Curation

The winning film argued that "total pixel space represents both the ultimate determinism and the ultimate freedom—every possibility existing simultaneously, waiting for consciousness to give it meaning through the act of choice."

In making this statement, the film suggested that creativity, above all else, is an act of curation. It's a claim that... See more

As content multiplies, the challenge isn’t access; it’s orientation. We don’t need more input; we need better filters. That’s where the curator comes in: not just as a tastemaker, but as a trusted lens in a world of endless noise.

Somewhere between the late 2000’s aggregator sites and the contemporary For You Page, we lost our ability to curate the web. Worse still, we’ve outsourced our discovery to corporate algorithms. Most of us did it in exchange for an endless content feed.

In a world of perpetual data overload, [curation] implies information design and selectivity: the channeling, filtering, and organization into intelligible and usable information; the digging up of new or long ignored cultural corpora. Most of these corpora are simply sitting in storage: less than 1% of the Smithsonian Institution’s permanent... See more

For brands, archives serve a parallel function: heritage as intellectual capital. Referencing your own past demonstrates institutional depth, creative continuity, and legitimacy that new brands cannot manufacture. In a world of conglomerate acquisitions and proliferating labels, archives prove you were there first. And that you still matter today.

The ingredients of ‘good’ curation

I think great curation comes down to five key elements that span the processes of searching, selection and contextualizing:

1. Preservation: Caring for, reviving or resurfacing things that might otherwise be lost or forgotten in archives or streams.


2. Connection: Inspiring moments of surprise –, “I didn’t think of

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