Mapping the Contexts of Contemporary Curating: The Visual Arts Exhibitionary Complex

In cities throughout the world, the Visual Arts Exhibitionary Complex (VAEC) is a constellation of exhibitionary venues that ranges from metropolitan museums to pop-up installations and Internet postings. This article maps VAECs as historical developments, as power hierarchies, and as consisting of distinct but internally dynamic elements that interact with each other constantly. VAECs are the primary contexts in which curating is done today, so this article also presents a series of charts that outline the historical evolution and the current forms of professional categorization within curating: types of exhibition, display formats, curatorial styles, projective publics and modes of collaboration.