A busy day at the Charleston Festival. Julia Peyton-Jones and I were interviewed by Dinah Casson about what it is to be a curator. Dinah started off with the characteristics of a traditional curator as, I assume, she has experienced in working on the British Galleries at the V&A and, more recently, the First World War Galleries at the Imperial War Museum. Then Julia revealed the complexities of decision-making on the exhibition programme at the Serpentine. We all remarked on the ways in which there is now so much more interest in contemporary art than when we started our careers and discussed the reasons why. After lunch, Hans-Ulrich Obrist demonstrated what it is to be a high-powered international superstar curator in discussing his project to interview the best known artists and architects for his version of Vasari.
Ⓒ Axel Hesslenberg
Ⓒ Axel Hesslenberg
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
I’m at present reading the Calvin Tomkins version published in 2008, “Lives of the Artist.” Difficult subject as the artists are all still living so the text seems slightly out of date.
I think Obrist’s version is entirely based on recordings so will presumably retain its value as a sourcebook. Charles