I am a curator
I am the curator of my life. I am a curator of things I do; the books I read, the music I listen to on my iPhone and Spotify, the places I visit and live, the friends I spend time with, the clothes I wear, the gifts I give, the jewellery I buy, the photos I take and publish on my Instagram, the films I watch on my iPad, the friends I have on my Facebook and people I invite and accept on my LinkedIn, the magazines I read, the tweets I publish on my Twitter, the schools I graduate, the poetry I read, the projects I undertake, people I work with, the time I leave work, the food I buy, the wine I drink, the sports I do. The list is endless.
Curation should be an active and conscious choice. To master it, I have to have curiosity, appreciation and an understanding of the subject. To understand it, I need to study and research the subject to form my opinions. Just like any professional art curator.
However, no matter how old or young, rich or poor, we all have only 24 hours a day. The choice then is between navigating decisions and choices using gut feeling or the thousands of media, devices and tools we have access to. Bob Dylan explored this idea in one of my favourite songs of the week, Don’t Think Twice.
Who are the best curators? Google throws out the list of Famous Curators of which one is Chris Anderson, a curator of TED speakers and content. Steve Jobs probably was the best curator for technology. Buddhists are probably the best curators of inner peace.
Interestingly the word cura in Latin means “care’. Curation according to wikipedia is the act of curating, organizing and maintaining a collection of artworks or artefacts. The curator is the manager or carer of those artefacts. I am the curator of my life’s artefacts.
The same applies to brands and businesses. The brand owners curate the brand ecosystem — the resources, design decisions, people working on the brands, places products are sold, etc, etc.
Curation for me is about caring and responsibly.
Original post from April 6, 2012, https://marazalite-blog.tumblr.com/post/20586298952/i-am-a-curator
