Some jobs are often left unappreciated unless someone comes with the idea to give them their well-deserved attention. This was exactly what happened with Atelier 4 announced the “Registrar of the Year” competition. The fine-art logistics company, which is going to complete its 30 years this year, has already opened its nominations on October 1st.
The nominations could be submitted by the co-workers and supervisors at any museum between 1st and 16th October on https://www.registraroftheyear.art/. Once the nominations close, 20 registrars would be selected from all the nominees based on the number of votes received. From here, the judges will carefully analyze the work done by them and choose the winner. The winner would be announced in a private event held at Artists Space, New York on December 11. The prize money for the event stands at $5000.
Registrars are usually charged with keeping a log of all art that is under the possession of the museum. They also have to keep a track of what pieces are exhibited, which are in storage and which ones would have to be exhibited soon. A lot of this work is done under extreme pressure as art exhibitions usually make last-minute preparations. In simple words, it is a registrar who ensures that the whole exhibition is held up to a certain standard. This was the idea shared by Jonathan Schwartz, Atelier 4 CEO, behind the award.
The announcement of this award is not as random as you might think. The back-end of the art industry, people who worked behind the scenes to make everything go well, is beginning to get the long-overdue exposure. There are also talks to unionize the workers so that they stand a better chance of negotiating terms with museums. As such, the 30th anniversary of Atelier 4 gives them the perfect opportunity to honour some of these folks.
