Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction / Judith Rugg -- Part 1: Forms of Thinking in Contemporary Curating -- The Curatorial Turn : From Practice to Discourse / Paul O'Neill -- Curatorial Strategy as Critical Intervention : The Genesis of Facing East / Liz Wells -- No Place Like Home : Europa / Sophia Phoca -- Part 2: Curating and the Interdisciplinary: Encounter, Context, Experience -- Critical Spacial Practice : Curating, Editing, Eriting / Jane Rendell -- Exhibitions and Their Prerequisites / Chris Dorsett -- Part 3: The Role of the Curator: Contestation and Consideration -- Curating Doubt / JJ Charlesworth -- A Parallel Universe : The "Women's" Exhibitions at the ICA, 1980, and the UK/Canadian Film and Video Exchange, 1998-2004 / Catherine Elwes -- Thoughts on Curating / Richard Hylton -- Part 4: Emergent Practices: Subverting the Museum -- Oscillating the 'high/low' Art Divide : Animation in Museums and Galleries / Suzanne Buchan -- Generator : The Value of Software Art / Geoff Cox -- Who Makes Site-Specific dance? The Year of the Artist and the Matrix of Curating / Kate Lawrence -- The Movement Began with a Scandal / Alun Rowlands.

To stay relevant, art curators must keep up with the rapid pace of technological innovation as well as the aesthetic tastes of fickle critics and an ever-expanding circle of cultural arbiters." Issues in Curating Contemporary Art and Performance" argues that, despite these daily pressures, good curating work also requires more theoretical attention. In four thematic sections, a distinguished group of contributors consider curation in light of interdisciplinary and emerging practices, examine conceptions of curation as intervention and contestation, and explore curation s potential to act as a reconsideration of conventional museum spaces. Against the backdrop of cutting-edge developments in electronic art, art/science collaboration, nongallery spaces, and virtual fields, contributors propose new approaches to curating and new ways of fostering critical inquiry. Now in paperback, this volume is an essential read for scholars, curators, and art enthusiasts alike."