Curatorial Studies on the Edge: The Ghetto Biennale, a Junkyard, and the Performance of Possibility

'What happens when First World art rubs up against Third World art? Does it bleed?' These were the questions posed in the prospectus for the Ghetto Biennale, an invitation to international artists to converge and work alongside the artists of the Grand Rue neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This article situates the Biennale within the context of cultural and critical theory that firstly unravels the dialogical discourses involved in the curatorial praxis of this event, and secondly contemplates the concept of curation against the backdrop of the contemporary international politics of Haiti, national disaster and trauma.