“It’s not like you press a button and you get to see art. You have to go there to know there…You have to be in front of it, obviously, and then you have to have a relationship with it. You have to see it again and again. And sometimes it takes years.” — Dereck Mangus, Baltimore Museum of Art

In 2022, the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) turned over the curation of one of its exhibits to 17 security guards on staff. Called “Guarding the Art,” the show was a wide-ranging display of individuals’ tastes and the art that spoke to them. It was a radical idea that generated media attention and inspired other shows like it. 

And why not? Museum guards spend hours and hours with the artifacts they watch over, so of course they’re going to have opinions about such things. It was thrilling to get to know two of those guards, Dereck Mangus and Jess Bither, and learn about their deep appreciation for art and how they approached curating the BMA show. 

Highlights, inspiration and key learnings from the conversation:

• The life of a museum security guard 
• Which pieces they picked for “Guarding the Art” and why
• How to curate a group show with other 15 other people
• How participating in “Guarding the Art” changed them
• What they learned about the art of curation from this experience

The companion Storyboard also has the episode, plus everything Dereck and Jess recommended in the show.

You can find “The Art of Curation” podcast on Flipboard as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and anywhere else you might listen to podcasts. Please subscribe so you never miss an episode, and don’t forget to rate, review and share, especially if you like what you hear. We’ll have a new episode coming out each Tuesday until mid-September.

— Mia Quagliarello, head of creator community and newsletters, is curating the curators for The Art of Curation