CURATRON

Curatron is an online software tool that involves artists directly in the curatorial processes of the exhibitions in which they participate. Curatron is an anonymous system of peer evaluation and selection, which enables a pool of artists to select co-exhibitors from amongst a group of applicants of which they are a part of. The prize sought out by the Curatron software is the algorithm for the perfect, or at least perfectly coherent, thematic group show. With the cooperation of human artists, this may just be achievable.

Click here for press release.

Diagram: an exhibition space opens a call, the applicants select each other, and a group is chosen for the exhibition

HOW TO

THE EQUATION

The algorithm that selects the participants is based on two values that we call "self cohesion" and "group cohesion". Each time a person selects a group they would prefer to exhibit with both self and group cohesion values are created.

Self cohesion values exist between a selector and the persons they would like to exhibit with.

Self cohesion: A selects B, C and D, which gives a value of 1 between A and each of them

Group cohesion values exist between persons selected in a group together.

Group cohesion: B, C and D selected together, which gives a value of 1 between each pair

The self and group cohesion values can be weighted putting more emphasis on self cohesion or group cohesion. Forinstance, self cohesion selections could have a value of 2 and group cohesion values could have value of one. This would put more emphasis on the selections made by the selector to the individuals in the group and less between the individuals within the group.

Weighted cohesion: group cohesion counts 1 and self cohesion counts 2

Each time a participant selects a group they prefer to exhibit with, the coherence values that are generated are added to the coherence values of previous group selections.

Combined selections: C and D, chosen together in two selections, have a combined value of 2

After the selection period is over the combined cohesion value of each possible group is calculated to find the group with the highest combined cohesion value. The group with the highest coherence value is selected for the final exhibition. The following diagram is a small example of how all the combined cohesion values are calculated. We use a small group of five participating artists with a final selection of four to demonstrate the calculation more clearly.

The final calculation: every group of four from six applicants gets a combined value, and the highest, 48, is selected

In some instances we will use a multi-range algorithm which will select among a range of different size groups. It was implemented as of May 23rd, 2017 and is similar to our original algorithm.

We test each possible combination of artists but within a range of possible group sizes, to see which group had the highest cohesion number. Groups with a higher number of artists will undoubtedly have a higher cohesion number due to their size. So only a percentage of the cohesion number will be derived from the group to even out the probability of selection. If a singular artist has a high popularity ranking in the system in comparison to the group with the highest cohesion factor then that artist will be selected for a solo exhibition.

The multi-range algorithm: groups of different sizes are compared, and the group with the highest cohesion score is selected

CONTACT

If you have any other comments or questions feel free to contact us at info@curatroneq.com

Stockholms StadInnovativ KulturDark Platform
KulturbrygganKonstnärsnämndenNorden