The Edinburgh Companion to Curatorial Futures

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The Edinburgh Companion to Curatorial Futures

Edited by: Bridget Crone , Bassam El Baroni and Matthew Poole

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2026

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About this book

The first curatorial studies volume to engage with the concept of ‘the future’

Explores the role of curating in shaping the future of art and culture
Examines the intersections between curating practices and the digital world
Investigates how identity politics influence curatorial approaches
Considers the relationship between political activism and curatorial work
Re-theorises the future through the lens of contemporary curating practices

In a so-called post-neoliberal world, it can seem like culture is stuck in a perpetual presentism where history and the future are but mere data points for speculative calculations of gains, and culture seems all but a string of endlessly repeating commodities. In such an environment, can we rescue the future for art, for curating and the curatorial, and for culture more generally? Do we need to? What function do concepts like the future and futurity play in the field of curating and the curatorial? What use is ‘the future’ to curators and others working within the field of the curatorial? The Edinburgh Companion to Curatorial Futures is the first curatorial studies volume to engage with the increasingly ubiquitous concept of ‘the future’ and its exponential growth in the fields of artistic research, curating, art and academia. What is it we need to know as we think towards the future?

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Frontmatter
i

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Contents
v

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List of Figures
viii

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1 Introduction: Emergent Directions in Curatorial Thinking and Practice
1
Bridget Crone, Bassam El Baroni and Matthew Poole

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Part I: Curatorial Complexities
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2 Unravelling: After Practice- Based Curating
23
Lucy Cotter

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3 Conspiratorial Realities: Towards a Media History of Art
35
Mahan Moalemi

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4 Liquid Bodies Liquid Worlds: Notes
49
Bridget Crone

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5 Curatorial Constellations, Parataxis, Neoliberalism
58
Matthew Poole

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6 Curating-at-Large: Notes Towards a Sufficiently General Category
87
Suhail Malik

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Part II: Re-centring the Curatorial
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7 Stolen Moments: Namibian Music History Untold
107
Aino Moongo and Renzo Baas

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8 Curating Incommensurable Nuclear Futures
126
Ele Carpenter, Lise Autogena, Gabriella Hirst, Warren Harper, Alex Ressel, Kerri Meehan and Nangarridj Jeremiah Garlngarr

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9 Listening to Offshore Detention: The Politics of Curation in how are you today by the Manus Recording Project Collective
151
James E. K. Parker and Joel Stern

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10 Curative Curation: Black Women Curators as Restorative Agents
177
Portia Malatjie

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11 Johanna Unzueta’s Tools for Life: Engaging a Politics of Labour Within the Art Institution
187
Danielle Child

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12 GABAN (strange): Holding Space for murum-gidyal (Healing) in Museums and Galleries
202
Brook Garru Andrew

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13 After-Events: Biennials Beyond the Exhibition
218
Anthony Gardner

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14 Working Together(ness): The Curatorial as a ‘Function’
230
Dimitra Gkitsa and Grace Samboh

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Part III: Datafication
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15 Desperately Seeking Audience: Analytics in the Twenty-First-Century Museum
241
Katrina Sluis

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16 Curating on the Web as a Way to Create Interferences in Today’s Network
251
Marialaura Ghidini

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17 Curating/Fermenting Data: Speculative Practices for Curatorial Futures
259
Magdalena Tyżlik-Carver

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18 Sleep Series: ‘art by sleepers, for sleepers and art as sleep’
276
Shu Lea Cheang and Matthew Fuller

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19 The Labour of Symbiosis
284
Caroline A. Jones

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20 Curating Tech Platforms
305
Mi You

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21 Useful Curating in the Postdigital Era
311
Stéphanie Bertrand

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Part IV: Radical Infrastructures
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22 Acoustic Sympathies: Temporal, Vibrational and Improvisational Worlds
325
Brandon LaBelle

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23 Companion to an Eviscerated City: A Tragireality in Two Voices and Four Acts
336
Lara Baladi and Beth Stryker

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24 Preserving Citizenry: Derry Film and Video Workshop and the Quest(ion) for Institutions
356
Isobel Harbison

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25 Something Smiles Through All the Drowsiness of the World: A Field Report
377
Maha Maamoun

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26 From the ‘Lure for Feeling’ to Grassroots Planning: Grammars of Intention and Conjuncture in the Future Possible
386
Janna Graham

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27 Object Flow: From Storage to Commons
404
Marina Valle Noronha

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28 Where Is the Body of the Curator?
432
Lisa Rosendahl

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Part V: Fictioning the Curatorial
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29 Curatorial Practice as Disaster Fiction
445
Jacob Lillemose

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30 World Building: Feminist Futures on Mothership Earth
450
Eva Díaz

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31 Prototyping Value
457
Lukáš Likavčan

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32 Parables of Curatorial Futures
465
Tara McDowell

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Notes on Contributors
483

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Index
501

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

January 31, 2026

eBook ISBN:

9781399508469

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Main content:

528

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781399508469

eBook ISBN: 9781399508469

Keywords for this book

Curating; artistic research; future curatorial practice; digital humanities; sonic activism; Indigenous art

Audience(s) for this book

For universities and colleges of further and higher education

The Edinburgh Companion to Curatorial Futures

Overview

About this book

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures

1 Introduction: Emergent Directions in Curatorial Thinking and Practice

2 Unravelling: After Practice- Based Curating

3 Conspiratorial Realities: Towards a Media History of Art

4 Liquid Bodies Liquid Worlds: Notes

5 Curatorial Constellations, Parataxis, Neoliberalism

6 Curating-at-Large: Notes Towards a Sufficiently General Category

7 Stolen Moments: Namibian Music History Untold

8 Curating Incommensurable Nuclear Futures

9 Listening to Offshore Detention: The Politics of Curation in how are you today by the Manus Recording Project Collective

10 Curative Curation: Black Women Curators as Restorative Agents

11 Johanna Unzueta’s Tools for Life: Engaging a Politics of Labour Within the Art Institution

12 GABAN (strange): Holding Space for murum-gidyal (Healing) in Museums and Galleries

13 After-Events: Biennials Beyond the Exhibition

14 Working Together(ness): The Curatorial as a ‘Function’

15 Desperately Seeking Audience: Analytics in the Twenty-First-Century Museum

16 Curating on the Web as a Way to Create Interferences in Today’s Network

17 Curating/Fermenting Data: Speculative Practices for Curatorial Futures

18 Sleep Series: ‘art by sleepers, for sleepers and art as sleep’

19 The Labour of Symbiosis

20 Curating Tech Platforms

21 Useful Curating in the Postdigital Era

22 Acoustic Sympathies: Temporal, Vibrational and Improvisational Worlds

23 Companion to an Eviscerated City: A Tragireality in Two Voices and Four Acts

24 Preserving Citizenry: Derry Film and Video Workshop and the Quest(ion) for Institutions

25 Something Smiles Through All the Drowsiness of the World: A Field Report

26 From the ‘Lure for Feeling’ to Grassroots Planning: Grammars of Intention and Conjuncture in the Future Possible

27 Object Flow: From Storage to Commons

28 Where Is the Body of the Curator?

29 Curatorial Practice as Disaster Fiction

30 World Building: Feminist Futures on Mothership Earth

31 Prototyping Value

32 Parables of Curatorial Futures

Notes on Contributors

Index

Bibliographic data