Seeing Trans for the Trees:
Rhizomatic Curatorial Frameworks and the Visualizing TRANS Exhibition
Amy L. Noell
© 2007
Abstract:
A critical analysis of the Visualizing TRANS exhibition at the Kupfer Center (formerly Ironworks) in Madison , WI . The event coincided with the October 2006 Visual Culture conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison entitled TRANS. The author describes the exhibition's curatorial framework, which adapted Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's theorization of the rhizome in order to visualize the multiple meanings and applications of the prefix trans-, including transgender, transculture, transnation, transsensory and transhistory. The author defines "transcurating" and details how the curatorial team implemented the rhizome into the highly industrial exhibition space. The author compares the exhibition to other decentralized curatorial models and evaluates its rhizomatic framework against key criticisms of alternative curatorial methods, including writing by Inke Arns and Jacob Lillemose and the debates conducted after the “Curating, Immateriality, Systems” conference at the Tate Modern in 2005 organized by Joasia Krysa.