Uncanny times, familiar stories? Curatorial conceptualizations of the uncanny in the twenty-first century

Since the early 2000s, the notion of ‘the curatorial’ has put exhibitions as epistemological practices or events of knowledge production on the map. Exhibitions are complex because they combine objects, concepts, discourse, scenography and various formats events in open-ended constellations which can both physically travel and leave historical traces. The concept of the uncanny has emerged in curatorial discourse since the late 1990s. It has become associated with specific themes, objects, and artistic movements, but its open-endedness and multiplicity also allowed it to travel and re-emerge in curatorial discourse at different moments in time. A salient feature of the uncanny, its relation to both affect and effect, makes it an attractive concept for curatorial work both on a conceptual and an affective level, but also for large-scale blockbuster exhibitions in neoliberal cultural systems. Different conceptual grafts have enabled it to address contemporary issues and allow for the construction of different historical lineages and orientations. Constellations emerge not only within exhibitions but also between them, revealing unexpected instances of the uncanny that challenge linear genealogies by questioning both the privileging of a singular origin and the assumption of a linear trajectory in conceptual development.