“In the United States, no major museum other than the de Young does an open call on such a large scale, perhaps because it goes against the grain of how museum professionals these days are trained,” Jori wrote. “It’s an experiment that changes the role of curators from rather controlling gatekeepers to highly democratic door openers,” she continued. The current exhibit, which runs through Jan. 7, is the de Young Open’s second iteration. The first, in 2020, was held in part to help artists who were struggling financially during the pandemic. This time around, artists submitted 7,766 works for consideration, and a group of de Young curators and local artists narrowed the choices down to 883.

Source: New York Times November 22, 2023 23:33 UTC