ArtsNow: Now Jane, a lot of people probably won’t know your name, but they’ll certainly know your work. You have been behind some of the most stimulating and sometimes controversial exhibitions at the Museum for Contemporary Art over the last few years. Tell us how you got into this field to begin with.

Curator: Well, I did a first degree in Art History at London University and I’ve been interested in visual representation of whatever kind since the year dot. I gained some experience writing for various art magazines while I was still an undergraduate and then my first job as a curatorial assistant put me on the path to where I am today.

ArtsNow: I believe you worked at small, experimental galleries for quite a few years.

Curator: Yes, that’s right. I spent six months in Denmark in the early eighties-my mother is Danish- and then got quite a lucky break by being given the opportunity to mount my own exhibitions in Germany for a time -in West Berlin as it still was then. The Wall was the dominant feature of the city at that time and this created a certain tension and I think quite a unique atmosphere- it gave artists a kind of freedom to experiment that I’ve never found before or since.

ArtsNow: What kind of people are curators? The stereotype is the highly-strung individual, a bit of a control freak. Do you think that’s fair?

Curator: Well, I must admit people do find me very work-oriented I suppose. You need to be something of an obsessive in this game. An attention to detail certainly helps, and an eye for what’s different. I guess I’m motivated more by ideas than status or position. You have to have a certain curiosity about the artist’s work and want to communicate that to the public at large.

ArtsNow: Do you feel you can reveal something about a painting or a sculpture by the way you present it in the museum?

Curator: To some extent, perhaps, but I don’t see my role as solely pedagogical. It’s often the case that I myself don’t fully understand the work. But that’s the challenge, you see. If a work gets to me in some way, I want to know why, to find out what it’s all about. Sometimes that comes in the background research we do, the detective work – but sometimes the act of displaying it to the general public with all their different tastes and experiences gives you a whole other perspective. The reaction, how people interpret a piece of art is all part of the attraction…

ArtsNow: And how do you respond to critics who say you ignore mainstream tastes?

Curator: I think any curator has a certain responsibility to the public, but they also have a responsibility to continue to push the boundaries. There is always room for the showcase exhibit, the retrospective of the established artist and so on, but wouldn’t life be boring if we didn’t take risks sometimes and were afraid of making mistakes along the way?