Reflections on curatorial articulation practices. A collective doing: that's why I don't write alone

Abstract

In this text, Brazilian artist Mario Lopes addresses how he redefines and reuses the word "curatorship" through his practices according to nine specific steps and introduces the idea of Afrotranstopia. As Lopes explains: “For a long time, the term "curator" has triggered noises and conflicts in me. I question the practices and market logics operating within our viral system, which I call PACACO-bi: Patriarchy, Capitalism and Colonialism within a binary structure. I name "PACACO-bi" this syndemic virus of our history, which affects us as humanity and governs us as a society. For this reason, considering myself a curator is a permanent conflict in each experience where I act as such. I try to exercise a curatorial practice that, on principle, combats this viral system, constantly asking myself: Is it possible to break with the logics immanent to the capitalist system, at the same time freeing myself from the patriarchal place of power? Is it possible to overcome the binary logic and colonial methods of action pervading social relations?”