Margaret Choi Kwan Lam 
Museum as a Site of Negotiation. Mediating High and Low Culture 
The Curatorial Landscape in the Face of Challenges

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Art – Installation / Action/Performance Art / Modern Art, grade: Distinction, Kingston University London (Kingston University London, in Partnership with the Design Museum, London, U.K.), course: MA Curating Contemporary Design, language: English, abstract: Between high and low culture, there was once a deep and wide gulf. The clear division was never a natural phenomenon, but rather a result of a cultural act. Throughout the history, the conflict in-between had taken a long way to resolve and the whole subject matter had caused marathon debates among modern cultural critics. Museums, as institutions once with absolute powers in its operation, had been forced to face a worldwide revolution. There were much more mixed emotions towards mass culture – questioning, inquiries, struggles, seduction and temptation at the same time – which constituted a push-and-pull situation. What were museums for? Was it a time for museums to reconsider their role and democratize themselves? What kind of resistance and temptation had museums encountered? To what extent would curators act as pioneers to eliminate the gap in-between taste diversity in art and design? These questions are worthwhile to take a look into. This essay aims to unveil the ways curators liberated themselves from a singular-voiced museum practice, which resulted in revolutions of curatorial models that incorporated multiple voices. Cases include: High and Low: Modern Art and Popular Culture (1990-91, MOMA), The People’s Show (1990, Walsall Museum and Art Gallery) and Postmodernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990 (2011, V&A).

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I believe that contemporary art curating is now more than a profession of connoisseurship, but rather a creative and artistic venture. By noticing the impact of experience economy onto international exhibition scene, I am particularly interested in contemporary curatorial practices that involve experiential design, spatial narration, scenography, and new interpretative approaches in exhibition spaces. After furthering my studies in MA Curating Contemporary Design in London (graduating with Distinction), I have been working as an independent assistant curator and contributing in art exhibition-making. Combining my artistic background and multi-faceted work experience in creative industries, involving solid projects in advertising agencies and multi-media exhibition lab, my pursuit in curatorship is of multi-disciplinary interest. With overarching skills I developed as substantial backup: from concept development, strategic planning, idea visualizations, creative writing, narration, supervising on art production, overseeing post-production, working with directors, designers and artists, to final deliveries – I have a mission to further transform museum approaches into contemporary implementations in a wide range of art and branded exhibitions.