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“Implicit in the question we are discussing is the idea that public money somehow comes with no strings attached and is this great utopian thing where you do what you like. Whereas private money, you’re always in debt to something, you’re always instrumentalized as curators. I wonder to what extent that’s true because in a lot of cases, public money can come with much more baggage.” —Mark Rappolt
There are few hotter topics in the art world today – in both commercial and nonprofit sectors – than the funding of art. From events like the seemingly ever-present biennials both old and new, to museums and individual exhibitions, how these displays are funded is under increasing scrutiny and a source of controversy. As the art world itself moves towards greater privatization and commodification, public funding for arts is either decreasing or already nearly non-existent in many countries, and under pressure in areas where it more traditionally flourished.
In Miami Beach this past December, Art Basel’s always-excellent Conversations program took a close look specifically at the impact of these pressures on the curation of public biennials around the world in this insightful conversation. With Michelle Grabner, Artist, and Artistic Director, Front International, Cleveland; Diana Nawi, Independent Curator, Los Angeles, and Co-Artistic Director, Prospect.5, New Orleans; Nicolas Bourriaud, Curator, 2019 Istanbul Biennale, and Director, Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier; and moderated by Mark Rappolt, Editor-in-Chief ArtReview and ArtReview Asia, London.
