Gallery Minimal is looking for a curator to choose, sequence and introduce its exhibitions on galleryminimal.com, working entirely from the Gallery Minimal Flickr account, with no technical work. The site is designed and curated by photographers, not marketers, to give visitors “a quiet moment to appreciate photography for its own sake”: small exhibitions, no mosaics, no scrolling.
What the curator does
- Selects and sequences. Chooses and organises between 4 and 6 exhibitions within a year. For each exhibition, builds a Flickr gallery (public photos by other members) or an album (photos uploaded to the account), orders it as it should be seen, and chooses the cover photo. Exhibitions run from about a dozen to two dozen photos.
- Writes. A title and an introduction for the exhibition, and preferably titles and captions for the photos exhibited.
- Publishes and maintains. Adds “GM -” to the title of the gallery or album in Flickr and the exhibition goes live within the hour. Later edits, withdrawal and revival are the same: edit the gallery or put the prefix on or off the title.
- Answers. Replies to visitors and artists who write to the Contacts address.
- Looks after rights. Credits other people’s photographs as theirs, and publishes under the open licence only what the curator can truly grant. No photo should go into an exhibition without the written agreement of its author. The curator asks authors for their agreement and keeps their replies. An exhibition focused on the work of a single photographer is usually easier to organise, as the rights come down to one agreement.
What the curator does not do
No scripts, no web files, no servers. The website, its menu, the removal of withdrawn pages and the agent that publishes from Flickr are looked after by the webmaster. The curator never edits the site itself.
Who we are looking for
- A trained eye for photography and for sequence, and a taste in line with the manifesto: quiet, unhurried, no mosaic, no scroll.
- Comfortable on Flickr: galleries, albums, descriptions. No technical skills beyond that.
- Good copywriting skills in English for concise introductions and captions.
- Respect for photographers and their rights, and the judgment to know what can be shown and under which licence.
- Reliable by email: confirmations arrive after every change, and visitors’ messages get an answer within a few days.
How it works in practice
The curator signs in to the Gallery Minimal account on Flickr and works there. An agent checks the account every hour, builds the exhibition page, lists it on the Exhibitions page and emails the curator a confirmation, to the address of their choice. A curator’s manual explains every step, and the webmaster is there for anything that goes wrong. The first exhibition is made together with the webmaster. The work comes in bursts around each new exhibition, with only occasional email in between.
What we offer and how to apply
Full editorial freedom within the manifesto, a public credit as curator on the Contacts page, and a site built so that curating is the only work.
The role is voluntary and unpaid, with a commitment of one year.
To apply, write to galleryminim@gmail.com with a few lines about yourself, a link to your Flickr or a portfolio, and one exhibition you would like to make for Gallery Minimal.