Recurating

Recurating is the practice of revisiting and revising a curated collection, exhibition, program, or digital content after its initial presentation in order to present it anew to audiences. It is commonly applied in museums, galleries, libraries and archives, performing arts venues, and online platforms. Recuration focuses on reinterpreting and reorganizing existing assets rather than simply adding new acquisitions, though new items may be incorporated to support a revised narrative.

Purposes include incorporating new scholarship or discoveries, addressing gaps or biases, improving accessibility and inclusivity, extending the life of a venue’s programming, and reframing materials for different audiences, media, or contemporary contexts.

Practices often involve reevaluating the collection or program, updating interpretive labels and catalogs, reordering works or objects for different relationships, redesigning installation layouts, creating new interpretive themes, revising metadata and online catalogs, and offering revised public programs. In some cases, curators may decide to deaccession or rotate items to realize the revised concept.

Process typically requires collaboration among curators, researchers, educators, artists, community stakeholders, and institutional leadership; it includes archival research, provenance checks, audience consultation, budgeting, scheduling, production, and evaluation.

Outcomes can include a refreshed physical exhibition, a new or updated digital presentation, expanded catalogs and interpretive materials, and renewed audience engagement. Critics note that recurating can be resource-intensive and may raise questions about continuity, context, and ethical stewardship of artifacts and narratives.

Related ideas include curating in general, interpretation, decolonization of curation, and recontextualization.