Prof. Dr. A Pleasant Interview with Marcus Graf
Yeditepe University Art and Cultural Management Department Head, art writer, curator Prof. Dr. To Marcus Graf; plastic arts of the future in Turkey, pandemic period art, curatorial practices, I asked my question who authored a place for my art and mind.
Enjoyable readings.
When the title of the last months is “Art During the Pandemic Period”, this question becomes inevitable: What happened to your curatorial work of the pandemic?
Because of the pandemic, three exhibitions have been postponed to 2021. At the same time, a lot of offers came to create online seminars, Podcasts and web-portals. So, my current work shifted from creating exhibitions in physical space to design educational and art mediation related online projects.
It is obvious that we are going through a depressed period. What are the aspects of this uncertainty process that worry you?
I do not worry, as I believe that this period is temporary. The current depression is inevitable. So, we have to take this time-out as a chance to reconsider the way we live and work. This is what I do right now. After the depression, art lovers will get back to exhibitions, concerts and theatre plays. Maybe then, all these cultural events will have more meaning and value as we all realized how precious it is to experience art and culture together as community.
What effect did the pandemic process have on the bond between the curator-artist-gallery and the museum operator?
All activists of the art and culture scene are continuing their work. Curators plan exhibitions, writers write, and artists create art. As the traditional way of sharing is limited, the relations between the various art experts and artists is now heavily based on online-meetings, and telephone calls. I visit much less studios, exhibitions and artists than before of course. Though, I try to compensate this through the digital world. So, the social media, and online presence of artists became more important than ever.
If we consider that our material and spiritual values are superior to art; curatorial practices, domestic and international fairs and exhibitions, collecting, seeing exhibitions … If we look at the sector in general, can it be said that the road traveled until this period was destroyed?
Like the Tourism sector, the art sector was in a big depression at the beginning of the pandemic. The art market seems to have lost volume and the previous positive development has slowed down. People spent less money on art currently. Nevertheless, recently it seems that again more collectors spent money on art, as a reaction to the depressive way of living. Maybe, it is because we stay so much at home, that the close environment around us becomes more important than ever.
With the pandemic, online display gained momentum. I think it is a serious incentive for the curators and artists to continue research and production, developments and continuity in modern arts. How do you interpret the process’s evolution from physical space to online exhibition?
Online exhibitions and cultural projects can never fully replace the actual event in a real physical space of course. The experience is just different, and the psychovisual impact of online exhibitions is weaker that the real show in a gallery. Nevertheless, I believe that online shows and projects enlarge the audience, as they reach audiences outside of Istanbul. So, cultural online projects mean a valuable addition to the traditional way of curating and arts management. This will not vanish after Corona has passed.
How do you evaluate the increased interest in the curating profession and its effect on the development of the profession?
As the world of art is constantly developing and founding new institutions for the exhibition and mediation of art, curatorial practice as profession has become widely spread. You need experts of exhibition making in art spaces, galleries, museums and art departments at companies and in municipality departments at. So, the working field has highly enlarged since the 1980s in the West and after 2005 in Turkey.
Curating is a versatile profession; It can be defined as an interdisciplinary field in art institutions. This is one of the reasons why this profession has become widespread in today’s art world. The Art Director helps open visions that go beyond the known state to disrupt reality, destroy stereotypes as well as superficial assumptions about art and society. The Art Manager helps to create an effective platform within the Cultural and Creative Industries where Art can be shared with the audience. The task of the Art Director is to establish an environment for arts and culture.
Can anyone be a curator?
Just like Beuys said that everybody can be an Artist, I believe that everybody can be a curator. Everybody can become anything. The question is: Can everybody become a good and strong curator. For this you have to work hard on yourself. Learn a lot about art’s history and theory, artistic practices and the way artist think. Learn about basic design, architecture, interior design as well as social sciences like philosophy, sociology and psychology. Of course, learn about interpersonal relations, pedagogy as well as arts and cultural management. In the end, be curious, critical and brave, and do as many shows as you can. Every exhibition will push you forward on your path of becoming a curator that has an impact on the arts and cultural scene for creating environments in which art and cultural projects can happen.
How do you feed yourself professionally?
I get inspired by art, artists as well as various sectors of culture and design. Besides this, current discussions in the fields of philosophy, sociology and psychology are important for me. Also, pop culture, digital media and phenomena of mass culture are inspiring.
You are influential in the arts and culture sector as an instructor, curator and critic. Is it inevitable that you are also an art writer due to your dominance in the sector or is it a preference?
Both, on the one hand, as curator and academic, I need to write about the topics that I consider important for formulating and communicating thoughts of mine. Writing helps me to focus, and to mediate the conceptual framework of an exhibition as well as the issue of an academic research. At the same time, I love writing on art and culture as I find it challenging, creative and highly satisfying.
How would you interpret the economy of the forward-looking art market in this process where artists make extra efforts to produce, curators to research, galleries and museums to exhibit?
Just like macroeconomics, the microeconomics of art will gain speed, power and volume again after the end of the pandemic and in a near future, it will raise above the state before the COVID 19 period.
Especially in this period, what are the duties of managers and curators for attracting attention to visual arts and sustaining art? Are the new rules enough for people to demand art?
We have to continue our work, as the demand of art and culture will revive soon. So, we have to be prepared to propel the positive development that latest from after 2005 until the beginning of 2020. New rules, working methods, sharing strategies and business models have already come up, and others will follow. Just like art and culture is permenetly changing, the mediation and communication platforms change. So, as arts and cultural managers we have to adapt to change. For this, we have to be experimental, critical, creative and most of all open to alteration in the dynamic field of art and culture.
Thank you to Prof. Dr. Marcus Graf for kind sharing idea for SanatOkur’s readers.
