CLAIRE CATTERALL Where do you think the most interesting and progressive design writing and criticism can be found today? To be honest, I don’t know and I don’t really care. I have very little patience for criticism these days. Either do the work or shut up. Critique with action, not words. Words are so twentieth century. Should more design critics embrace cross-platform publishing as a vehicle for their work? Sort of back to the answer above—it doesn’t matter. I think the influence of design critics is only higher than that of Comic Sans in typography these days. There may be a few people that still enjoy reading that kind of stuff, but I think for the most part design criticism (at least in graphic design) is dead, and that’s not saying much as it never really lived much.
Tell us a little about what you do. I’ve worked as a design curator for over twenty years, initially doing exhibitions in the more traditional context of museums and galleries—such as the Design Museum, the RCA and the ICA—and latterly working more with commercial businesses and in the public realm with Scarlet Projects, the arts consultancy I set up with Sarah Gaventa in 2000. Since 2008 I’ve been based at Somerset House, which in a way has seen me come full circle back to a gallery setting. But having been out of the rarefied world of the gallery for so long, I find I think quite differently about what curating means. It helps that we are a gallery within a public space rather than a museum. Is curation a critical act? I think it’s most definitely a critical act. In fact, I would lobby to change the emphasis of its dictionary definition from ‘having a duty of care’ to ‘applying critical judgement and discourse’. I’ve long since ceased becoming agitated by every Tom, Dick and Harry calling themselves a curator, whether choosing acts for a music festival or simply rearranging their bookshelves. I think it’s indicative of how the meaning of the word has changed and it should be embraced; although I am rather intrigued by the fact that it’s now been picked up by media think-tanks who talk about ‘content curation’ in relation to presenting condensed ‘need-to-know’ information to clients. A step too far perhaps?
“Words are so twentieth century.”
What special considerations does the curation of design require that are different from more traditional subjects such as art? I’m not so sure that the curation of art and design should be that different. In fact, I’ve always felt that design curation should be closer in approach to art curation. Generally speaking, art curation has at its heart the voice of the curator, who sets out to tell a story, to illuminate a particular viewpoint or idea, not so much through words, but through images and objects. If it’s done well it can change the way people think about art. Sometimes design exhibitions are too linear: objects on plinths with little attempt to look deeper into what those objects tell us. I think design has much more potential to tell us about ourselves and our world than that. If the curation of design requires a new or different approach at all, I would say it is simply to be more provocative. It should be used in more challenging ways to express a critical and philosophical discourse, and hopefully change the way we think about design. Has the web affected audience’s expectations of exhibitions or the way work is perceived in its final context? I don’t think the web has really changed an audience’s expectations, but I do think it can add a different dimension to an exhibition, by adding live content or allowing the visitor the chance to be more involved. In this way, it can give an exhibition a kind of ‘restlessness’, a feeling that it’s not simply a collection of static objects to be looked at, but an experience that can be responsive and can change. For example, in the SHOWstudio exhibition we did at Somerset House with Nick Knight and his team, much of the content was live-streamed, and impromptu events such as photo shoots of and interviews with artists, models and pop stars were tweeted or announced online. We also included work that could be altered via the SHOWstudio website. It was appropriate to this exhibition as it was, essentially, about a website.
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