curatorale

Curatorale is a term used to describe a curatorial approach that emphasizes narrative-driven organization of artifacts, media, and data to create cohesive experiences across multiple platforms. It foregrounds how selections are sequenced, contextualized, and presented to guide audience interpretation rather than focusing solely on individual objects.

Etymology and diffusion: Coined in recent years within museum studies and digital curation discourse, the word combines the role of the curator with a suffix that signals method and practice. It is used across disciplines to denote a planning framework for exhibitions, online collections, and immersive installations.

Concept and method: Curatorale centers on thematic storytelling, transparent provenance, accessibility, and cross-platform interoperability. Practitioners curate sequences, contexts, and accompanying materials such as text, audio, and interactive elements. The approach often emphasizes collaborative authoring, audience engagement, and documentation of decisions to support reproducibility and critique.

Applications: In physical and online environments, curatorale can guide the design of online exhibitions, digital archives, and hybrid installations. It supports transmedia storytelling, educational programs, and public-facing interpretations that link disparate items through a coherent narrative or experience.

Relation to other terms: It is related to curation, curator practice, exhibition design, museology, and digital humanities, while sometimes contrasting with object-centered approaches by prioritizing sequence, context, and audience journey.

Criticism and challenges: As a relatively new term, curatorale may be variably defined across institutions. Potential issues include ambiguity of scope, risk of over-narration, and the need to balance storytelling with ethical considerations and provenance.

See also: curation; curator; exhibition design; museology; digital humanities.