Center for Curatorial Studies and Center for Curatorial Studies Present
The Visitor Talks: Tirdad Zolghadr - Office Hours
Monday, April 21, 2014
CCS Bard Seminar Room 1
It seems that an increasing number of curators draw on curatorial discourse when they wish to cover their backs. When assessing their practice more thoroughly, they resort to historical comparisons or theoretical positions beyond art. This is unfortunate, but hardly surprising. Curatorial discourse is widely assumed to be vague enough to minimize any measure of accountability. And yet, to claim this discourse is vague is misleading. It is, rather, a specific operation that sparks a particular theoretical persona in the reader; one that will identify with the curatorial voice, however ambivalently. This lecture will address the above operation, and what it might represent to curators who remain invested in curatorial education. It will also discuss whether the stakes do change when the context is one of acute political tension. Case studies include the CCS Bard Speaker Series 2010-13, Zolghadr’s very own (rather patchy) track record, and others more. Tirdad Zolghadr is a writer and a curator. The working title of his third novel is Headbanger.
This talk is given as part of the lecture series The Visitor Talks : Pre-ambulation and Retrospection.
For more information, call 845-758-7598, e-mail [email protected],
or visit https://www.bard.edu/ccs/events/the-visitor-talks-tirdad-zolghadr/.
Location: CCS Bard Seminar Room 1