alam Rasel Chowdhury Khaled Hasan Saiful Huq Omi Manir Mrittik Munem Wasif
Tell us about your work that is participating in the Dhaka Art Summit 2014
It is [a series] on the river Brahmaputra. Following the river from its source to where it meets in the Bay of Bengal took three and a half years. I started near Kailash and followed it all the way through China, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bangladesh.
Shahidul Alam
Note: Shahidul Alam will also be speaking on February 8, 2-3:30pm at Pioneer Panel: Firsthand Perspectives on Developing Infrastructure for Contemporary Art in South Asia and its Challenges and Breakthroughs
Curator Rosa Maria Falvo tells the Dhaka Tribunes Ishrat Jahan: I met Shahidul Alam in July 2007, in the middle of the monsoon, when I came to Dhaka for the first time to look for art and learn about what was going on in the art scene in Bangladesh. We immediately felt a true connection, as I listened to him talk and saw his photographs at Drik, and the poignant work of his students and colleagues; and several artists, young and old, painters and printmakers, the masters and the emerging. I went back in the dry season and as Shahidul walked me through the streets of Dhaka in 2008, with his trusty bicycle by his side, amid the infernal traffic, I spontaneously whispered: We have to do a beautiful book of your work, to get this photography movement and all the creative dynamism here known to the world. Three years later I was there again to birth Shahiduls book in September 2011, and I also curated a show of his work in London at the Wilmotte Gallery in December 2011, and the rest is history... Over the last 7 years I have spent time (in Dhaka and Chittagong) with artists and their families, in their homes and studios, with academics, poets, musicians, gallerists, collectors, and government
Khaled Hasan
Munem Wasif
officials, craftspeople, saintly taxi drivers, and tireless rickshaw wallahs; I listened to the many Bangladeshi stories, often intimate, courageous, triumphant and inspiring, which the West had not heard and is only now beginning to envisage. Alongside the mission of the Bengal Foundation, I have been writing and working hard
to promote Bangladeshi visual artists all over the world ever since. This particular show was born from my foundational work on photography in Bangladesh and my relationship with Nadia and Rajeeb Samdani, with whom I share a vision for South Asian art.
CURATED EXHIBITION
INTERVIEW
Dhaka Tribunes Tasnuva Amin Nova sat down with the septuagenarian painter Monirul Islam, whose work is featured in the Liberty exhibition at DAS
that they do not appear clumsy or overworked. Art should be universal and futuristic. An artist should illustrate something that has never been seen before.
Most of your images are abstract. How should the spectator interpret them?
Interpreting art should be subjective. I can paint a rose but how will I give it the essence? You create your own language through art. I dont wait for people to understand art. Everyone has some innate sense of art that comes alive by looking at images.
Today, Bangladesh is a very good market for art, but it is artificial. Like I said earlier, demand for art is largely dependent on the economy. As our economy is growing, we see more art galleries being built. Demand has been boosted mostly because of the educated wealthy, but art is still a luxury for the masses in here.
Abdul Mannan Abdus Shakoor Shah Abu Taher Ahmed Nazir Ahmed Shamsuddoha Aloptogin Tushar Anisuzzaman Atia islam Anne Biren Shome Chandra Shekhar Dey Farida Zaman Golam Faruque Bebul Hamiduzzaman Khan Hritendra Kumar Sharma Jamal Ahmed K. M. A. Quayyum Kalidas Karmakar Kanak Chanpa Chakma Khalid Mahamood Mithu Maksuda Iqbal Nipa Mohammad Iqbal Mohammad Eunus
Monirul Islam Monsurul Karim Mostafizul Haque Nasim Ahmed Nadvi Nasreen Begum Nazlee Laila Mansur Nisar Hossain Ranjit Das Rasid Amin Rokeya Sultana Sahid Kabir Saidul Haque Juise Samarjit Roy Chowdhury Sawpan Chowdhury Shahabuddin Ahmed Sheikh Afzal Hossain Shishir Bhattacharjee Syed Abul Barq Alvi Syed Jahangir Tasadduk Hossain Dulu Wakilur Rahman Zahura Sultana Hossain
Kalidas Karmokar
Curator Md Muniruzzaman tells the Dhaka Tribunes Ishrat Jahan: When the country faced a crisis, artists always liberally express their thoughts and peoples rights, and were in favour of establishing democracy and secularism in our society. This exhibition includes the artworks of the first generation of artists in Bangladesh, some who were
involved with the establishment of the art college in Dhaka in 1948. The exhibition is also comprised of the artworks of painters from mid 1960s era, who were greatly influenced by abstract expressionism, lyrical abstraction, pure abstraction and non-figuration. Thus the present accomplishments of Bangladeshi art owes a lot to internationally prominent Abstract Expressionists
like Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Franz Kline and Adolph Gottlieb. They paved the way towards liberalisation. The exhibition also includes artists of the 70s, 80s and early 90s, which were significant times for the painters in Bangladesh. One can feel the essence of the political turmoil during that era in their artworks.
than 50 fifty years as an artist, this maestro has held more than 30 solo exhibitions and conducted numerous workshops in various cities of the world.
paintings scattered all around me. If I am stuck somewhere I let it be. Art grows by itself; it just needs a lot of attention. Tell us about the signature elements you use in your paintings. For paintings I use oxide colors, smoked black, different types of soil, coffee, dust, brick dusk, charcoal, ground rice and natural pigments. These last for a lifetime as opposed to the standardised colors they sell in markets today. I work on corrugated boxes, canvases and also the back of sweet cartons (grey boards). I also make my own paper in Spain. There are many naturally rich materials found in our country. You just need to know how and where to use them. I also use a lot of open space in my images so
The Exhibitionists
The 12 types of people you will meet at every art show
Concept and drawing: Syed Rashad Imam TANMOY Text: Nader Rahman
Art Critic The ultimate outsider assumes the pose of Rodins The Thinker in front of every painting, hoping someone will ask his opinion. The Child The most honest person in the room who sees through the pretensions. He says it like he sees it. Wealthy Art Collector Who says you cant buy taste. The Senior Artist Jealous by nature, nothing is ever good enough for them and they hate it when the newbies get all the attention. Desperate Couple After not finding a place to neck, they can at least hold hands and take pictures without being gawked at. The Celebrity She is only dragged to an exhibition to create some buzz. Nothing more, nothing less. Gallery Manager Her only job seems to be to try to convince the rich art collector that her 30% commission is as worthwhile as she says it is.
The Artist Generally normal looking, but frustrated by attention everyone seems to be getting rather than him.
The Journalist Lets be honest, they only come for the food.
The Intellectuals A red teep for the ladies and a shawl for men no matter what time of the year it is. Everything has artistic value for them even a half-eaten apple.
The Artist Lookalike With long hair and an unusual look, he grabs the attention of everyone around him with people often confusing him for the artist much to the chagrin of the actual artist.
DHA K A SUMMIT A RT S U M IT FRIDAY, F E B R UA R Y 00, 2014 DH AKA ART |M DH AKA TRIBUNE FE BRUARY 7- 9
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SOLO PROJECTS
Tsherin Sherpa
Nepalese Painter Tsherin Sherpa has created three new paintings that explore the relationship between Tibetan tradition and identity in the 21st century for the Dhaka Art Summit. His work has been exhibited extensively internationally, including the landmark exhibition at the Rubin Museum in New York, Tradition Born in Kathmandu to a Tibetan Buddhist family in 1968, Sherpa apprenticed with his father Master Urgen Dorje Sherpa in the traditional thangka painting tradition. Sherpas practice has preserved the meticulous detail of the canonical thangka but his figures are distilled from the structured, underlying grid systems and symbols that bring the traditional deitys form to life. In recent years his emphasis has shifted from traditional subjects to more contemporary concerns, including imagining what traditional Tibetan spirits would now look like if they too had left Tibet.
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Shazia Sikander
Sikanders pioneering and innovative work led to her meteoric rise internationally in the mid and late nineties, with survey shows at the Renaissance Society and the Kemper (1998), the Hirshhorn (1999), and a solo at the Whitney (2000). in Pakistan. This is a parallax: two views of the same thing that are fundamentally incompatible and nevertheless real. The parallax gap is the space between these two forms, the very substance of their incommensurability. Slavoj Zizeks assertion that the parallax Real pulverizes the sameness into a multitude of appearances is at the heart of Sikanders current practice. Created in 2013 for the Sharjah Biennial, Parallax is a multi-channel video work made primarily from her own paintings, with music and poetry that Sikander produced in collaboration with the composer Du Yun and the participation of three poets from Sharjah.
Rana Begum
Begum was born in Sylhet, Bangladesh in 1977 and moved to England in 1985. The artist studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London where she currently lives and works. She has exhibited extensively internationally including exhibitions in the UK, the USA, Mumbai, Beirut, and Dubai, and she was the recipient of the 2012 Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture at the Royal Academy of Arts and nominated for the Jameel Prize at the V&A in 2010. In her first major exhibition in Dhaka, Begum moves away from surface ideas of mass-production and brings focus to the handmade. Begum revisits her childhood fascination with basket weaving, an activity she enjoyed when growing up in Bangladesh. Using these vivid childhood memories as inspiration, Begum transforms the Shilpakala Academy with over a thousand locally woven baskets, which she weaves together to create a monumental sculptural dome that references light in the Koran. The work immerses the viewer in an innovative play between light and shadow. The complex intricate pattern creates a weightless and contemplative space through repetition.
Naeem Mohaiemen
Naeem Mohaiemens poignant new commission, titled Shokol Choritro Kalponic (Bangla for All characters are imaginary, a disclaimer shown before many television drama series), will transport the audience to the artists idea of a utopian future of Bangladesh in 2024. His work takes the form of a single-issue newspaper containing fictional news items which talk about things that we wished would have happened in reality. The full title of the newspaper is Shokol Choritro Kalponic. This 8-page issue includes imagery reminiscent of the style of newsprint in the 1970s. The stories in this newspaper are so surreal that they make the reader think: I know this is not possible in this world. For instance, a headline of this satirical piece reads: Indians Protest Smuggling of Cows from Bangladesh. The newspaper will be published in Bangla and distributed for free to all visitors at the DAS.
Rashid Rana
Rashid Rana is one of the most important Pakistani artists of his generation. He is the head of Fine Art Department and one of the founding faculty members of the School of Visual Arts and Design (SVAD) at the Beaconhouse National University, Lahore. His work is in the permanent collections of the Asia Society, Devi Art Foundation, the Queensland Art Museum, the Fukuoka Museum of Asian Art, and many other distinguished public and private collections around the world. For Rashid Ranas solo project A Room from Tate Modern (2013-2014), viewers will be looking at a three-dimensional photograph of a room at Tate Modern. The work is based on photo documentation of a room at Tate Modern, made to look empty with the works of art eliminated, but with spotlight effects and remnants of labels and wall-texts of works that make the viewer imagine what could have previously hung there. The view of doors that open into adjacent gallery spaces will create an illusion that the walls extend into new dimensions. At its formal core, this work is about the conflict between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional.
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Asim Waqif
SOLO PROJECTS
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Asim Waqif has been interested in different forms of protest in his work, and he challenges the public to question the oftenridiculous rules imposed by societies and governments. He has exhibited extensively internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo and at Mumbais Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in their project space, and will be a part of the 5th Marrakech Biennale His solo project uses cane, rope, and thousands of heliumfilled balloons. Waqif creates a levitating sculpture that, upon closer view, reads No Fly Zone. Waqif will set this work loose to fly across Dhaka on the first day of the Dhaka Art Summit (February 7), subverting the control that the sculpture, and political forces, attempt to assert over the public. Adding more irony to the work, the artist and public will cease to have full control over the work once it is let loose in the sky. Volunteers and visitors who arrive to the venue on motor bikes will be instructed to draw attention to the floating installation by blowing their horns in unison, pointing toward the sky, an asking passers-by to see what is in the sky. Its a birdits a planeno, its an artwork!
Shumon Ahmed My artwork is an homage to my mother who is intellectually challenged. She was born premature and has been discriminated all her life even by me. I am trying to be her voice, her medium one she never had because no one would listen to her. So this installation will include letters, recordings of phone conversations with her, songs and poems. This work has been inspired by my shame, guilt and sadness about how I, along with the rest of society, have treated her.
Sarker Protick [My work at DAS] is about my grandparents who are living a lonely life, and whose despair is very difficult for someone of my age to understand. Thats what my exhibition is about. Art is a very personal work for me. I think its the experience that matters to me most. I am a photographer, and that requires me to be on the move, demands my presence in a particular situation. I find this sense of immediacy, the intimacy very exhilarating.
Jitish Kallat
Kallats works have often been described as distilled, poetic investigations of the cycle of life, interlacing several autobiographical, art-historical, political and celestial references. His work has been exhibited widely at museums and institutions including National Gallery of Modern Art (Mumbai), Tate Modern and Tate Britain (London), Martin Gropius Bau (Berlin), Serpentine Gallery (London), Mori Art Museum (Tokyo), Centre Pompidou (Paris), and the Art Institute of Chicago. At the Dhaka Art Summit, Kallats solo project invites viewers to find themselves within the work, placing the viewer between night and day, and between immediate and eternal. His internationally acclaimed 2011 work Epilogue explores the 753 moon cycles that Kallats father experienced in his lifetime using 22,500 photographs of moons that were made of roti in various states of being eaten. Moon cycles are endless, and in the seven channel animated video Breath, presented here, the viewer can think of themselves within the infinite cycles that comprise the universe through the waxing and waning roti moons Breath contextualizes viewers within the universe and compels them think about time, life, death, and the relationships forged during ones lifespan.
Ayesha Sultana Art is a necessity, I feel. So there are mixed emotions when I am working: agony, frustration, nervousness, pleasure. Uncertainty. Its a form of healing. My work is an attempt to bring in an area of the void, to operate in the mind or manifest itself over time when it is no longer visible. The three stitched pieces are part of an ongoing series that I began a year ago. The motivation behind the making can result from multiple acts of paying attention and hopefully cultivate forms of listening.
Yasmin Jahan Nupur My main work is text-based, and the medium I use is Jamdani fabric. I collected text-based fabric from my mothers generation, and since we dont find these things anymore, I made some myself. However, while making it, I realized the difference between the text then and the text
now. It appears that back then the text used was very personal, related to ones family life. But today, when I did a similar work, the text was political which I believe is an influence of our surroundings. So a large focus of my exhibition is the contrast between the text then, and the text now.
Kabir Ahmed Masum Chisty I am exhibiting a public art project at DAS that captures the essence of the quintessential Bangla movie poster. I incorporate a mixture of various forms of media in my work. If it is a poster of someone riding a bike, then you will see the illusion of only the wheels turning; thats how different the animation is. The reason I used the typical characters of Bangla movies like a mother, hero, heroine and a villain is because I believe that in real life too, we have such characters. We ourselves play different roles during different times. I believe that there is an angel and a villain all within me, each of us. These posters are mirrors reflecting that spirituality.
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INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
Mahbubur Rahman is a renowned artist and curator, and the Honorary Artistic Director of the Britto Arts Trust, an artist-run Dhaka based nonprofit platform. He completed his MFA from Dhaka University in 1993, and in his career spanning more than two decades, he has held 12 solo shows in Europe, the USA and Asia. His video work The City Gate was exhibited at the Cinema Reflet Medicis, Paris, 2009; Reina Sofia National Museum, Madrid, 2010; and at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 2010. Rahman has also exhibited at twoperson shows such as Parables of our Times, Gallery Akar Prakar, Kolkata, 2010; Artificial Reality, La Galerie, Alliance Franaise Dhaka, 2002; and Slave of the Civilization, a performance at Jyvaskyla, Finland, 2000. In addition to creating his own art, Mr. Rahman has also curated several shows and is a part of the curatorial committee of this years Dhaka Art Summit. Here he discusses art, curating and the summit.
MAHBUBUR RAHMAN
Experimental Film segments. I have been working directly with most of the performance artists, who are relatively familiar to me. However the filmmakers from abroad were unknown to me. I went through lots of references from different exhibitions and organisations to make the final selection. It was challenging for my assistant, Shimul Saha, and I to find experimental filmmakers from South Asia. Bangladesh, and has performed in Lahore before where he was almost arrested. Its this performance that we will be showing at the exhibition.
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What are some of the other challenges of having the art summit in Dhaka?
It is very difficult to organise such an event here because of the extremely high import customs and visa issues. It would be much easier to organize an exhibition of artists from America or UK than with artists from Myanmar, India or Pakistan. Its especially hard for artists from Pakistan because of what happened recently. The customs dont really understand what contemporary art is, so I handcarried about 90kg worth of stuff here 2 days ago - I am kind of a human mule, and the artists are having to do the same. Here in Bangladesh the constraint is what is available in Dhaka, not the money. You can have all the money in the world but you cant get what you need to Dhaka.
Do you visit a lot of exhibitions to inspire yourself and become familiar with new curatorial practices?
Yes, I travel frequently and have had opportunity to visit many museums, galleries and festivals in past. I have visited large-scale festivals such as the Lyon Biennale, the Venice Biennale, Documenta festival, the Colombo Biennale and many more. Since Bangladesh does not have proper curators, some of us have to take the responsibility anyway. I got a lot of experience after we founded the Britto Arts Trust in 2002. I have also curated few large scale projects and exhibitions over the years of my artistic journey.
How does the Dhaka Art Summit compare to art fares such as Frieze, ARTHK, Art Stage Singapore etc?
DAS is a festival, where artists, curators, and art connoisseurs can gather and experience the vibrant South Asian Arts scene; there is no profit motive. Usually the fairs you have mentioned are focused on making money and are dominated by galleries. But DAS is providing a platform for individual artists and curators to explore their ideas. There are galleries coming to the Summit as well, but the profit of any sale is not going into the DAS account.
Dhaka Tribunes Sohara Mehroze Shachi & Syeda Samira Sadeque speak with the curators of Dhaka Art Summit
the global market, how should we proceed to make our mark in the international arena?
Festivals such as DAS can be, in many ways, one of the strongest platforms from which to attract global attention, but I think there should be many other avenues of private and Government support to come up with dynamic ideas, if we are to make our art scene effective and contemporaneous in the international arena.
Since we dont really have an established gallery system in Bangladesh, what selection mechanism did you use for picking artists for DAS?
We selected artists from South Asia who I thought were interesting and whose work had something relevant to the context of Bangladesh. There are only two artists in it who live in Bangladesh, the rest are from all over the world. I also tried to have an equal balance of men and women, and a wide variety of practices. I tried to cover the ground of whats happening in terms of art practice in South Asia. They have all exhibited internationally and I was familiar with their art and have worked with a lot of them before. They all have a lot of different ideas and its hard to control the creative process. Someone might get an idea at 4am after you have already ordered all the materials and ask for a new room. People think being a curator is a glamorous job it really isnt.
Could you tell us a little about the performance art you are curating?
We will have artists from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and India. Unfortunately, our guest from Pakistan fell ill, but the artists work will be screened here. It focuses on 1971 from a Pakistani perspective. He conducted his research in
Whats the reason for this difference in approach towards how things are done, in spite of South Asia having a rich tradition of art?
It could be economic. No one here will pay a livable wage to be on staff full time to figure out framing and designing things. If you have a frame shop and you know that you are going to get business all the time, thats different but this idea of having someone on staff all the time with the right expertise doesnt really exist here. Ive been very lucky as a curator but people that keep full time curators are also very limited. There should be more curatorial training programmes, but then who will these guys work for? The Metropolitan Museum of Art for instance gets enormous donations from former Mayor Bloomberg. Does a similar culture not exist in South Asia in spite of there being a lot of billionaires? Are they not interested in funding and promoting art? Its unfortunate but that culture doesnt exist here yet. There are certain people who try to do things,
How would you describe your approach to curating the Dhaka Art Summit?
For Dhaka Art Summit, I am curating the Performance Art and
What do you plan to do next with the Samdanis after the Dhaka Art Summit?
I just accepted Rajivs offer to be the director of his foundation. Something I see in India that I dont like is all these institutions are run by one very powerful person who has a lot of influence which is a problem because its hard to be neutral. So the first thing I am going to do is build a global advisory board for the Samdani Foundation. Were flying in the most influential curators in the world to Dhaka, to find out which ones we can collaborate with. Its a work in progress.
I think a lot of people here dont really have a clear idea of the distinction between an artist and a curator. The role of a curator also changes over time. How would you explain it to a layman?
A curator helps put an artists ideas into a bigger picture thats how I
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