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Declaring that he “wanted to put together [an exhibition] that talks about exhibitions and exhibiting,” Gioni included a very large number of artists who were long dead, non-artists (Carl Jung, Aleister Crowley), and high-profile contemporary artists whose practice emphasizes curatorial rather than strictly visual interests.' For instance, Gioni selected Oliver Croy and Oliver Esler, who twenty years ago found, preserved, and presented as an installation here nearly 400 cardboard house models built in the 1950s and ‘60s by an otherwise unknown Viennese insurance clerk named Peter Fritz. The objects are by Fritz, but their significance seems to arise from their discovery and display by Croy and Esler—and their visibility to Gioni choosing Croy and Esler (Fig. 1). Taken together, these approaches show that curating as a profession has reached some kind of inflection point and is turning inward, seeking a sense of its own maturity, attempting to structure its recent history and set the terms for future development of the profession. These moves are the exhibition counterparts of the wave of “curatorial studies” programs that has washed over academia in the last decade. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that Gioni, a 40-year old curator at the New Museum in New York, chose to look back to nineteenth- Figure 2. Alfredo Jaar, Venezia, Venezia (detail), 2013, mixed media, approx. 5 x 5 x 2 meters. (Photo Credit: Agostino Osio)

Figure 1 Declaring that he “wanted to put together [an exhibition] that talks about exhibitions and exhibiting,” Gioni included a very large number of artists who were long dead, non-artists (Carl Jung, Aleister Crowley), and high-profile contemporary artists whose practice emphasizes curatorial rather than strictly visual interests.' For instance, Gioni selected Oliver Croy and Oliver Esler, who twenty years ago found, preserved, and presented as an installation here nearly 400 cardboard house models built in the 1950s and ‘60s by an otherwise unknown Viennese insurance clerk named Peter Fritz. The objects are by Fritz, but their significance seems to arise from their discovery and display by Croy and Esler—and their visibility to Gioni choosing Croy and Esler (Fig. 1). Taken together, these approaches show that curating as a profession has reached some kind of inflection point and is turning inward, seeking a sense of its own maturity, attempting to structure its recent history and set the terms for future development of the profession. These moves are the exhibition counterparts of the wave of “curatorial studies” programs that has washed over academia in the last decade. It is interesting to reflect on the fact that Gioni, a 40-year old curator at the New Museum in New York, chose to look back to nineteenth- Figure 2. Alfredo Jaar, Venezia, Venezia (detail), 2013, mixed media, approx. 5 x 5 x 2 meters. (Photo Credit: Agostino Osio)

Related Figures (2)

Figure 1. Oliver Croy and Oliver Esler, The 387 Houses of Peter Fritz (1916-1992), Insurance Clerk from Vienna, 1993-2008, cardboard, matchboxes, wallpaper scraps, adhesive foil, magazine pages, dimensions variable. (Photo Credit: Marjorie Och)
Figure 1. Oliver Croy and Oliver Esler, The 387 Houses of Peter Fritz (1916-1992), Insurance Clerk from Vienna, 1993-2008, cardboard, matchboxes, wallpaper scraps, adhesive foil, magazine pages, dimensions variable. (Photo Credit: Marjorie Och)
from prior Biennales. One was a reading of the now famous “Dear Jane” letter that the artist Sophie Calle received and sent on to 100 of her closest female friends for their response —the nucleus of her 2007 installation at the French pavilion. In both cases, the prime audience seemed to be the relatively small number of people who had come to those prior Biennales (and remembered the specifics). century exhibition styles, while the re-enactment of Szeeman’s show from 40-plus years ago celebrated an avant-garde blurring of the lines between making and presenting artwork. This self-reflexivity extended to many of the artists representing individual countries in Venice. One particularly striking trend was artists taking the Biennale as their subject matter. Great Britain’s Jeremy Deller offered a large image of the nineteenth century English designer William Morris throwing a Russian oligarch’s yacht out of the lagoon (the enormous ship was docked immediately outside the Biennale grounds in 2011, blocking views of Venice and taking over a very public promenade, forcing the art-going public to walk around a fenced-off entryway). Other artists addressed the task of representing their home nation. Jesper Just reflected on the oddness of representing one country (Denmark) in another (Italy) in a video that depicted French actors of African descent motorcycling through a suburb of the Chinese city of Hangzhou noted for its faux-Parisian landmarks (e.g., an Eiffel Tower).
from prior Biennales. One was a reading of the now famous “Dear Jane” letter that the artist Sophie Calle received and sent on to 100 of her closest female friends for their response —the nucleus of her 2007 installation at the French pavilion. In both cases, the prime audience seemed to be the relatively small number of people who had come to those prior Biennales (and remembered the specifics). century exhibition styles, while the re-enactment of Szeeman’s show from 40-plus years ago celebrated an avant-garde blurring of the lines between making and presenting artwork. This self-reflexivity extended to many of the artists representing individual countries in Venice. One particularly striking trend was artists taking the Biennale as their subject matter. Great Britain’s Jeremy Deller offered a large image of the nineteenth century English designer William Morris throwing a Russian oligarch’s yacht out of the lagoon (the enormous ship was docked immediately outside the Biennale grounds in 2011, blocking views of Venice and taking over a very public promenade, forcing the art-going public to walk around a fenced-off entryway). Other artists addressed the task of representing their home nation. Jesper Just reflected on the oddness of representing one country (Denmark) in another (Italy) in a video that depicted French actors of African descent motorcycling through a suburb of the Chinese city of Hangzhou noted for its faux-Parisian landmarks (e.g., an Eiffel Tower).
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Curating contemporary art
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