Jeff Ostergren : Curatorial : Curatorial Statement

I work within a framework that I think of as the "curation of the chemical." This process approaches art through the lens of transformation and reaction. It recognizes that aesthetic encounters are never purely intellectual—they involve the whole body, altered states, and processes of change that happen beneath conscious awareness. The opposite is true as well, that bodily experience becomes rendered into the mind via chemical pathways. This understanding of art as inherently transformative becomes the foundation for curatorial decision-making.

At its most literal level, this approach engages works that explicitly address pharmaceutical culture, addiction, mental health, and the molecular processes that govern human behavior. But metaphorically, it extends to understanding institutions, audiences, and artistic communities as complex chemical systems—environments where reactions occur, catalysts accelerate change, and unexpected compounds form through proximity.

Curating chemically means considering how artworks interact not just conceptually but viscerally. Which combinations create productive friction? What happens when you place work addressing trauma next to work exploring ecstasy? How do we develop exhibitions that function as carefully calibrated environments for transformation rather than passive display? Exhibitions become laboratories for alternative forms of healing, consciousness, and collective experience.

The political dimension emerges through questioning who gets to define "normal" brain chemistry, whose bodies are considered healthy, and how pharmaceutical and other forms of capitalism shape our understanding of mental and emotional life. By making these invisible processes visible, curatorial practice can reveal the material conditions underlying seemingly abstract aesthetic experiences.

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