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Role Call | Jana Scholze, Curator

Jana Scholze, curator at the V&A Museum, says “I would encourage anyone who aspires to a curatorial post to fully engage with the subject and its context.”
Jana Scholze | Source: Courtesy
By
  • Kati Chitrakorn

There are few sectors of the economy that offer as wide and interesting a range of career opportunities as fashion. Role Call highlights some of the industry’s most interesting jobs and the talented people who do them. For more information about fashion industry roles like this and others, visit BoF Careers.

LONDON, United Kingdom — Jana Scholze is the curator of contemporary furniture at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. She is the co-curator of 'What is Luxury?' an exhibition hosted at the museum in partnership with the Crafts Council. Holding a PhD in philosophy, semiotics and museum theory from the Technische Universität Berlin, Scholze joined the V&A in 2003 as an assistant curator. She was appointed curator of contemporary furniture and product design in 2009. A year later took on an additional role, as a PhD supervisor at the Royal College of Art.

BoF: Please describe your current role.

I am the co-curator of the forthcoming exhibition ‘What is Luxury?’ and a permanent member of staff at the Victoria & Albert Museum, in London. My title at the V&A is curator of contemporary furniture. I look after the museum’s collection of 20th century furniture and product design. My responsibilities include acquiring objects, interpreting and documenting them, arranging loans, being involved in research and, most of all, being well informed about current design practice.

Having an awareness of designers not only informs how and what we collect, but how we write about and judge their work. As curators, we uncover the most complex design stories. Our main focus is no less than writing history. In contrast to the wide area of research I do when working with the museum’s collection, curating an exhibition like ‘What is Luxury?’ allows me to focus on a specific subject and invite our audience to engage with the concepts and ideas, which are presented for debate, critique and celebration.

BoF: What attracted you to the role?

The attraction comes from an understanding of ‘the museum’ as a site for untested thinking and experimentation, as well combining working with objects and engaging with academic research. Negotiating acquisitions of certain objects, and not others, making sense of what we know, hearing and reading about objects, before arranging carefully chosen selections on display, allows us to participate in the practice of writing history on a daily basis. Sharing the temporary results of this practice through databases, blogs and exhibitions can feel challenging, terrifying and even risky. But it is sharing this information with the public that makes our engagement with history relevant. The most interesting aspect of our work is understanding how we live today and how we might live in the future.

The attraction comes from an understanding of 'the museum' as a site for untested thinking and experimentation.

BoF: What is the most exciting project or initiative you have worked on?

The most exciting project for me at the moment is, naturally, ‘What is Luxury?’ which I am curating with research fellow Leanne Wierzba. The exhibition, which is the third in a series organised in partnership with the Crafts Council, will present examples of contemporary design and craftsmanship, alongside conceptual projects that interrogate fundamental ideas of luxury, its production, and its future. Having researched and discussed the matter with a range of academics, brand specialists and economists, we concluded that 'luxury' needed critical reflection, extended mediation and probably re-definition.

This approach could be seen as a rather precarious undertaking for such a prominent and established subject, that everyone has an opinion on, but we’ve received extremely encouraging responses from all of the designers and artists who participated. They immediately understood their contribution to the debate, even if they would not use the term luxury to describe their work. Risk is part of the discovery of new ground. Every new constellation of objects will make claims that have not been stated in this form before. This is the most exciting – and most terrifying – part of curating an exhibition.

BoF: How is your role changing? What are the forces driving that change?

The immaterial world challenges our museum conventions that are based on the collection of tangible objects. As part of a generation who knows both analog and digital, it feels like the best time to get involved and shape not only the virtual world, but challenge its relationship, connection and overlap with the real. This is unchartered territory and relies on experimenting with ideas, learning from failure and pushing boundaries.

BoF: Tell us about a time you failed and how you learned from it.

Curators of collections are asked to give public tours two or three times a year, and more regularly for specialist groups such as students or societies. Years ago, I was scheduled for a tour during the London Design Festival. It was a particularly busy time and I had no time to prepare, but I also knew it would be too difficult to find someone else. When I arrived I was relieved to find only a small group waiting, so without much interaction, I started the tour and walked them through the 20th century collection. After I finished and some of the participants started asking questions, I realised I had shown a group of designers and curators around.

I felt embarrassed. Not only did I neglect to check the audience, which could have resulted in a conversation rather than a monologue, I presented a very general tour on basic design history, when something critical and conceptual would have been more appropriate. It is a common trap to underestimate the audience. Most importantly, one should avoid presenting anything in public if not well prepared. If you’re nervous, people will understand. But if you’re unprepared, people can perceive it as laziness or ignorance.

BoF: What advice do you have for people who are interested in doing what you do?

I would encourage anyone who aspires to a curatorial post to fully engage with the subject and its context. In London, particularly, there is a multiplicity of activities to take part in, from design practice to education, design journalism to academia, museum collections to gallery sales. The design circle is small and it is relatively easy to get to know people and get involved in projects. But, it does demand dedication, patience, and, most of all passion for design in all forms and formats. Active engagement is the foundation to developing ideas, opinions and ultimately, exciting projects. Although most of our work is realised in a team, our own curiosity and criticality will stimulate debate and motivate engagement. We benefit from respecting other's ideas and expertise.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

For more jobs like this, visit BoF Careers, the global marketplace for fashion talent.

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