Digital curatorship. The origin of a new curatorial practice and its alternative approach to audience engagement.

Abstract

This thesis aspired at demonstrating whether digital curatorship can be considered an effective practice to engage the audience. In fact, as the closures in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated, only the curators and, generally, art organisations that were prepared in terms of digitalisation were able to continue working and disseminating knowledge about art and culture despite the strict norms required to limit the spread of the virus. Curating as we understand it has existed since exhibitions stopped being regarded as a mere display of artworks and became deemed as a structured activity based upon specific rules and managed by a leading specialist: the curator. Nevertheless, we can now distinguish different types of curators, as this work asserts. Specifically, this qualitative thesis began by briefly outlining the origin of curatorship, its history, and developments, and thenceforth called particular attention to the emerging profession of the digital curator, examining some digital event and media curation case studies and commenting on the effectiveness of such projects. Moreover, it compared five European museums’ digital policy, discussing how differently they invest in new technologies. Additionally, the thesis included five semi-structured interviews with digital and white-cube curators, enquiring them about how digitalism is perceived and used in their practice. The research attempted to answer the following question: can digital curatorship be considered an alternative to the traditional practice in order to maximise the engagement and the experience of the audience? The study revealed that the employment of digital tools has gradually reduced the limitations offered by physical spaces such as galleries and museums, helping curators reach a broader audience and introduce new ways to engage it with.