Abstract:
The Working Paper evaluates eleven interviews with professional curators conducted for the project Training the Archive. From the interviews, a series of personas were derived that provided insight into the needed functionality of the Curator’s Machine and led to corresponding changes in the prototypes. The text then highlights, on the one hand, curatorial approaches that can be realized with the Curator’s Machine, including systems of non/order and databases, the process of selection and thinking in terms of configurations and categories, as well as a reflection on the used data basis. On the other hand, curatorial approaches that are not feasible or only to a limited extent were discussed, for example, issues of representation and data Bias, the influence of the institutional setting, and spatial relations in the exhibition conception. The Working Paper thus conclusively discusses the project Training the Archive and is a contribution to the practical application of software in the field of curating.