There are probably other things more worthy of your outrage, no?
2
You may want to at least reference David Balzer's "Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else" published in 2014.
10
Yes, "curated" is the latest pompous trend, designed to puff up the ordinary to seem more important than it is. It's the successor to "hand-picked." I once heard a colleague describe himself as being "hand-picked" for a new job, and a list of songs being "hand-picked" by a radio host.
As a previous poster noted, "curated" will fade in short order. But not to worry, some equally pretentious word or phrase will rise to take its place.
13
It’s strange that Lou Stoppard makes no mention of David Balzer’s 2014 book Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else, as this article seems informed by Balzer’s earlier book.
9
"Dough's menu is carefully curated to bring customers a selection of flavors to delight the senses.”
This refers to DOUGHNUTS. No...really. I am not making this up. I walk by Dough every day in Flatiron. When I saw a banner outside saying "handmade artisanal doughnuts"...I lost consciousness for a moment. But not in a good way...like when you see your neighbor's Bulldog dressed as a pumpkin for Halloween.
Their site says that the doughnuts are made in a "handcrafted, small-batch process," with an open kitchen because "transparency is key." And "Workers passionately master the craft of doughnut making."
Oy.
I don't care if these are the best doughnuts since doughnuts were invented. They are doughnuts. They are not curated, small-batch, artisanal, transparent anything. They are fried dough, with icing, and it's a doughnut shop. If the people who work there are genuinely "passionate" about it...nice for them. There’s nothing wrong with a great doughnut...but puhleeze. It’s a doughnut. When your website reads like satire...get a grip. The Met and MoMA have curators. You have people who make doughnuts. Passionately.
This morning I passionately curated an artisanal breakfast of sausage and eggs for myself, the artisan being moi. My process was transparent...right there on my stove. The food was locally sourced...from the Key Food up the street. It was a small-batch breakfast: one.
And by the way, the doughnut place originated, guess where...Brooklyn. All this must stop.
44
You're late, editors: I posted this on my Facebook timeline on February 17th. You could look it up:
Let's stop with all the curating already. A curator is a professional who puts together an art exhibition, usually for a museum or an art gallery. The kid who's making your panini or wrap is not curating your lunch. Are we clear?
8
Artist and Curator here.
You think the title of Curator is being misused, try being an artist.
Every weirdo, eccentric, free-spirit in the world call themselves an Artist. Just saying.
11
This piece speaks for me som much!
Let’s nail, “Weaponize” and “Reimagined” next.
5
The word is not as upsetting as the act of curators in museums and galleries dictating what is art and telling artists what to do. Currently, administrators, in art (curators), and academia, are more important than art itself and education. Artists and professors need to gain back their role in visual exploration and research. Art historians or curators are not artists. This is the reason why recently some artists have engaged in curating exhibitions as a way to get back the importance of their perspective. Curators, and academic administrators are the reason why there is a lack in quality in art exhibitions and education in higher education institutions.
I'm a museum exhibit designer, and the conflation of exhibit design and curation by those outside the museum field is a constant annoyance. "Curation" is a very specific profession, distinct from exhibit design, and the rise of these star curators having their name put on- and getting sole credit for- exhibits is frankly just as much of a dilution of the term as businesses "curating" their products.
6
I tend to group art curators and music promoters together. One is an art promoter, the other curates concerts.
1
We now live in a lightening-fast, cut & paste culture, courtesy of digital technology.
It began with music in the 90s and then expanded to images, with the advent of smart phones and social media from 2007 on. Today Instagram, Pinterest and their ilk encourage nearly Everyone to scrapbook nearly Everything.
The popularity of the term ‘Curation’ is a fleeting reflection of our global cultural blender, permanently set on Hi-Speed.
What would Marshall McLuhan think?
3
I feel for the curators who spent years in school learning this craft. It's like my profession, librarian, where clerical staff put in charge of the library at a K-12 school are called librarians, when they do not possess an MLS degree and do not have the professional training that we receive in graduate school. It undervalues a profession and the training that is required to earn that title.
15
"Organized"
"Edited"
3
LOU!
You nailed it when you said "The proliferation of “curating” speaks of a generation anxious for authority and authorship, and also for meaning." That's exactly what curation and what a not-real curator, "curator" is after.
6
Slow brewed xtreme artisanal stuff curation.
2
This is a multi step process.
"Curated" is just one step in the process.
After curation comes "pairing".
Then bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
5
This year curated last year artisanal. And next year there will be another word to separate the shallow and gullible from their money. Nothing new under the sun.
63
@Swift - I think we've already passed that point. I'm sure you can find a restaurant nearby with a curated selection of iconic artisanal bread.
35
@David yes, served with a handcrafted lager.
16
Next year's will be "user-generated", as a euphemism for "worthless".
14
Anyone who as "googled" or "yelped" has experienced some frustration with the results that result from such searches. You get a list of items that based on Google's algorithms or, more likely, payment to Google and it is difficult to discern the best product or service. In the case of Yelp, user review are either polluted by fake reviews or people who don't have the same view of restaurants that I have. Years ago, Zagats in NYC (before it was acquired by Google) required that a reviewer agree to review a certain number of restaurants; as a result, there was a reliability in the reviews/scoring of each restaurant that I could rely upon. In that sense the Zagat guide filtered and organized NY restaurants for me. What the internet requires now is some sensible way to fairly and honestly filter and organize my searches (dare I say curate my searches!).
2
Very interesting. I feel much the same way about the spreading usage of "campus," which used to refer to higher ed, but now is used for offices, factories, you name it.
57
While I can certainly understand a professional curator’s distaste for the trend towards curated everything, my distaste for the word is for the suggestion that anyone can presume to know me so well that they can ‘curate’ my taste for books, my home, clothes, travel experiences, whatever. The word also suggests a laziness on the part of those who would seek to have these thing ‘curated’ for them, rather than put in the time and effort develop their own tastes and preferences.
92
@TimesReader
I share your distaste for the word, although to me it's an absurd attempt to aggrandize things like making drinks or a cheese plate.
23
As a licensed architect, I feel for all you museum curators out there. When I got my license back in the late 80s, the word "architect" almost always referred to someone who designed buildings after receiving an extensive education and taking a rigourous licensing exam. Now there are systems architects, software architect, cloud architects---not to mention wardrobe architects and food architects.
Language changes. I'd say we should all just roll with it, but I was an English Lit. major before I went to architecture school, and I'm still trying to adjust to people using the words "impact"and "gift" as a verbs.
91
@AB Yes! Whatever happened to simple “giving” versus “gifting” — I wince every time I read “gift” used as a verb.
17
@AB Or build or ask as nouns. That language changes is not an excuse for not knowing what you are saying.
10
At a recent work meeting, someone actually used the word “architect” as a verb, saying, “What do we need to do to architect this?”
Yeesh.
I, too, cringe at every darn thing under sun being “curated.” Oh well, I also wince every time I see how someone making the plural form of a word using an apostrophe s.
I must be a dinosaur.
27
About 10 years late on this one! Though worth pointing out.
Around 2009, I remember a friend telling me that he had been at home that morning curating his mind. Oy vey.
99
@A
Definitely...even 15! Especially when you throw in "Hand Picked" along with curated.
The selling platform, Etsy (est 2005) was the "queen" of these terms, relegating the shopper of goods to a hapless idiot who needs the hand-picking curating genius to lay forth a spread of goods, that will direct us to the "correct" selection. meh.
7
@A
He meant he was freezing it in place. I hope it became unfrozen. :)
1
@artygirl
In line with the topic: No comma before "Etsy" because "Etsy" is restrictive.
4
As a (now retired) museum curator I must object to Mr. Renton's hackneyed use of "dusty" with reference to objects in museum collections. Properly cared-for collections are neither dusty nor moldy (another common cliche).
79
@JK
Hear, hear! As a working curator I also objected to that particular choice of modifier and its association.
13
I am a Curator for a small historical museum. I care for the artifacts and archives that I have been entrusted with. When I worked for the National Park Service at a nearby Historical Site I was an Exhibit Specialist, where I preserved and built exhibits. There is also a class of professionals that are Conservators, who are a special class of people for preservation of certain materials that the normal trades can not handle. All these professions require specific training. Any other use of these titles are falsely used.
5
Curated gives the impression that things were carefully considered and made available because they were superior. Most of the time, that is not the case. Another over-used word that intends to reinforce our belief that we are somehow special. I don't blame true curators for being angry that their title has been hijacked.
6
Just like we had to tolerate disruptor / disruptive last year, this too will pass, or we just get numb to it. The google dictionary has a quantification of times each comes up when you look them up in google dictionary - both have plateaued but have yet to drop off.
2
When I see an ad on TV for a "curated" selection of products I understand that another perfectly good word has been consigned to the trash heap of meaninglessness.
So it goes.
7
I'm so glad that J.K. Rowling didn't call it a curating hat.
5
To curate is simply understood to be an 'expert' at selecting something (derived from curators at museums selecting the most appropriate art and artifacts to tell the story they want to tell).
When you hire an expert, you expect better results, but in our age of "anti-experts", you get "curators". Why hire a "wedding planner" which is so bourgeois, when you can hire a "wedding curator"?
It is a fully meaningful word when understood in this way.
I find it quite pompous but I am also tired of being "passionate about" a little strained, as well.
4
I'd like to add "pivot" to the list of annoying modern reimaginings of word definitions.
3
My favorite—by which I really mean most ridiculous—use of this now-hackneyed term is the “hand-curated music playlist” I saw being promoted. How can the collection of digital music files be in any sense “hand-curated,” which implies a degree of old-fashioned manual craftsmanship? As Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) once noted, “The fundamental purpose of language is to obscure meaning.”
6
We always do this...it's like everything becoming 'craft' (beer , memos, etc) about 10 years ago.
1
"Inappropriate": an even more ambiguous term that should be retired from the language. It signals nothing more than the user's subjective distaste for this , that, or the other and therefore, like "curate," means basically nothing.
5
Another annoying one: hand-crafted. As in a recently seen deli sign for “hand-crafted sandwiches.”
5
@Ann Rae Jonas i am more impressed with tito’s handmade vodka. surely being able to distill booze with your hands is nothing short of miraculous.
6
True curators dont want to be in the mob of the curated curators.
1
As a museum curator myself, and a near life-long Austinite, I almost died when I encountered a real estate broker boasting a new residential skyscraper's "curated Austin lifestyle" courtesy of a Los Angeles interior decorator.
Contemptuous.
1
I think I am just as tired of "artisanal"; like curated it means you can charge more.
2
The worst over-used word? ........'issues' . 'Problems' have disappeared from the face of the planet.
3
To me, a curator is a person with some expertise in that which is being curated (apologies for the tautology). Everyone cannot be an expert for if everyone is an expert, then no one is.
1
Pretentious.
Outside of art, it needs to go away — and take housemade, artisanal, architect (if not referring to a licensed designer of buildings), and influencer (the most heinous of all) with it.
8
Impact, reach out, optics, and partner. The list goes on, but at least those four (4) provide opportunities for articles that could be curated for our reading enjoyment.
3
@Greg What about redundant usage such as "four (4)"? Bureaucrats and lawyers, in particular, seem to think we need help understanding a number but then accompany the number with word salad.
2
Looking forward to a companion article about "artisanal".
If people read more, many of these words would not be so surprising when they suddenly “pop up.”
1
Oh, bless you for writing this. These buzzwords—curated, bespoke, passion—have been getting up my nose for years.
I reluctantly accepted that language changes, and scrapbook was going to be a verb whether I liked it or not. But if you try to sell me a bespoke sandwich or a curated wardrobe, you’ve lost my business.
2
The aspiration to elitism has permeated everyday life, especially social media. It began with the ridiculous term "boutique hotel", and now we are awash in all things "curated", "bespoke" and "eco-thisandthat". This jargon underpins our narcissism and is used to distinguish ourselves from the mere ordinary individuals around us, except that they too revel in curated cheese boards, bespoke plant collections and eco-friendly vegan leather. We are all so special that in fact no one is. Just part of the herd of humanity careening off the selfie cliff.
3
"Curated" must mean the same as "Iconic" (another overused word that doesn't mean what those who use it think it means).
3
To proclaim yourself that you are curating something is to proclaim you know the unique, the special, you are in fact unique and special. Differentiation from the herd and at the front of the pack.
2
Here’s another. Bespoke.
1
Maybe it's just me, but some people have way too much time on their hands! My first thought on reading this is of elitism and pretentiousness. We should all have such problems!
"What a fabulous time to be living in",
I think as I swill another craft beer curated expressly for me.
1
Hey did you wrote this article like ten years ago when the sentiment was relevant? I’m a working class guy, I said all these things back then, again, when the sentiment was relevant. Maybe my lack of pedigree renders me unable to judge when it’s okay to criticize a bourgeois concept so as not to delegitimize my better-heeled uppers.
You're a decade late to the game of noting the pretentious misuse of the word "curator". It's been gratingly ubiquitous for years now.
2
Curate: another useful word bites the dust. And, just like "branding," it becomes a meaningless zombie word—trés popular and actually and virtually useless.
This word doctor suggests a dose of linguistic curare.
1
What I'd really like to have defined is "inappropriate advances" when it comes to sexual harassment. One woman's inappropriate advance is another's "what took you so long!"
2
How laughable. Yes indeed, a generation desperate for meaning, for authority and authentication. (Titter titter) Please. I am having trouble typing here. Oh, wait, I suppose it isn't typing anymore. Gee ... what is it ?
Lots of remembrances here of past fads and stupid buzzwords. I remember back, at a certain time when suddenly - everything was DIGITAL. Oh ya, remember that ? Right before the dotcom bust/crash swept that stupidity out the window. Then, sometime later, it actually meant something.
Bespoke - please. No more.
I've loathed the word 'curated', for quite some time now.
Curated = full of my/ourselves .... 'Brooklyn' as a brand.... hipster...millennial... beards/tats/chopping lumber/artisinal gin/hog-butchering classes in the Hudson Valley....'
Etc.
Next word for the chopping block?
Self-care. Blech.
3
What a lot of nonsense. Its as bad as"locally sourced". So sick of seeing that on menus.
While we're on the topic, let's quit utilizing things and just use them instead.
4
And here’s my new word: sinecurator, noun, meaning “one who believes their position requiring little or no work gives the holder status.”
I read fashion online magazines very often and in this field the now infamous word “curated” is so widely and indiscriminately used.
Every single new pop up store, or capsule collection, or new trendy boutique have a “wonderfully/delicately/carefully/lovingly curated” bunch of items.
And yes, the last three adjectives make it a pleonasm.
Please don’t forget: “narrative”, “journey”, and “DNA codes”.
THANK YOU! But the word 'curate' has been pretentiously and ridiculously misused and overused for at least 10 years. Where have you been??
Now if we could just see less of the word 'journey'.......
1
Curator is a pretentious word for chooser, or selector. I do look forward, however, to a daycare center where they "curate their children."
1
I recall a certain mean-spirited NYT article about rich kids at a Dakota seance in which one young socialite was referred to as a “finely curated man.” This description, while likely an accurate one, seemed like a rest stop along the journey to a put down.
2
Am I in a time warp? This article is about 8 years too late.
No more stories: only "narratives."
7
As an art museum curator, I'm resigned to the broad use of the word curate. What concerns me more are larger structural transformations in our field. As (art) museums grow ever larger and more costly to run, and art increasingly serves as an asset class for investors, the role of curators has necessarily shifted. We are expected become part of the exhibition itself, to use social media to generate buzz, to "craft experiences" for audiences, to perform with artists and *especially* to cultivate wealthy collectors and donors, without whose money and collections museums can no longer thrive/compete. Of course, museums have played a key role in creating and sustaining art as asset so in a way we have priced ourselves out of a market we shaped. All that raises tough questions about what it means to be a curator--to be objective, scholarly, ethical and to prioritize the care of the object, the collection and the longer term stakes for the institution. Finally, at the same time that museums are increasingly dependent on wealthy trustees, we also acknowledge the need to be more responsive, diverse and inclusive. This creates fundamental tensions that curators are increasingly expected to navigate. Perhaps the visibility of curators is a good thing for culture, but it is not without complexity and perhaps, for some, a sense of loss.
1
Ah, thank you. I'm so tired of this marketing fad, to the point that the presence of the word on a website ended up being a tie-breaker when I was thinking about which of the growing number of lantern festivals I wanted attend this winter.
1
It now seems that any form of selection or organizing might be called "curating." As aggravating as it is, this aspect of curare / curatus is a legitimate aspect of the work of archival and museum curators. Thus, its annoying extension and trivialization is technically correct, if debasing the original usage of the term.
There’s so much stuff in the world that we’ve invented a new class of people, the curators, to help make sense of it. My own personal choice is less stuff, mostly un curated, except for the local public radio music stations who are really good at what they do.
When I was a graduate student at NYU's demanding Institute of Fine Arts during the 1970's, the basic career path of art historians was between being an academic Professor or a museum Curator (and some took the other path offered to IFA students then, of being a Conservator). I chose a path leading to becoming a museum Curator. As part of my MA/PhD track I was also accepted into a highly competitive curatorial program run by the IFA and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was very proud of my path and my work, and was dismayed that this challenging career choice meant nothing to my friends, family, and acquaintances outside my field. This lasted well into the '90's, and I grew tired of explaining to people what in the world a curator was. At some point this gradually changed, and now in 2020, we have reached a stage where the word Curator is no longer meaningful. Why? Because now everyone is a curator, without training or studying (even one of my nieces fancied herself a curator 10 years ago after taking one of the many short, 'curatorial' courses offered in places internationally). It is demeaning to the profession, as well as the hard work and many years of graduate studies it takes to become a Curator in the original sense. Most of my peers in graduate school have later become Curators or Directors for top museums, or Professors in major universities. The ubiquitous use of the word (curated shoes in a shop window?) diminishes and dilutes the true meaning of the word.
5
Doesn't curation imply a degree of expertise not shared by the populace at large? Or, alternatively, the pruning down of many articles into the few that are picked as most necessary, or most exemplary?
Unfortunately people use it to mean "I picked these things! Now be impressed!"
4
I remember the first time I heard this word used other than in a museum or gallery setting. It was in a shop in L.A. with a huge space and very little inventory. And I thought, well maybe in this instance "curated" means we don't have enough money to really stock this place.
1
"The proliferation of “curating” speaks of a generation anxious for authority and authorship, and also for meaning."
It also speaks to people having no sense of personal taste.
They feel safer once some other person has told them that an item or experience is "the thing".
3
The word means nothing. I'm a prof and my colleagues speak of "curating student experience." It sounds "professional."
At least we don't use the term "excellence" any longer. We realized that it simply doesn't apply in post-secondary education in Canada and stopped pretending.
6
Augghhh - how many more iconic authentic curated experiences will we have. Now "experience" - that's one overused word!
3
Also overused: "hand-crafted," "bespoke."
This has been going on ever since the Woodstock Generation morphed into "The Pepsi Generation."
8
@DaveInNewYork: and let's include "artisanal."
2
I remember in the 1980’s when everything was gourmet: Gourmet chefs, popcorn, water, deli’s, restaurants, cooks, coffee, kitchens, and more. Those were the days.
8
@DJB might want to add "artisanal" to this.
The title of Architect and the word blueprint are also used and misused widely. A few decades back it was Engineer.
4
As a working visual artist, I've rolled my eyes at this one for a long time. It's disingenuous to those of us actually working with real curators, not to mention demeaning of the curators themselves.
7
And I thought I was the only one annoyed by this fad. The word has taken hold in music, as well, where people--sometimes musicians themselves--who are doing what used to be called booking are now "curating." (Full disclosure: my own music bio says I curated an experimental music series; sometimes it's not worth it to fight city hall.)
Similarly, what used to be a steady gig (weekly, monthly, etc.) is now a "residency." A residency used to mean an artist's retreat, or guest teaching at an academic institution. Now it still means those things AND it means a steady gig.
What's next?
4
To me it means "preselected" - by whomever. Honestly, there are many times I'd simply like to be presented with a variety of things to make my own decision.
1
@Sara
Make your own decision, based on your own sense of what's good ?
Uh oh.
Often words that have the most power are the most quickly co-opted in ways that demean their original meanings. In "Steal This Book" Abby Hoffman features the banner: "Tide - A Revolutionary New Laundry Detergent."
Curate has had a great run as a way of describing thoughtful recontextualization, often of otherwise familiar contents. I don't think that skilled museum curators should worry that the trivialization of the word trivializes or threatens their jobs.
@Mark Cohen
"...describing thoughtful recontextualization..."
We really don't need much more of this either.
2
the even more debased term in contemporary (instagram/blog) culture is "creative".
in that particular instance i find it astonishingly ironic, because many (not all) self-proclaimed "creatives" do not do anything, in my opinion, that is significantly creative. their output seems to be repackaging/reframing of other peoples' creations.
examples include "influencers" or "media personalities" who frame purchased/sponsored products in a square image and present them attractively.
alternatively they may describe their experience with such products in video form, with verbal commentary.
there are some "creatives" who go through the process of editing photos and videos, which i admit does involve a degree of creativity. but the term is really elastic and quite catholic in its use.
i simply find it ironic that the term was never claimed by artists, writers, musicians, directors, actors, photographers, painters, dancers, poets - because they had some specificity to the substance they actually created. "creative" is a term people fall back on when they don't have anything else to describe what they can bring to the table.
5
Agreed. Sick of it for years. It's another layer in the artisanal and bespoke family.
21
“Craft” Beers as well is part of the same pretentious pie.
1
The author - and perhaps our culture - is conflating curator and conservator. The former has always had a creative component, if only because curators are editors of sorts; they make decisions about how things are sorted, annotated, accessed, presented to researchers or public view, foregrounded or backgrounded. Think, curator of a collection of something.
Conservators are what the author describes initially. They preserve, “take care of,” attempt retain qualities of things their creator(s) gave them. There is certainly creativity, but in service to that preservation.
Two somewhat different ideas.
11
@SMB Curators are the carers of the collection within a museum, the word means to care for, and they can also organize exhibitions. Curators can hire or consult with conservators who are experts in the work of maintaining artworks through artistic and scientific procedures, but the art is under the curator's care still. Curating is not relegated to choosing or editing, but includes deep research and scholarship, conservation proposals are approved by the curator, decisions about what to show, organization of exhibitions, etc. are all done by the curator.
4
Do curators assume any responsibility for diluting the categorical criteria of their field? After expanding the term "art" to an arguably absurd point, why should curators be surprised to find that their area of expertise has suffered the same fate? Criticism has been in the same boat for at least a few decades, and don't even bother wondering where art historians fit into the bigger picture. l would conclude that the art-with-a-capital-A world has finally achieved the popularity it has long desired, but popularity generally comes at a cost, and in this case the cost is professional integrity (or whatever passed for professional integrity in the highly stratified, classist, let's just go ahead and say elitist Art world). Sorry curators, welcome to the party.
9
If anyone can curate anything, it debases the expertise and knowledge that real curation requires. It doesn't take years of careful and informed study to curate a list of "the greatest paintings," "the best film noir," or a box of donuts. Everyone's opinions and selections are equal. This has real world implications for those of us whose professional lives are dedicated to being actual curators: the diminution of respect - and pay - for our work.
15
This is a trend that has been going on for a while and in my experience crosses national boundaries.
In Italy many years ago my wife who is half-Italian and went to art school there, and I were entertaining another couple for dinner. She prepared a simple but fabulous dish of pasta with zucchini. The boyfriend of her classmate seemed incredulous that the Americana could manage this so well. He rather presumptuously rearranged some of the zucchini on the serving plate and announced in Italian "I curated the aesthetic aspect." (Ho curato l'aspetto estetico)
We laugh about it to this day. Unfortunately we didn't know the phrase "mansplaining" back then.
16
I think it's a great word--love "to take care of." I've always linked it to "appreciate with growing knowledge"--a celebration of appreciation and responsible sharing with others. Bless the curators who make so much of life fascinating.
1
Why not use the perfectly good words we already have for these activities: design, choose, arrange, etc.? They are more straightforward and specific.
Well, for right now, they lack the special cachet of "curate", but that will soon pass.
9
The word "curating" is the reason we decided to not do facebook a long time ago.
There was an article in The Atlantic about a social network that was only available to users with a .edu email account. The article went on to say that this network was going to open itself up to everyone. The author went on to say something like this: why would anyone want to spend hours "curating the exhibition of the self?"
We both thought, ick. We've never looked back.
14
I've had issues with the word for years. I remember telling my friend that a deli serving pastrami sandwiches and stuff of that ilk isn't "carefully curating its menu" - it's serving deli food! I wouldn't go into a deli looking for spaghetti!
4
Architects have long had their own version of this that is equally maddening. "Our firm 'specified' this seating for the atrium space."
I can hear Wright thundering: "design more, specify less".
Also: "we have identified these materials". I guess you have to identify them before you can specify them.
10
I've observed for many decades now that the word
" professional " has become diluted if not debased. So I am not surprised by this either.
It would help if we started paying this kind of attention to more important things.
It is fine to enjoy cheese, wine, bibelots, table settings, linens and all of these other things. For many life is more enjoyable when it is graceful. (For others it is more enjoyable when they are hanging from the side of a precipice or 150 feet down in the ocean etc. ) It does not mean that your life is now museum quality. The word that annoys me even more is
" bespoke".
11
@Consuelo Yes. Bespoke beschmoke!
Here's another buzzword that drives me up the wall: Storytelling/storyteller.
Somehow, after millennia of oral traditions, folk tales, literature, drama, and cinema, everyone's "a storyteller", which has basically devolved into a euphemism for advertising. We seldom talk about Tolstoy or Kubrick as 'storytellers', even though, of course, they were. But now, thanks to internet culture and the new commercial ecosystem it fosters, this otherwise innocuous and obvious term - traditionally reserved for those who recite narratives orally (I love you grandma!) has been jargonized and devalued much like 'curate'. Arrrghh!
These days, as an actual teller of stories I'm suddenly trying to avoid this word like the plague.
9
@riddley walker Oh, let us count the ways language is being devalued. Yes, everyone is now a storyteller. And I am referred to as a content curator. I am a freelance writer. The idea that I'm 'curating' words is precious and self important.
E.B. White is turning in his grave.
3
In the evolution of creating wealth out of propaganda during the last forty years, curating is the latest gasp to surface. As the power of critics waned, especially with the growing irrelevance of magazines touting art and its ability to endow almost anything with gloss. The phenomenon of the very young seeking importance, has flowered in multitudes of curators aided by the insecure wealthy seeking advice. Curating is todays version of "the blind leading the blind" A great example of Capitalisms capacity to mutate as it renews its power over any activity, in order to increase wealth.
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Any day I expect one of the big wealth management banks to begin assigning their clients "Personal Wealth Curators"...of course for an extra 200 basis points per year.
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@Ken Nyt And guess what? Those clients will eat it up just like they love saying that their advisor is a senior vice president which is a title based off how much revenue you do or that they're working with a "team" The business has nothing to do with anything other than how many wealthy people you know which is why Taylor Swift would make a great financial advisor because her account alone would generate enough revenue to make her a managing director at one of the wirehouses.
3
In its best sense, curated means that someone with specialized knowledge or expertise has selected the worthy from among the less worthy. At its foundation is an acknowledgment that there are people who know more than the rest of us do, whose opinions are in fact better informed than ours, and who merit deference. Curation has always been everywhere. We just didn't use the name. Cheese shops actually are preferable to supermarkets when they are owned and staffed by knowledgeable people who really have studied cheese. Until now they just didn't need to tell us that.
The best examples are "newspapers of record." People turned to them because they had confidence that editors had the judgment to select the newsworthy from the fluff, and because the writers had demonstrated both perception and clear writing. People used to turn authoritative peer-reviewed journals for their science, not random internet articles, for their understanding of science and medicine.
So why do we now advertise things as curated that used to be simply curated in fact? Perhaps in this age when everyone is an expert, so no one is an expert, some of us would still like to defer to the opinions of those who are better informed than ourselves.
The challenge, however, is that there is often no way to tell whether the self-described curator is actually more knowledgeable. Fame is often mistaken for expertise. There are true curators in many areas but, for example, Gwyneth Paltrow is not among them.
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@Peeking Through The Fenced thoughtful, well-stated observations. regarding credible sources, they are still widely available if people will resist the urge to use only sources that confirm their biases. social media metrics build this in formulaically, which has contributed greatly to our polarization. fringe groups and extremists with agendas capitalize on fear and traffic in mistrust. in this climate, basic media literacy has perished.
people should always consider the source of what they read or hear, and look for multiple, on-the-record sources of reporting. seek legitimate news reporting agencies. if a site is unfamiliar, find out who owns it. look for excessive adjective use in writing -- facts don't need embellishment. look for named sources, and see that multiple views are represented. see that timely facts are being reported.
on a lighter note, i enjoyed the article, as "curated" has gotten on my last nerve as well. it's this year's "handcrafted," which was the previous year's "artisanal."
8
I agree completely, especially as my wife is a(n actual) museum curator here in New York. Another annoying buzzword is "conversation" — often preceded by "national."
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@dnjnyc ...or "dialogue" often preceded by "national"...
It's essentially a retronym, meaning content that is selected by a person or committee, rather than generated by an algorithm or an aggregation of thousands of votes/shares/likes. By this new definition my breakfast is curated, which of course sounds ridiculous when compared to the definition from years ago.
6
“Keeper” has been used at museums in England: the V&A? I’ve curated museum exhibits but never called myself a curator. Now retired, I worked at four museums in a career of 40 years.
3
Curating bespoke, small-batch, locally-sourced, organic, artisanal experiences - for people too lazy to pick their own.
In the art world, the power shift came when curating didn't mean tending the dusty stacks, it meant choosing what went on the wall. It was a way for very ambitious folks with art educations, who were not artists, to take the upper hand. Curators became the gate keepers after the decline in the power of art criticism. A natural progression of things when important print publications were on the decline and there was an explosion of web content - anyone can be a critic, but not everyone is in a position to physically choose.
But stepping back, it's an interesting thing that people care so much about the words we use to not see the comical buzzword factory we live in.
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@pam You forgot "housemade."
2
@pam "...anyone can be a critic, but not everyone is in a position to physically choose"...how about "anyone can be a critic, but not everyone can be an artist"?
2
Google "mattress gallery" and you'll discover any number of community spaces featuring large airy open floor plans and populated with a curated selection of rectangular objects in many sizes and colors, each of which offers a distinct aesthetic experience suited to your own personal profile.
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The work of a curator requires expertise in handling, researching, explicating objects. In my case this meant a graduate school education and a year-long internship under the careful direction and admonition of leaders in my field.
If we now use the term "curator" to mean "someone who makes choices," then what can we call the experts entrusted with institutional responsibility for museum-quality objects?
10
@Robert Museum curator? Look up retronym, I just did.
I had been noticing the obnoxious spread of this word to the world outside galleries and museums. It seems like average obsessives are trying to make a career out of their habit of collecting too much stuff, starting with feeds from social media. Aggregating, ranking and filing are not creative acts, especially now that the bar is so low. Just another attempt to pass on user fees and get attention. Strangely though, many people are willing to buy what is basically sorted lists whether cheese or shoes. Surface, surface, surface.
9
Give me a moment while I gather my thoughts and carefully curate my comments.
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@LesISmore We laugh here. Your sentence would be standard fare in the corporate world!
2
How about "pseud" (intellectually pretentious person)?
A pseuded selection of photos clipped from magazines.
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I'm waiting for the architects to chime in, that's been hijacked for years.
4
Vogue usage aside, the pervasive term means that we can now acknowledge that everything in our life is curated - from the history we read in elementary school textbooks to the algorithms on your smart phone. Nothing is neutral; there is always a selection made by a human.
One can hope this awareness will lead us to greater curiosity about what's been chosen and why, and importantly: what's been left out.
8
Language is dynamic. Sometimes, a word morphs into a new meaning.
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@Mary
And sometimes, new meanings are the compost of small minds.
2
@Mary
Coincidentally perhaps, with pretension as the driving force.
2
I was delighted to see this article, since I complained about the new- and over-use of the word to friends more than a year ago. One of them, a philologist, put my gripes on a blog he (ahem) curates called Language Log, eliciting quite a few replies from similarly disgruntled souls. Apparently, lots of people are annoyed.
17
I am glad to see the Times recognize that misusing a word often dilutes its meaning, and in extreme cases virtually empties it of meaning, which result in losing some of our ability to communicate.
10
At one point "curated" seemed fresh and inviting. The word let me know that someone cared to make the right selections and place them in a space together to create interesting context and juxtapositions. Now it simply means pretentious.
37
@Joe B. - Kind of like using the word "Brooklyn" in describing anything.
3
Well...you're probably going to hate the magazine I'm launching that showcases artists, architects, and interior designers working in NC and SC. It is called C U R A T E D. I am simply trying to carve out a small space that features what I feel is good art and design. The barrier to entry is low in many of these pursuits which is great. But that means anyone with a camera is a photographer and anyone with a paint brush is an artist. And, in my case, anyone with an Instagram account is a curator. That is not always a good thing. There is so much noise on Pinterest, Houzz, Instagram, etc. that it can be hard to find good content. AD, Elle Decor, Design Anthology, and the like do this very well on a national and global level. However, I found it harder to find "the good stuff" in my region. Check it out and let me know what you think! @curated.magazine on Instagram.
2
As I read this, I recall the Grab n' Go rack full of chips, etc. at Starbucks this morning is topped with a sign reading, 'Our Favorites, Curated Just For you.'
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Maybe this will replace “iconic “ as the most over-used word.
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@King Of The Beach I have really enjoyed the comments on this article (as well ,of course,as the article itself) as this word has also been on my radar for a while. As regards "iconic",I believe the original sense-of being like an icon- had a quality of time attached -as in being admired and judged as worthy, over time. I like this idea in that I think that some things can only be fully assessed over a longer timeframe.
Clutch your pearls. What will a world where just anyone can assemble other people’s things into a larger set hold for us?
In my mind this is in the same pile as "artisanal" and "executive produced" (sic).
8
If found this very timely. Saying everything is "curated" has gone from mildly amusing to irritating. When word like this get overused, they lose any real relevance. It's like people talking about "artisan" bread. Com'on man, it's a loaf of bread, not a painting, sculpture or novel.
20
Amen, Amen, Amen to this article.
11
@Elliot If you enjoyed this, read "The Death of Expertise" by Tom Nichols. He brilliantly explains how in today's world, people who haven't finished High School feel entitled to"review" the likes of Shakespeare and Beethoven on social media.
2
And guess who else is guilty of "curating?": Yes, the NYT.
It is my habit to start my day early, with a pot of coffee and the Times's crossword game section, in particular the daily Mini-crossword, then on to Spelling Bee. It is the latter that is arbitrarily, irritatingly "curated." The game, for those who haven't tried it, uses 7 letters of the alphabet arranged in a circle of 6 surrounding the 7th. The object is to find as many words as you can using only these letters, with no limit to the number of times a letter can be used, with the center letter required in every word. There are more rules, go to the game section if you are curious.
The day has not passed that I have not had a perfectly good, inoffensive, oftentimes common, word rejected because it was not in the "curated" list of acceptable words. I think the first word I brought to the attention of the game's editors was TAPPET. The editors responded within minutes, with a canned, imperious note that, while my word might well be a genuine word, it did not appear in the "curated" list (note, I am avoiding using the word "dictionary" because, in the Spelling Bee's world, the dictionary is irrelevant). Each day, I emailed a list of words -sometimes as many as 8 or more- with the same unvarying response each time. Oddly, the eds. have a fondness for words like HALAL, NAAN and many other ethnic foods, but not not ANNAL, another non-word until, one day, it was. ANAL? Fine. No ANNAL.
Curated? Go figure.
15
I have also tried annal and have been surprised when it was t accepted, thinking of the journal “Annals of the Entomological Society of America”. I am still raw about them not accepting “naphthalene”, but on the other hand I like getting called a genius every couple of days and if they included every possible combination, no one would call me that.
3
@Glen Same! Depends on the SB's daily editor, er...*curator*. Sigh.
1
@Glen OMG, I was just about to write the same letter, literally the same letter, almost word for word including the same "words". I guess the earlier time zone gets the word.
3
A problem only the New York Times could dream up.
Throw in some academic references, some quotes from professors and cite their universities, and voila, you have an intellectual quandary of what to do with new arrivals who dare to title themselves with terms once only reserved for certain remarkable people who wear black clothing (even though in most places black garb head to toe is worn by only the very obese.)
There are very highly paid people in the NYT universe of note who earn money doing jobs that exist nowhere else and are somewhat dreamed up in terms of expertise: fashion stylist, curator, art consultant, photographer, DJ, club promoter, denim promoter, assistant to Ivana Trump.
Many around the world, thanks to Instagram, can now step into these previously roped off clubs, and I shudder to think of what will happen when curating ceases to be recognized for its vital importance in combating global warming, building affordable housing, and insuring all Americans have health care at a reasonable price.
I prefer my cheese cured, not curated...
5
This is pretty similar to a 2009 NYTimes article: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/fashion/04curate.html
2
@Bridget Thanks for alerting me to the linked article.
Don’t get me started.Remember back when everything was “edgy”? Now everything is “intersectional.”
8
It never really meant anything. It's always been someone's opinion on what is "good".
2
Another ridiculous word coined by illiterates of the social media age to express their "exclusivity." Oh how I long for the old days when life was real, not a reality show on wheels.
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Recipe for stultified life: less creativity, more curativity.
4
It’s better than using the word “Nazi” for everyone you don’t like.
This too shall pass (or a new word will be ‘curated’ to describe the academic, self-important museum folks who guard their titles so closely). Maybe they can mount an exhibition about it.
3
Curated is the latest in a long tradition of misused words on menus such as “bespoke” and “deconstructed” (please don’t give me my cocktail deconstructed, that’s literally your job). Other frequently misused and now redefined words like forte, literally, perused and nonplussed are what make the English language so fascinating and annoying.
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@Chris H yes on all. and i don't think i have ever heard a person say "nonplussed" who used it correctly. it doesn't mean what people think it means.
2
This article might have been more carefully curated, to include the simple observation that people who use the word "curated" outside the museum world simply sound dumb.
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“Curated” is the new “nuanced.”
8
"Curator" is one more self-important buzz word that suggests superiority - no more, no less. Brought to you by the ever-full-of itself global art community.
2
"cur" is also an aggressive dog in poor condition
2
I primarily object to the use of the term in a retail setting. For a store or bar, the act of "curating" things or cocktails begins with one question: "Will it sell?"
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Why can't ordinary people outside of the art world use it to describe their thoughtful work? Smart kindergarten teachers curate their classroom libraries. I can't think of a more fitting verb. Clement Greenberg's reign is over.
2
@Anne Then I can curate my medicine cabinet and shoe rack. The word comes to mean nothing and just sounds silly when is not used appropriately. Smart kindergarten teachers don't curate their classroom libraries. They don't study the provenance and content of the books, research the authors and the materials used to make the books, and the bookbinding techniques. They don't write scholarly articles about the books to illuminate their aesthetics, social and historical context, and meaning. They don't care for and preserve the books using archival materials. Kindergarten teachers don't "curate," in other words. They carefully assemble a library, or collection. Being a collector doesn't automatically make one a curator. As it's been defined historically as a profession in museums, it is a different, highly specialized kind of work.
28
Curation at its absolute best - Brain Pickings by Maria Popova. For those who don’t have the time to devote their lives to reading all the things intelligent artists and thinkers have had to say about the human condition, her service is invaluable. I don’t know if she calls herself a curator, but I think what she does embodies the best meaning of the term. Like a museum display of important thinking.
11
@Scott Lyford Jason Kottke at kottke.org is great too.
Just like artist, artisan, musician, curator has been co-opted by amateurs who want to inflate their sense of self-importance. On the other hand, giving due credit is a fine thing. When one makes an art of curating, it is a largely invisible work of art. But it does suggest something ongoing, not just a one-time act of selecting, but as a part of ongoing expertise and professionalism or dedication. So, it should be used with caution, just like the other words. Everything has levels of accomplishment. Recognizing them appropriately becomes an issue if the same term is applied to everyone. So, perhaps we need to issue labels such as folk curator, amateur curator, semi-curator, artist curator, etc. But curating is essentially an act of editing or teaching and production, not a creative act beyond the experience it results in.
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@Plank
"Just like artist, artisan, musician, curator has been co-opted by amateurs who want to inflate their sense of self-importance."
And -
Now - when someone opens a cutesy little bakery - specializing in "Diversity-Centric Cupcakes" -- they are suddenly an "Entrepreneur"
I suppose somebody could also "curate" a new "edition" of vegan cupcakes being made by that bakery --
The possibilities for pretentiousness are endless...
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@Howard G
"The possibilities for pretentiousness are endless..."
That phrase will be curated into my daily phraseology.
My husband just said that the potatoes have been carefully curated and deconstructed.
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The word now describes anything from organizing an exhibit of Old Masters to mixing cocktails, and so what? Words morph and take on new meanings all the time. The "professor of curating," whatever that means, has already lost this battle.
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@Pat
The problem arises when the old meaning is lost in the fog of meaninglessness and can no longer be expressed. The journalists' favorite word "epicenter" meaning "center" is a distorted misuse of a technical term in geology, and there is no danger of misunderstanding. The computer and sales people's abuse of "unique" to mean "distinct", in "unique user", has caused real trouble for those of us who need to use the word "unique" precisely.
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@Thomas Zaslavsky
Words evolve all the time; resistance is futile.
4
@Pat
Some words do. Some do not.