Lalit Kala Contemporary - 55

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Curating has evolved tremendously over the last few years of its relatively short history. It is important to gauge the unique role and relevance of a curator in n fabricating contemporary art exhibitions today.

This issue of Lalit Kala Contemporary presents a larger discourse on the curatorial ideas, initiatives and strategies that are prevailing in the International contemporary art world. It attempts to highlight the curatorial agenda in different art exhibitions; how curators redefine and recreate the spatial and temporal vocabulary; what are the chief ideas behind a curator's articulation and construction of an exhibition; how and in what contexts (geographical and social) and/or constraints they adopt a critical approach; why is the curator's role so understated in some countries, how the selection and announcements of curators for big international events changes the course of expectation amongst the audience; why some artists prefer to step into the curator's shoes to showcase their art; what makes exhibitions great is it the art alone that creates all the flutter or is it the name of a curator who stands by the show or a clever mingling of the two; does contemporary art crave for a formatted, curated viewing and reception where the curator can highlight the engaging intricacies of art; is the audience receptive towards this curatorial fabrication or do viewers see art as an immersive lacuna which gets dodged and intensified by curatorial dictums. There is a sea of questions that revolve around the curatorial spectrum and one expects elaboration on most of these matters.

Curators mediate between the artist and the public and one intends to see curating as a creative discipline. It is believed that curators can weave a social dialogue between an artwork and its audience, which could be far more compelling, contemplating, wistful and even speculative than a simple viewing of an exhibition. But in reality the entire structure of art, right from education to galleries, dealers and collectors seems to be operating in a singular chase of familiarity, which by all means discourages creative freedom. It appears to bean idiosyncratic, contrived framework in which the curator is sometimes seen as a surrogate of the exhibition who exercises sophisticated networking and trade, in order to remain betrothed to the profession.

This issue of the journal carries some significant insights by contemporary artists and curators and their individual responses to curatorial imperatives. We look forward to exploring and expanding upon such themes in innovative ways, in order to make it enriching and inspiring for our readers.