Matt Black:

The Documentary Commitment

18. American Geography: Exhibition

Contents The Role of a Curator

Curator’s Advice: Ingo Taubhorn

3

Designing the American Geography Exhibition 8

Assignment: Arrange a Pop-Up Exhibition 14

Resources 15

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 2

The Role of a Curator In modern times, the role of a curator has evolved to include galleries
that do not have permanent collections as well as independent
curators who are not attached to a particular institution. Modern
curatorial practice includes hosting exhibitions outside of the
traditional gallery context, including city-wide festivals held in
disused or public locations and immersive online experiences.

A curator’s skill is in their ability to work closely with an artist to

The traditional role of a curator is to manage a collection of artworks
at a museum or gallery. The curator will acquire new pieces for the
collection, organize and design exhibition displays and loan artworks
from other institutions or artists. The curator’s job in a museum
or gallery context is to host innovative exhibitions and events that
inform and inspire the public. For commercial galleries, they may also
have a responsibility to sell the artworks exhibited.
translate a body of work and its themes into a given space. They will
think about how a viewer will manoeuvre through a room, how they
will interpret artworks based on the order and context in which they
are seen and whether the exhibition could benefit from audience
participation. A curator will also need to bear in mind the financial
constraints of a project, working with the artist or organization
towards a concept that is both appropriate to the themes of the work
and within budget.

By applying their wide knowledge of both historical and

contemporary photography, the curator can present items from a
collection or artist in many different, interesting ways in order to
appeal to changing audiences. For example, by presenting historical
works alongside modern ones, mixing genres of art —such as pairing
photography with painting— or presenting differing works with
opposing viewpoints on the same subject matter.

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 3

A dead almond orchard. Los
Banos, California. USA. 2016.

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 4

Curator’s Advice: “A photographer should really have an idea of how they want to
present their work in the room. The times of handing prints to a
curator and saying, “Here’s the material, this is what’s available. Please

Ingo Taubhorn
For his American Geography exhibition, Matt Black worked alongside
Ingo Taubhorn: Head Curator at the House of Photography,
Deichtorhallen in Hamburg, Germany and one of the contributors to
this lesson.
select the work you find relevant and decide how you want to present
it,” those times are very much over. The young generation and the
contemporary generation know exactly how images are brought to
life at events. ... A photographer should know how to present their
pictures, they should also have an idea about the subject of their
work or the series, as well as the size of their work, the materials,
and the presentation of the work and how to use a room in a kind of
innovative way. So many of the photographic works that are produced
today, regardless of whether they come from the staged creative side or
from the documentary, journalistic side, should also [come with] an
idea of how the pictures are presented in the room.”

After studying visual communication as a student, Taubhorn went on

produce his own photo artworks before working as a freelance curator
for art institutions such as the Museum Folkwang in Essen, the Pat
Hearn Gallery in New York and the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende
Kunst (NGBK) in Berlin. He has held his current role as chief curator
at the Deichtorhallen since 2006, alongside being president of the
Deutsche Fotografische Akademie (DFA) and teaching photography
and visual media at the University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld
and Ostkreuzschool in Berlin.

In this lesson, Taubhorn offers his key advice for artists looking to
curate their work within an exhibition space.

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 5

Tips for Curating – Know what you want to say with your work. This will inform how
your images should be presented in the exhibition context. Before

Your Exhibition
meeting with a curator, always prepare a rough concept of how you
imagine your images will work within the space.

– Think about your budget before you begin planning your

exhibition. At large galleries like the Deichtorhallen, they have
the ability to build every wall from scratch so that each exhibition
can be a new display with new exhibition architecture; however,
this requires a higher budget and, often, commercial sponsorship.
Consider your available funds and how you can get the best out of
the resources you have at your disposal, as well as where you might
be able to seek additional funding.

– Maintain a critical distance from your work. Many artists struggle

with wanting to show all of their images in an exhibition. However,
a large concentration of pictures can result in images canceling each
other out, diluting the strength of the message from each image.

– Do not be afraid of adapting your work to very small or very

large spaces. Each exhibition should be seen as a unique show
and there are always interesting ways to present the same prints in
very different spaces. A curator’s job is to help you navigate these
concerns while still retaining the key themes of your work.

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 6

 “Every room is different, and that’s
my job, as a curator at the House
of Photography, to work with these
dimensions and sometimes eliminate
fears. One photographer always
comes along and thinks, “Oh, my
God, I previously exhibited in a space
of 100 square meters and not 2000
square meters, won’t my work get lost
in this space?” And of course, you
take them by the hand and say, “It
doesn’t matter how big of a space
you’re presenting in, every work has
its own presentation, so to speak, and
is perceived as unique work.”
Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 7
Designing Matt Black also worked closely with art director Yolanda Cuomo on the
design of his American Geography exhibition, translating the concept
of the book into a 3 dimensional space to ensure cohesive design across

the American each of the project’s touch points.

Geography Exhibition Like the book, the layout of the exhibition traces the journey Matt
took across the United States. The route the audience follows starts and
ends in California, with the spaces between being divided into regional
‘chapters’. Each chapter is accompanied with a map and an entry from
Matt’s notebook, offering a personal narrative to accompany the images
within each section.

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 8

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 9
 Photograph by Henning Rogge

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As the audience makes their way through the space, they are met with
two zones that disrupt the geographical flow of the exhibition and give
attention to the objects Black collected throughout the project. Adjacent
to the first room, the audience enters a long room, painted black with
large spotlighted hanging prints. On one side of the prints they see a
photograph of the collected items and on the other, further notebook
entries that paint a picture of the scene in which the object was collected.
At the end of the exhibition route, the audience enters the center of the
space to find four large, dramatic pillars. On the interior side of each
pillar they see collages of further objects, arranged by type. On the
exterior, we read the name of each town Black visited, accompanied by
its population and the percentage of those living in poverty. These pillars
act as monuments, reiterating to the audience Black’s message on the
systemic poverty that pervades the United States.

Photographs by Henning Rogge

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 As Yolanda Cuomo explains in this lesson, these breaks in the flow
of the exhibition route are key to creating an exciting experience. The
space should have different tempos: high points and low points, for the
audience to navigate. Using scale changes, secondary rooms and alternate
lighting setups at key points of your exhibition route can help make for a
much more engaging show.

Photograph by Henning Rogge

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 12

Exhibition Working closely with a designer to create your exhibition can be an
invaluable experience, however there are also inexpensive online tools

Design Checklist
and physical modelling techniques which can enable you to design
your space yourself. Here below is a list of the key things to consider
when planning your exhibition, whether working alongside a designer
or designing yourself.

Exhibition Route Colour Scheme

Explore how the layout of your space can enhance your photographs
and the viewer’s experience. Would your work benefit from being
shown in an open area or from adding dividing walls to create
smaller, intimate rooms?
Entrances and Exits
Think about how the audience will enter and exit each section of the
space. Do you have doors or open walkways?
Scale
How large will each print be? Will this change in certain areas of the
exhibition?
Framing
Will you have frames and if so, what material will you use?
Text
Do you have an introductory text at the beginning of your exhibition?
Is each image accompanied by a caption?
What colours should the walls and floor be painted? Would your
work benefit from a neutral colour scheme or something vibrant?
Lighting
How will you light your images? Should the space be bright or dimly
lit? What colour tone should the light have? Will the lighting change
in different rooms of the exhibition?
Sound
Would your work benefit from having sound accompany your images?
Accompanying Materials
Do you wish to show any physical objects, video or archive material
alongside your photographs?
Audience Participation
Would you like there to be interactive elements in your exhibition?

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 13

Assignment: Host an exhibition of your work. You may choose to hold a solo
exhibition or work with other artists on a group show. The location may

Arrange a Pop-Up
be a gallery, room in your home or a public space outdoors. You could
also consider an online exhibition, creating a website with different pages
to replicate the experience of moving through different rooms.

Exhibition However you choose to host your exhibition, be mindful of how the
attendees will interact with the work. What journey will they take
around the space? What does the order of your images say about the
work? Should you use captions?

Share images of your pop up exhibitions with us on Twitter:

@MagnumPhotos

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 14

Resources Online Exhibition
Platforms
– V21 Art Space: Virtual exhibitions from leading galleries
– PHmuseum: Online showcase of artist works from around the
world
– Artland: Online VR and 3D exhibitions from international
galleries

Further Reading – Google Arts & Culture, Ways of Curating: an Interactive Journey
of the exhibitions by Hans Ulrich Obrist
– Pentagram: Examples of the Design Agency’s Key Exhibition
Projects
– 1854 (British Journal of Photography), A Guide to Exhibiting
Your Work
– The Art Gallery, University of Maryland, Think Like A Curator:
How to Design an Exhibition
– The Art Newspaper, How Museums are Stepping Up Exhibition
Design
– The Guardian, Hans Ulrich Obrist: the Art of Curation

Matt Black: The Documentary Commitment — American Geography: Exhibition 15

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Documentary Commitment. No part of this document
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