The curator’s cure: Curing visual stupidity in the age of symbolic misery

Abstract

Abstract: Bernard Stiegler diagnoses that we live in societies of control under an aesthetic conditioning. Marketing emerges as the foundational force in societies of control, adept at shaping individual desires and cultivating them into consumerism. Capturing our attention, particularly through audiovisual mediums, dictates our behaviour. In essence, the industrial exploitation of consciousness diminishes our noetic abilities, turning us into stupid and docile individuals. Stiegler rehearses different ways to recover the capacity of attention and thus overcome the ‘visual stupidity’ in which we find ourselves, what he calls ‘therapeutic practices’. These practices range from more traditional institutions like schools and uni versities to the practice of meditation. Drawing from some of Stiegler’s insights, this paper suggests contemplating visual curatorship as another possible therapeutic practice. I strongly believe that we require an edu cation of our gaze to truly comprehend what we observe and surpass aesthetic conditioning. The role of the art curator is crucial, as they can help deconstruct our habitual ways of seeing, enabling us to recognize how media and images operate as mechanisms of control over individuals.