Curatorial Ethics

Discussion will be held in English.

The word 'ethics' is appearing more and more often in museums. It is associated with concepts such as responsibility, care, solidarity, and justice. But what does this term mean when applied to the institution of the contemporary art museum? How should the relationship between curators and artists, and between curators and institutions, be defined? Returning to the great debate on the role of exhibition curators from ten years ago is worthwhile, as is considering the function of curators today and what is expected of them. What responsibility does the curator have to the institution, the collection, the artists and the audience? Are there unwritten rules, or does it depend on the ethics of the individuals performing specific functions?

 

Ruth Noack is a curator, art historian, writer and teacher. She was Executive Director of The Corner at Whitman-Walker in Washington, D.C., Head of Curating Contemporary Art at the RCA in London and Curator of documenta 12 in Kassel. Her recent shows include Zhang Kunkun in Shanghai, Eccentric Peripheries in Trieste and Sleeping with a Vengeance, Dreaming of a Life in Athens, Prague, Beijing and Stuttgart. Author of a monograph on Sanja Iveković and editor of Agency, Ambivalence, Analysis. Approaching the Museum with Migration in Mind. Noack published extensively on art and theory. She has curated symposia and lectured globally since 2000. Recent guest professorships include Bauhaus Universität Weimar and Städelschule Frankfurt.

Dominik Kuryłek is an art historian and curator. Since 2022, he has been the Chief Curator of the Museum of Photography in Kraków. Previously, from 2019, he headed the Department of Photography and Photographic Techniques. He obtained his doctorate in art history from the Jagiellonian University in 2014. His curatorial career began in 2005 at the National Museum in Kraków, where he organised exhibitions for ten years, including a monographic exhibition of Magdalena Abakanowicz. He was a lecturer at the Jagiellonian University and the Pedagogical University in Kraków. At the Museum of Photography, he was responsible for preparing the exhibition What Does a Photograph Do? As co-curator, he organised exhibitions such as See: Britain and Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation 2023 Award. He curated the exhibition Edward Steichen (1879–1973): Selected Photographs from the MNAHA Collection in Luxembourg.

Natalia Sielewicz is an art historian, writer and chief curator at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (MSN). In her curatorial work, she addresses topics related to feminism, the politics of affect and the impact of technology on the contemporary human condition. She has curated numerous exhibitions at the MSN, including: Maria Jarema: Cracked Modernism (2026, together with Éric de Chassey), Cruel Tales: Aleksandra Waliszewska and the Symbolism of the East and North (2022, together with Alison Gingeras), Agnieszka Polska: The Thousand-Year Plan (2021), Paint Means Blood: Woman, Affect and Desire in Contemporary Painting (2019), Ministry of Internal Affairs: Intimacy as Text (2017), Privacy Settings (2014). Curator of the Estonian Pavilion at the 61^st Venice Biennale in 2026.

Wojciech Szymański is a curator, critic and art historian, author and editor of books and catalogues. He deals with contemporary Romani art; curator of collective exhibitions of Romani art Kali Berga at Kai Dikhas Galerie in Berlin (2017) and Prawo spojrzenia (The Right to Look) at the Szara Kamienica Gallery in Kraków (together with Delaine Le Bas, 2018). He is the curator of Małgorzata Mirga-Tas’s exhibitions 29. Ćwiczenia ceroplastyczne (29. Ceroplastic Exercises) at the Centre of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko (2020) and Exodus from Egypt at the Arsenał Gallery in Białystok (2021), recognised by Frieze magazine as one of the ten most important exhibitions of the year in Europe, Wędrujące obrazy (Travelling Images) at the ICC Gallery in Kraków (2022, together with Natalia Żak), Sawore, sawore, sawore at the Royal Museum of History and Art in Brussels (2025). Curator (together with Joanna Warsza) of Małgorzata Mirga-Tas: Re-Enchanting the World in the Polish Pavilion at the 59^th Venice Biennale. He also curated exhibitions devoted to queer stories, including Dziedzictwo (Legacy) as part of the Pomada Festival (with Karol Radziszewski and Michał Grzegorzek, 2017). He works as an assistant professor at the Institute of Art History at the University of Warsaw. He lives in Kraków.