Curating Photography today

Video masterclass with Tim Clark

Installation view of 'Masculinities Liberation through Photography', Barbican Centre, London, 2020. Tristan Fewings, Getty Images

On august 29th and 30th, LE BAL Books presented Les Ondes Éphémères, a one-time live program and radio station dedicated to contemporary photography practices and publishing. On this occasion an extended series of workshops, masterclasses, and interviews with publishers, curators and photographers was held online. As our understanding of the role and power of images keeps evolving, questions of ethics and representation are more relevant than ever when constructing photographic projects in both exhibition and editorial form. Tim Clark, curator and editor-in-chief of photography magazine 1000 Words, presented an extensive online masterclass on curatorial responsibility in photography. You can now watch the full video below.

What is the role of a curator? How to construct a curatorial project? What key questions to think about when devising and delivering an exhibition or a publication?

The many different ways to curate an exhibition, book, or magazine editorial can shape our comprehension of an image or visual story. Led by curator, writer and editor Tim Clark, this workshop was a unique opportunity to learn more on the importance of the curator's role in the evolution of representation in photography and develop new tools of reflection in curatorial practice nowadays. The workshop focused on specific areas regarding the definition of a curator's role, curatorial responsibility, 'care', the importance of self-critique, and ethical considerations when making exhibitions and editing publications, while examining new and changing forms of activism in photography curation.

© 1000 Words Magazine

Biography : Tim Clark

Tim Clark is a writer, editor and curator based in London, UK. Since 2008 he has been Editor-in-Chief at 1000 Words. He has previously served as Associate Curator at Media Space, Science Museum, London, where he worked on exhibitions including Julia Margaret Cameron: Influence and Intimacy (2015) and Gathered Leaves: Photographs by Alec Soth (2015–18). Clark was Artistic Director of Photo Oxford 2017, together with Greg Hobson. He recently worked as a curatorial advisor, together with Ekow Eshun and Jonathan D. Katz,on Masculinities: Liberation through Photography (2020) for Alona Pardo at the Barbican Centre London. He is currently a lecturer on BA Photography at The Institute of Photography, Falmouth University. His forthcoming book, Curator Conversations, will be released this Autumn.