Experimenter Gallery will host the seventh edition of the Experimenter Curators’ Hub (ECH) at its space in Kolkata, India, from July 27 to 29. The event, which is South Asia’s leading debate on contemporary art practice, will bring together 10 leading curators from around the world. These include Pedro de Almeida, Catherine David, Reem Fadda, Roobina Karode, Olivier Kaesar, Hammad Nasar, Barbara Piwowarska, Ruba Katrib, Lauren Cornell and Nada Raza.
The curators will present and discuss their work and debate and critique the latest concerns and positions on the process of exhibition making with an audience comprising artists, writers, curators, art critics, historians, designers, architects and art enthusiasts. The event will be web-streamed live, offering the opportunity for art enthusiasts in the UAE and across the world to attend it online, and interact with the curators in real time. Participants with a UAE connection include Fadda and Nasar. Fadda is the associate curator, Middle Eastern Art for the Abu Dhabi Project of the Solomon R. Guggenheim, and currently based at the Guggenheim headquarters in New York. Nasar, who is the head of research and programmes at Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, will speak about his ongoing curation of Rock, Paper, Scissors: Positions in Play, the exhibition at the UAE’s National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, among other projects.
ECH is the brainchild of Priyanka and Prateek Raja, directors of Experimenter Gallery. “Dialogue and debate are crucial in the process of exhibition making, and this event provides curators an opportunity to think about their own processes, and of new possibilities, while giving the audience a rare peek into the curator’s mind. We are thrilled to have the foremost minds in the field with us every year. Last year 15,000 people connected to the Hub via web-stream, and we hope to have a bigger audience this year,” Raja says.
All the presentations by participating curators will be added to the Experimenter Gallery website, making them accessible to a wider audience. Presentations from previous editions can also be viewed at http://www.experimenter.in/web/node/49.
Hans Ulrich Obrist, Director of Serpentine Galleries, who participated in the Hub last year, says, “The ECH brings people together from a range of artistic backgrounds, locations and experiences for a captivating debate on the latest trends and ideas informing exhibitions worldwide. It is a unique chance to share your own work with people contributing to the arts, and an important event for South Asia’s cultural calendar.”
The event is open to all and free. To register, send an email to admin@experimenter.in