The Economy of Curation and the Capital of Attention

The Economy of Curation and the Capital of Attention
Introduction
Hongjohn Lin
Exhibition-making inevitably involves an economy of curation, a challenge particularly crucial for independent curators aiming to realize their curatorial visions. This economic aspect reveals a wide range of concerns: from budget management and securing funding to determining the scale of exhibitions, overseeing installation processes, and navigating cultural policies. These practical concerns serve as a constant reality check, standing in contrast to the often idealized public image of curatorial practice. Moreover, this economy of curation is closely tied to what is known as “attention capital,” whereby visibility and audience engagement frequently dictate the perceived success or failure of an exhibition.
Issue 13 The Economy of Curation and the Capital of Attention
Freda Fiala
It is intriguing to imagine Bauhaus founder, architect Walter Gropius, and theater director Erwin Piscator sitting together in 1927, pondering the sketches of their shared vision of the “Totaltheater” (lit. “total theater”). They hoped to create a theater that could break free from the rigid structures of the conventional proscenium stage and combine different stage models within a single, dynamic space. Gropius’s solution was a rotating and mobile platform that could change the audience’s perspective mid-performance. Beyond the mechanical innovation, he envisaged the integration of light and film projections to expand the theatrical space and intensify the experience.
Issue 13 The Economy of Curation and the Capital of Attention
Tzu Tung Lee
For 38 years, the Katratripulr Indigenous community has resisted the appropriation of their ancestral wetland. First taken in 1985 by the Taitung government to build “Asia’s first Disneyland,” the wetland was later re-appropriated for solar energy development as Taiwan shifted toward green initiatives. Generations of Katratripulr children have grown up as activists, fighting for their traditional territory.
Issue 13 The Economy of Curation and the Capital of Attention
Yenchi Yang
Oikonomia means administration of the house. In the Aristotelian (or pseudo-Aristotelian) treatise on economy, we can thus read that the technē oikonomikē differs from politics just as the house (oikia) differs from the city (polis). This distinction is restated in the Politics, in which the politician and the king—who belong to the sphere of the polis—are qualitatively opposed to the oikonomos and the despotēs—who are referred to the sphere of the house and the family.
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Curatography Issue 14 - Curating and Re‑public / Re‑commons

SPECIAL ISSUE - It’s Us, Not You: Curatorial Notes on the 6th Asia Triennial Manchester

Curatography Issue 13 - The Economy of Curation and the Capital of Attention

Curatography Issue 12 - Grassroots Curating in Asia

Curatography Issue 11 - Ethics of Flourishing Onto-Epistemologies

Curatography Issue 10 - Exhibition Amnesia, or, the Apparatus of Speculative Exhibition

Curatography Issue 9 - Curating Against Forgetting

Curatography Issue 8- Reformatting documenta with lumbung Formula: documenta 15

Curatography Issue 7 - The Heterogeneous South

Curatography Issue 6 - The Beginning of Curating

Curatography Issue 5 - Curatorial Episteme

Curatography Issue 4 - Curatorial Consciousness in the Times of Post-Nationalism

Curatography Issue 3 - Curating Performativity

Curatography Issue 2 - Curators’ Living Rooms

Curatography Issue 1 - Curatography