5 Questions – Wassan Al-Khudhairi
Welcome listeners to 5 Questions: A Critical Mass for the Visual Arts Podcast in which we ask 5 questions of our interviewees aimed at positioning and contextualizing their respective bodies of work within the St. Louis artworld. This episode, we’re talking with Wassan Al-Khudhairi.
Wassan Al-Khudhairi is the Chief Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, where she has organized Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Lawrence Abu Hamdan: Earwitness Theatre, Guan Xiao: Fiction Archive Project, Hayv Kahraman: Acts of Reparation, Trenton Doyle Hancock: The Re-Evolving Door to the Moundverse and SUPERFLEX: European Union Mayotte. Prior to her position at CAM, Al-Khudhairi was the Hugh Kaul Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art. During her time in Birmingham, she organized the first large-scale exhibition of the museum’s contemporary collection, Third Space / shifting conversations about contemporary art. She was invited to be a Curator for the 6th Asian Art Biennial in Taiwan in 2017 and Co-Artistic Director for 9th Gwangju Biennial in South Korea in 2012. Serving as the Founding Director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, Al-Khudhairi oversaw the opening of the Museum in 2010 and co-curated Sajjil: A Century of Modern Art and curated Cai Guo-Qiang: Saraab.
Welcome
- How much do you think curators and writers should be involved in shaping an artist’s vision?
- Help us demystify the whole process. A lot of artists would say it’s difficult to get their work in front of curators.
- What is your particular viewpoint, if you can distill it? Why is it vital?
- What are your top priorities or concerns as a curator?
- How should an artist approach you if they want you to think about their work?
That’s it for this episode of 5 questions, thanks to Wassan, and to you our listeners and community.
OUTRO: 5 Questions is a program by Critical Mass for the Visual Arts – a nonprofit, self-formed visual arts collaborative dedicated to promoting, enhancing and initiating contemporary visual art in the St. Louis region.
With Wassan Al-Khudhairi and Joe Kohlburn
Editor – Sarah Hammond
Producer – Brett Williams
Critical Mass for the Visual Arts 