For this writing assignment, you should act as a curator. A curator can work in basically two capacities. One has to do with the care of artworks in a museum; the word curator actually comes from the Latin word curar, which means “to heal.” Another role which is more of what we see in museums, is that the curator selects artworks/objects and creates a narrative out of them. The differences in exhibition-making are quite diverse. One entails the solo show, another the group show, while another may have to do with curating a show in one medium, and another still may have to with the presentation of public artworks. There is also variation in the historical exhibition as opposed to the contemporary one. Although each of the aforementioned examples demand a different approach, what links them together is the narrative or theme one constructs from the objects. For example, one could select The Judgement of Hunefer Before Osiris, The Kunz Axe, and a Spiderman costume to create an exhibition within the context of representations of anthro-zoomorphism in historical visual culture. In each instance, human-animal symbolism respectively refers to gods, shamanic transformation, and popular culture mythology.

You should select three different objects from three different culture areas and construct a theme for your “exhibition.” One object should be a European object, another object should be non-European, and the third object should be from our everyday, contemporary world. Your theme should be explained in 3 pages minimum while discussing the context for each work and how they are thematically linked in your “exhibition” plus include some formal analysis. And then compare and contrast them via an iconographic approach.

As before, include descriptions of the work’s formal elements: describe and compare their shape, color, and so forth. Are there designs on them; and if so, do you think it helps in the way the works may look to you overall? Formalism is concerned with the aesthetic qualities of a work of art, while iconography refers to its meaning and context. what is the artist/culture trying to say with these works, how do their style reflect their historical era?

Your selected objects/artworks should come from the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West and 79th St, or the Museum of the American Indian, or the Rubin Museum of Art. After you select your objects, make sure you have written down the information on them such as title, culture, medium, date, and accession#. Remember that this number keeps track of the object in the museum’s Collection.

3 pages minimum, no plagiarism, all outside sources should be cited in Chicago style.