backstory takeover: “To choose.”
It’s takeover time at the Neuberger. I’m making space for you to hear directly from some of the wonderful colleagues who help bring this place to life. This backstory takeover is written by Curatorial Assistant Rem Ribeiro.
To choose, or not to choose—that is the question…
Even though the curatorial version of this question isn’t as intense as Shakespeare intended it for Hamlet, it remains one of the most difficult that I ask myself as a developing curator.
When you fall in love with a work of art, it really is a double-edged sword: does this work truly belong in this specific exhibition, or should it wait for another—and often far better—opportunity in the future?
Over the years, I’ve come to learn that less is more. By having “less,” it allows each individual piece to hold more prominence in an exhibition. The process of elimination becomes more meaningful and more powerful than the process of selection.
In both previous and current exhibition projects, the greatest epiphany has been that, for some pieces, it just isn’t the right time. By eliminating a work of art from a checklist or floorplan, you are actually doing all of the pieces an act of kindness. You are honoring them and opening possibilities for those works to be activated in different exhibitions that will allow them to have the significant presence they deserve.
In a collecting museum, the major sigh of relief is knowing those works will always be there…and will wait patiently for their chance at the right time.
As the curatorial department works toward installation changeovers, I have been returning to works of art that didn’t quite make the cut in the past. Looking ahead to our shows for the new year, I can happily say that, for many of these revisited works, the answer is now “To choose.”
—Rem Ribeiro
