kick the curator

The only way artists can criticize curators in public is by making artworks. In 2009, for example, Yogyakarta-based artist Agus Suwage made an installation in which six life-size sculptures of curators, collectors and gallery owners were put behind iron bars. And Bandung-based artist Tommy Aditama Putra made a kick the curator series. In the image above we can see Bandung-based curator Agung Hujatnikajennong bruised image in ‘Kick Hujatnikajennong’ by Tommy Aditama Putra (one of five panels, graphite on canvas, 180x120cm, 2010). But curators can take the proverbial punch. Curators often deny that they have the power to make and break artistic careers, but they do as they can be seen as gatekeepers.