Carnegie International: Pulling it Together

Every three years the Carnegie International opens with much fanfare and a rush of public and private reviews, but visitors rarely think about what went into choosing the artists. For the curators, that is the key to a good show and the continuation of the mission to find the “old masters of tomorrow.”

Like every Carnegie International curator in the last decade and a half Douglas Fogle came from out of town to take the job. He had to start from scratch, learning about the city, the institution and his new roll as curator of contemporary art, and of course, the International. Fogle says every curator finds the first artists or piece that they want to put into the show and it grows from there. During the last two years Fogle has logged some 200-thousand miles in the air, searching the globe for the next emerging artist.

The board of the Carnegie has been known for giving curators all the support they need to pull the show together. Fogle says they also give a great deal of freedom in putting the show together, which is a double-edged sword. “The board gives you enough rope to hang yourself,” says Fogle. The world will not know if he climbs or swings from that rope until the 55th Carnegie International opens in May.

Listen to a longer version of this story.


WDUQ’s Mark Nootbaar will examine a different aspect of the Carnegie International every month through the opening of the show.