[artinfo] Beti Îerovc : When Attitudes Become the Norm

[Art-Agenda]

When Attitudes Become the Norm: The Contemporary 
Curator and Institutional Art by Beti Îerovc

We are happy to present the first book within the 
IZA Editions that is being published by the Igor 
Zabel Association for Culture and Theory 
(Ljubljana) and 
<http://www.archivebooks.org/>Archive Books 
(Berlin).

About the book
When Attitudes Become the Norm is a collection of 
essays and interviews by art historian and 
theorist Beti Îerovc on the topic of curatorship 
in contemporary art. Îerovc examines curatorship 
in its broader social, political and economic 
contexts, as well as in relation to the profound 
changes that have taken place in the art field 
over the last century. She analyses the curator 
as a figure who appears, evolves, and 
participates in the institutionalisation of 
contemporary art and argues that with the curator 
institutional art-art designed to fit the art 
institution's space and needs-achieves its 
fullest expression. 

The first part of the book establishes the 
historical and contextual framework for 
understanding the phenomenon of curatorship and 
outlines the range of the contemporary art 
curator's powers and activities. In later essays, 
Îerovc analyses the rapid global spread of 
curatorship, discusses politicised left-leaning 
contemporary art as a genre that has developed in 
explicit connection with curators and art 
institutions, and questions the possibilities of 
the social and political objectives attached to 
exhibitions and other curatorial projects. In the 
last part of the book, Îerovc investigates the 
character and ambiguities of the curator as an 
artist and the curated contemporary art 
exhibition as an artistic medium, as an event, 
and as a ritual. She draws comparisons between 
the contemporary role of art institutions as 
commissioners and producers of art and the 
similar role played in the past by the 
aristocracy and the Church and makes connections 
between contemporary art events and religious 
ritual. Her analysis thus seeks to counter the 
treatment of these aesthetic productions as 
autonomous creations and to foster a more 
critical view of the role art institutions play 
within the broader social system.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Role of the Contemporary Art Curator: A Historical and Critical Analysis 
Joséphin Péladan: A Proto-Curator? 
Interview with Pierre Restany 
Interview with Zoran KrÏi”nik 
Interview with Harald Szeemann 
Interview with Daniel Buren
Networking, Curatorship and Social Capital
The Curator and the Leftist Politicisation of Contemporary Art
Interview with Charles Esche
Beautiful Freedom
The Exhibition as a Work of Art and the Curator as Its Author
The Exhibition as Artwork, the Curator as Artist: A Comparison with Theatre
Interview with Walter Benjamin
Why Is It Important in the Art Field to Think about Art Events?
Afterword by Mary Anne Staniszewski

Beti Îerovc is a Slovene art historian and art 
theorist. She teaches at the Department of Art 
History at the Faculty of Arts of the University 
of Ljubljana. Her areas of research are visual 
art and the art system since the mid-19th century 
with a focus on their role in society. In the 
past 15 years her research has concentrated on 
the phenomena of the contemporary art curator, 
the contemporary art exhibition as a medium, and 
the changing role of art institutions.


Published by: 
<http://www.igorzabel.org/en/publications>Igor 
Zabel Association for Culture and Theory 
(Ljubljana) & 
<http://www.archivebooks.org/>Archive Books 
(Berlin)
IZA Editions Editor: Ur”ka Jurman
Supported by: ERSTE Foundation
Price: 20 EUR
ISBN 978-3-943620-39-9 
To order: <http://www.archivebooks.org/>www.archivebooks.org
Distribution: <http://www.anagrambooks.com/>Anagram 
Books / <http://www.lespressesdureel.com>Les 
presses du réel / 
<http://perimeterdistribution.com/>Perimeter 
Distribution