Rising from the ashes of the film museum: the role of individual habitus and political-economic structures in the shaping of the British Film Institute’s curatorial strategies and the establishment of the BFI Gallery

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article concentrates on the establishment and curation of the BFI Gallery at BFI Southbank (2007–2011), where the core, audience-facing cultural offer was extended to include contemporary artists' moving image installations. It considers the conditions that led the British Film Institute to favour commissioning over displaying, and the curatorial model of the temporary gallery commission over that of the collection-based film museum that had previously characterised the institution. The article discusses the critical and practical issues that affect the conceptualisation of the the BFI Gallery, such as the economic and political decisions of the day and the habitus of institutional management. To analyse the underlying mechanisms that triggered the changes of curatorial policies observed, consideration is given to the role of individual curators with a visual art background, who, from the early 2000s, reached the senior and executive levels of the BFI, an organisation previously led by cinema experts. The analysis uses the author's empirical experience as BFI curator to provide insight into the hidden cultural dynamics that generate the meaning of the work of art, with specific attention to curatorial moving image practices.