The Art of Curation

Technology is an amazing tool, but at the end of the day there is still no algorithm for cool. Cool is humans observing, selecting and sharing something because it moves them and they think it might move others, too. 

Join us on a weekly journey to understand tastemaking as a craft that can be learned, honed and expressed through the art of curation.  

“Whenever I wonder, ‘Wow, can I really pull this off?’ I know I'm in a good space, because I really want to push the limits of what I can do, what the exhibition can do and what the institution can do while trying to propel things in a positive direction. Risk, experimentality and curiosity are essential criteria for curators.” — Apsara DiQuinzio

The exhibit “New Time: Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century” is no longer showing at the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, but if you were lucky enough to catch it, you knew you saw something special. The show, a major survey exploring feminist practices in contemporary art, walked visitors through eight meticulously planned sections, each one brimming with mini collections that were themselves so diverse, provocative, and aesthetically pleasing. It was the perfect show. 

The creative force behind that exhibit was Apsara DiQuinzio, who’s now the senior curator of contemporary art at the Nevada Museum of Art. In this episode, we deconstruct how she created, curated and orchestrated “New Time,” as well as learn what it takes to have a degree in looking.

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• The spark for “New Time” 
• The thinking behind the exhibit’s organization and flow
• Finding the pieces for each section
• How to get the art you want (and what happens when you don’t)
• The qualities of a great curator
• How much of your own tastes is OK to let through
• Incorporating alternative viewpoints when putting together a show
• New York and feeding your soul as a curator
• The art of ‘prolific looking’
• Reno and its artistic vibe
• Favorite place to discover new art
• Apsara’s own curation “speed round”

👋 Say "hi" to Apsara. 

➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more.

“Part of my work is to look at how artists are using their craft to speak to the times that we're living in — everything from climate change to immigration to the everyday human experience. My role is to look at what our museum has historically focused on and, in some regards, attempt to fill in the gaps or expand the conversation.” — Ozi Uduma, University of Michigan 

Ozi Uduma, Assistant Curator of Global Contemporary Art at the University of Michigan, is part of a four-person, all-female curatorial team responsible for putting on exhibitions for the university museum, including shows like Unsettling Histories: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism and Wish You Were Here: African Art and Restitution. Each curator has a regional specialty, such as Asian or African art, while Ozi owns the global lens. 

This conversation discusses how the art of curation is connected to the act of cultural stewardship. Ozi thinks beyond the aesthetic value of pieces to how she can champion and protect artists who are changing how we think about social issues and even the history of art itself. Her hope is to give space for curiosity to thrive such that the museum is as essential a campus destination as, say, the library, and as thought-provoking as a piece of art. 

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• A day in the life of this curator
• What a successful exhibition at University of Michigan looks like
• The unique things a curator on a college campus must think about
• Identifying gaps in the way art history is told
• How curators can know what they don’t know
• How to put the ideals of representation into practice
• How Ozi widens her own lens
• Traits necessary to be a successful curator
• What her generation of museum curators is bringing to the discipline
• Ozi’s own curation “speed round”

👋 Say "hi" to Ozi. 
🔎 Browse the companion Storyboard to get the episode, plus Ozi’s curated culture picks from the African continent and diaspora.
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more. 

“I am the kind of person that believes in frequency and energy. I really like to meditate. So when I think about how to inspire the people…I use music as the channel to share that energy.” — Ramon Olguin Sanchez 

A vibe manager — also known as a vibe curator — has been called “the most millennial job ever.” To be one, you’ve got to be the kind of person who has their finger on the pulse of lifestyle and industry trends. You then curate those elements into a space or experience that’s inviting and creates a positive feeling for all.

Ramon Olguin Sanchez, the vibe manager at the Hard Rock Hotel Los Cabos, came to this podcast’s attention via a story in Business Insider. He’s in charge of curating music for 14 locations throughout the resort and maintaining the upkeep of iconic memorabilia. Speaking to him was like finding a curation unicorn in the wild. Language barriers meant the interview was shorter than usual, but we still loved learning what this unusual job entails. 

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• Definition of a vibe manager and why he’s right for the role
• Deciding on the kind of vibe you want
• How to curate music to create an atmosphere
• Role of music volume in vibe-making
• Scent, decor and other factors that contribute to a vibe
• What to do if the vibe feels off
• Favorite memorabilia at the resort
• Is this the best job ever?!
• What’s hard about being a vibe manager
• Places that inspire him for their vibes
• Ramon’s culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Ramon. 
🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode, plus Ramon’s favorite podcast, author, musician and movie genre.
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more.

“Film curators definitely have the challenge of [their medium’s] temporal nature. With two dimensional objects, you can easily look at them at once and figure out [how to] arrange them. But when it comes to working with a time-based medium, you really have to watch it…and maybe multiple times to understand how the piece works.” — Leslie Raymond, Ann Arbor Film Festival  

At 60 years old, the Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF) is the longest-running independent and experimental film festival in North America. Its director, Leslie Raymond, doesn’t just think about curating the best selection of experimental films each year. She also considers how the films fit into the festival’s rich legacy and Ann Arbor’s own cultural standing. (It’s been called the “Berkeley of the East.”)

It was exciting to learn about the ways film curation differs from other forms of curation and how the AAFF team turns 2,700 submissions into a tight, six-day lineup that surprises and delights audiences. 

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• What’s so cool about AAFF
• The Ann Arbor scene and techno music
• What does avant-garde film even mean these days
• How they decide what makes it into the festival
• How filmmakers can get a curator’s attention
• Conversation and dialogue as part of the curatorial process
• What’s unique about film curators
• How roles as an artist and educator intersect with being a curator
• Why it’s sometimes taboo for a curator to put their voice in the mix
• How the films fit together as a body of work
• What AAFF teaches new film reviewers
• Whether Leslie still watches movies for fun
• Leslie’s culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Leslie. 
🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode, plus Leslie’s favorite book, movie, TV show, and podcast.
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more. 

“To be a good curator, it's important to…be open to what you don't know and to be looking for people to tell you what the new important ideas are instead of going out and saying, I think I know what matters.” — Corey Hajim, TED Business Curator

She didn’t know it while it was unfolding, but when you look back at Corey Hajim’s career trajectory, it makes sense that she became the business curator at TED. Prior to joining the conference and content company, Corey got an MBA at Harvard, spent a decade in finance in New York City, and was a reporter at Fortune. So when she saw the job description for a curatorial role at TED, it didn’t just speak to her for the skills it required. There was one other sentence that hooked her: “We only hire nice people.”

Corey is most definitely a kind person, but what was fascinating to find out in this conversation is how niceness can make you a better curator. With that as a foundation, Corey dove into how she helps to program multiple events and online series each year, including working directly with dozens of speakers to make sure their TED talks shine. Learn from her deep curatorial experience while extracting some public speaking tips for yourself. 

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• How she became the business curator at TED
• Why the role spoke to her
• What attributes make a great curator
• What makes an “idea worth spreading” in a talk
• How she finds and coaches people for TED talks
• How she thinks about the talks as a holistic body of work
• Reacting to news and cultural moments
• Presentation tips for the rest of us
• Who she still wants to get for a TED talk
• Underviewed talks worth your time
• How she tracks her ideas when she’s always consuming
• Favorite TED talks and other culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Corey. 
🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode, plus Corey’s favorite TED talks, books, podcasts, and more.
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more

“Ever since I was at Amazon, I've been intrigued by the way in which discovery needs to be a bit more than search, and how curation is almost the flipside of knowing what you want…Helping you identify what you would get delight from is very often the result of curation.” — Spencer Hyman

As a “craft chocolate DJ” who runs a subscription service called Cocoa Runners, Spencer Hyman has plenty to say about the art of curating delicious, ethical chocolate bars. He’s deeply immersed in everything about the subject, from its history and the science of taste to how its cultivation impacts local farmers and the planet. 

Add in his experience as a general manager at Amazon and chief operations officer of Last.fm, and you’ll quickly hear that Spencer’s perspective on curation actually goes way beyond cacao. He sees curation as a solution for many categories of goods — like music, film, wine, coffee, gardening — where consumers don’t typically know how to find the best stuff out there.

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• Through-line of curation in his career
• Why choose chocolate
• The meaning of “craft chocolate”
• How to be an effective chocolate curator
• Involving his team’s expertise and taste buds
• The difference between flavor and taste
• How humans experience flavor and taste differently
• The allure of packaging for a curator — yay or nay?
• The “no repeat” rule for curation
• Programming engaging online virtual tastings
• Why the U.S. has a poor reputation for chocolate
• Dark vs. milk chocolate 
• How he tracks his ideas and inspiration
• Spencer’s culture picks
• A detour into Spencer’s early career making Cabbage Patch Dolls

👋 Say "hi" to Spencer. 

➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more. 

“I’ve learned how to choose the people who have the most interesting voices and stories and not just the ones that make $500,000 a year…I've really learned to mine for story and interesting tidbits and different kinds of people.” — Hannah Rimm

If you’ve ever read a Money Diary on Refinery29, you know they’re fascinating and a little bit addictive. Initially, it’s the scenario that draws you in; headlines like “I'm 25, I make $28,000 & I'm A Cowgirl For A Living” or “I'm 37, I Have A Joint Income Of $1.3 Million & I'm Shopping For A Second Home.” But quickly you’ll find yourself immersed in the juicy details of a stranger’s life — with the added benefit of picking up some personal finance insights along the way. It’s the same kind of pleasure as  watching (smart) reality TV.

In this episode, we get to know Money Diaries editor Hannah Rimm. As the franchise’s only curator, Hannah sifts through more than 30 submissions per week in order to feed an ambitious publishing schedule of three weekly diaries. How she creates a column with such a rabid fan base — and a high-quality comment section, no less — is at the heart of this conversation. 

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• “Money Diaries” for the uninitiated
• The psychology of why “Money Diaries” is so interesting
• How she goes about deciding whom to feature
• The tie between emotions and spending
• How she ensures entries are truthful and sound
• What’s important in someone’s money story
• How she cultivates such a high-quality comment section
• The best way for a reader to make use of a Refinery29 money diary
• What changes she’s made to her own financial habits after editing this column
• On being a credit card points wizard
• How trends in the marketplace are influencing the stories being told
• How to manage “frivolous” spending (and the guilt that comes with it)
• What kinds of conversations she had about money growing up
• Her favorite money diaries
• What she learned about the art of curation from this job
• Hannah’s culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Hannah. 
🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode, plus Hannah’s favorite shows, podcasts, games and more.
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests.

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“Sometimes in the Jewish imagination, but definitely in the broader public imagination, people reduce all of Jewish history to the Holocaust. And so I think one of the responsibilities that curators have is to show the rich panoply of Jewish experience beyond just 1939-1945…and to create access points to those histories.” — Jason Steinhauer 

History Club founder Jason Steinhauer is a curator with such deep and varied experience that it’s hard to know where to start. Do we begin with the popular Clubhouse conversations he hosts on Thursday nights? His new book about how social media and the Web have changed the past? Or with any one of the curatorial/archivist roles he’s had at places like the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and the Museum of Chinese in America? 

Instead, the conversation begins with a curatorial experience centered on a topic core to his identity, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. The grandchild of Holocaust survivors, Jason was part of the team behind an award-winning exhibition about American Jews in the Second World War. He brings a perspective to history — and how we experience stories from the past — that incorporates media, tech, culture and his own Jewish faith. 

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• Growing up a “museum nerd”
• Unique pressures of curating for a Holocaust museum
• How one begins to curate Jewish stories
• What curators of Jewish history need to consider that other curators do not
• What makes a good historian and how that is different from what makes a good curator of history
• Care for physical objects in a digital world
• Inside his book, “History, Disrupted”
• Consuming accurate, high-quality historical content on the Internet (and does Instagram count?)
• Founding History Club and curating conversations there
• What inspires his Clubhouse conversations
• The through-line of his career
• How history might judge the current day
• Speed round: Jason’s culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Jason. 
💡Follow History Club on Flipboard. 
🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode, plus Jason’s favorite books, movies, and other cultural picks. 
➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more

“The moment we opened our doors, the project belonged to everybody else who's interacting with it. It’s [now] about serving those people and their engagement with things. A lot of curation is also about listening and continuing to change your perspective and accept things that you didn't know or understand before you started on the journey you're on.” — Matthew James-Wilson, Heavy Manners Library

Imagine wanting to create a library and then building it from scratch. What books would you include? Why would you choose them? What would you leave out? How would you serve your community and respond to how they are reacting to your creation?

These are the questions facing Matthew James-Wilson and Molly Soda of Heavy Manners Library, a new space in Los Angeles with a to-be-launched online component. The library seeks to archive and distribute self and independently published artists' books, zines, and  more. It’s hoped that this will create a place where people without a formal art education can access that media outside of an institutional setting such as a university or a traditional library or gallery.

This episode shows what it’s like curating something from the ground up and how two creative people can collaborate to do what they do best while serving the project as a whole.  

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings:

• Origins of the name “Heavy Manners Library”
• What makes the cut for the library
• How they ensure the selection lives up to their mission
• Filling in the gaps
• How the online membership will work
• Collaborating with your co-curator
• How to balance your tastes with what the community wants
• What they hope people feel when they come into the space
• Advice to artists on how to get noticed
• How the NFT trend impacts what they’re building
• How they find inspiration and track ideas
• Where to find up-and-coming artists
• Generational approaches to collecting
• Matthew and Molly's culture picks

👋 Say "hi" to Matthew and Molly. 

🔎 Browse this Storyboard to get the episode itself, plus the media/expression that inspired the library’s name and a few of Matthew and Molly’s culture picks.

➕ This podcast was created by Flipboard, the popular social magazine, where enthusiasts are curating stories they recommend across thousands of interests. Learn more