Exhibition publicists

Exhibition publicists

The courteous smile of a curator opening exhibitions, greeting visitors or speaking on radio shows can be (17) ________. Behind the scenes of the exhibition tour that has become as much a part of the modern museum as lighting and labels, the curator may be a (18) ________ for a Golden Clipboard Award. This is the prize for curators (19) ________ behaving badly, an informal award nominated by the weary, sometimes (20) ________, publicists who travel from gallery to gallery attracting visitors and reviews. They call themselves “babysitters” as they tend to the fragile reputations and (21) ________ demands of curators. Among the most feared (22) ________ for the publicists are the fashion curator who is remembered for shouting at her assistants in public and in (23) ________ language, and the history curator whose publicists report that they have instructions from his museum to speak only when spoken to. One (24) ________ of a tour with him, who nominated him for a Golden Clipboard, says: “He treats us all as his inferiors.”