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At the beginning of the last century a new figure emerged on the artistic landscape, the exhibition curator, a role which gradually took on increased importance over the coming years. The emancipation of curators from the end of the Sixties onwards was to open up new opportunities in curatorial practice, marked by a number of milestones in the second third of the 20th century. The exponential growth of international events and the proliferation of training programmes and spaces during the 1990s led to a progressive professionalisation of independent curators, supported by the emergence of a historical awareness of the practice and its theoretical analysis. This increased visibility, at times greater than that of the artist, together with a number of (ab)uses within the field and a general unawareness of the work of curators, led to prejudices in the artistic consciousness, viewing them as a necessary evil.

A survey has been conducted in order to ascertain the state of opinion within the sector, and as an exercise of self-reflection and self-criticism, focusing on the responsibilities undertaken by curators and the errors most frequently committed in their work. The results of this research have been interpreted by the artist Liz Kueneke as a statistical and subjective topography.

In order to present an account of the plurality of projects being developed today by curators, a dossier of works in progress, presented by some of the agents questioned, is presented. Given the noted lack of specific forums for exchange, contact and the dissemination of the work of curators, the website sebuscacurator.org has been set up as a network to provide a tool and a platform for the furtherance of projects. A participatory redefinition of the term curator it is also being proposed,to be sent to wikipedia following conclusion of the exhibition. The historical contextualisation of the research is presented in the form of a chronology of the incidents which have defined curatorial practice.

Some interviews and a pair of Working Panels will deal with two essential aspects of any discussion of the practice, at the auditorium of CASM:

-The opportunities available through associations and an attempt to establish standardisation and a structure to take care of the interests of such professionals and define the best practice to be followed. A discussion that will take place on the 22th November by the chief curator of MACBA Chus Martínez and the art critic Sergio Rubira.

-The training being provided for those wishing to enter the world of curatorship. A discussion that will take place on the 29th November by Mark Nash, the head of the curatorial department at the Royal College of Arts, and the curator and art critic Neus Miró.

The events will draw to a close with a visit by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, who will be presenting his book A Brief History of Curating on the 17th January 2009.

The research has its origins in the experiments conducted at Hangar in 2005 and with the University of Barcelona in 2007, in which each artist involved was called on to select a curator with whom to draw up a joint project. Both experiments are presented by means of an exploration of the experiences of each pair.

The aim of Se busca Curator is to cast light and shadow on the contemporary discussion regarding the status of curators, to share knowledge and generate dialogue, to acknowledge the diversity of operational lines and to begin to establish an idea of the best practice to be followed by the profession in future. Our aim is for this Consultation to become a tool for knowledge and research. A modest contribution to the betterment of working and personal relationships within the contemporary art world.