MJ Manifesta Journal 11 - The Canon of Curating

This issue of Manifesta Journal is mainly concerned with two questions: how is the canon of curating to be defined and if "a history of exhibitions" must be written what should its parameters be?
In art history, the canon has been losing ground since the 1960s, when the study of "great artists" began to be replaced slowly by the study of the conditions surrounding artistic practice. This shift was also demonstrated by curators of the time. Nevertheless, within the practice of curating, the canon seems to occupy a noteworthy position - if only because some curators still feel the need to "curate outside the canon." In the act of curating, do we refer to a canonical framework of exhibitions or intend to produce exhibitions that will become part of a canon of curating? Is the canon an authoritative point of reference within the field of exhibition making? And is this something we should turn against or is it an essential part of the practice of the curator? If we practice curating "outside the canon," shouldn't we at least define what such a canon includes or excludes?
These questions lie at the heart of MJ's eleventh issue, "The Canon of Curating" and ultimately lead to an inquiry into what makes the one exhibition more important than the other, and why.



MJ #11 includes contributions by: Bruce Altshuler, Bassam Bruce Altshuler, Bassam El Baroni, Elena Crippa, Francesca Franco, Cristina Freire, Inti Guerrero, Milena Hoegsberg, Fieke Konijn, Olga Kopenkina, Paola Nicolin, Jean-Marc Poinsot, Simon Sheikh, Jelena Vesiæ, and Walter Zanini.