at the brighton photo biennial i attended a session in which the curator, martin parr, was interviewed. inevitably it got me thinking about curation again. other than blogging about the curating worship  book and linking to reviews i haven't posted thoughts on it for a while so here is post 6 in the curation series. you've probably forgotten there ever was a series so by way of reminder here were [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5]

the thing that struck me about martin parr was the combination of threads that come together in him as a person as opposed to the actual practice of curating. it's the combination that makes his curation compelling.

the first is that he has an incredible passion and excitement about the artists and their work, about photography in general but particularly in new directions in photography. sharing about the artists he had brought to brighton and commissioned he said 'i believe in these people' and at another point when describing one set of photographs he said 'how can anyone not love this?!' this may seem such an obvious thing to think about in relation to curation but i think it's easy to lose sight of the importance of that excitement and love. somewhat disarmingly he suggested that as a curator all he is doing is providing a platform for work and artists that excite him. and part of his excitement was in the stories which made the work come alive – which proved to be the case as later in the day we heard those stories.

then he has what i would call restlessness combined with curiosity. the restlessness is what drives him. as far as he is concerned there is no point showing great work that everyone has seen before. the biennial should be about the process of discovery. he travels a lot himself and is in the fortunate position to be able to do that. but he also has a network of correspondents around the world who he asks to let him know what is happening that is exciting and new and has energy about it. these correspondents are usually photographers themselves. the combination of his own travel, reading, keeping up with what's happening and networking with correspondents enables him to have his finger on the pulse. he didn't say this but it's clear that he does at least in certain parts of the world and particularly in relation to documentary photography.

one of the things that interests him is people who are able to break the rules. every genre including contemporary photography has rules – often hidden or unspoken – but where are the people able to take things in a new direction, to open up something different and fresh, to break those rules? i'm sure for some people this seems overly obsessive with newness but i really like it. there are always plenty of people who like things the way they are after all! there was a point in the interview where martin was asked if he was comfortable with something – i can't remember what now – he laughed and said 'i can't use the word comfortable!' perhaps also this sense was captured when he was asked what his favourite picture that he has taken is and he said it was the one he is about to take. some photos have something magical about them but what exactly that is is elusive and unpredictable. and again that is part of the excitement and the curiosity – to find that magic.

there was an interesting discussion around his correspondents because a lot of them are photographers i.e. practitioners and martin suggested that they are more use than curators because they approach things from the ground up rather than the table down. this was picked up in the questions and martin sort of retracted what he said as it sounded too negative about curators and the institutional players, many of whom are his friends i guess. but the underlying question really was about authenticity – and a debate around emerging voices and established ones and the sense that there needs to be some negotiation between those. and often the leaning tends to be towards the established rather than the emerging so it was refreshing to find someone whose instincts were the opposite.

one of the things martin said he liked about the emerging photographers is that they are not too fussy. the whole of this festival was pinned on walls without being framed and all the photos printed from digital files sent in. martin said that established photographers make many more (expensive) demands.

and we ended with him concluding that intuition is all he has got – 'it's what drives me'!

in previous thoughts on curation i cover a few of these themes but the new thought for me was about what someone who curates embodies in who they are before they even begin to think about how you might actually hang or promote the festival or any of that other practical stiff that needs to be done. some of those in martin are –

• passion and excitement
• a restless quest and curiosity to find new edges, approaches and stories that have the elusive magic
• the importance of getting out and travelling and networking with others sharing the same passion to find out where those edges might be to really have your finger on the pulse
• breaking the rules never wanting to be comfortable
• holding lightly to establishment, leaning always in the direction of emerging practitioners
• and trusting intuition – it's all you've got!