The changing role of the curator : the analysis of the increasing role and influence of the visitors on cultural heritage institutions

Bibliogr. s. 87

The curator has traditionally been defined as a custodian, a person having control and taking care of a collection, and often as a researcher and scientist. In the 70s a new form of curatorial activities was developed - there emerged a figure of an independent curator, who is responsible for the form and content of artistic events. The announcement made by Michael Brenson in 1998 on the pages of the art journal heralded the era of curators whose hybridity and interdisciplinarity was emphasized. Felix Feneon, referring to the function of a translator and a figure of authority, compared the curator to a bridge connecting art with the audience. Contemporary museology is associated with a certain abdication of the curator, who resigns from his central position in order to give power to the public. Nowadays, the activities of a museum include involving the visitors with the aim of getting them to participate fully. Most practices implemented in the construction of exhibitions and collections allow the visitors to share their own experience and give them a chance for participating in expositions. Participation of viewers, according to Nina Simon, is fulfilled when participants can create and add their own expressions and thoughts, come together through the content of the institution and determine its shape. These changes are In line with crowdsourcing, a neologism coined by Jeff Howe which describes the process of a transfer of responsibilities previously assigned to specialists to a group or community. The analysis of the changing role of the curator requires examining the concept of public participation, its forms, methods and limits. The article will attempt to answer the question of whether these are the tasks assigned to a curator only, what is actually the curator's significance, and who performs the function of the authority here.