Jared Steffensen has been working at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in Salt Lake City for almost fifteen years. Before he obtained the role of museum curator, Steffensen ran the education program at the museum. In this role, he installed the artist residency program where recent graduates are offered a studio space at the museum for one year, ending in an exhibition. Steffensen was inspired to install this idea from his time as an intern at the Mattress Factory, an artist residency program in Pittsburg. He also draws inspiration from the Mattress Factory in his current role as curator.
Steffensen explained, “I saw how they interacted with artists, and it has influenced how I now interact with artists as a curator. It’s important to be a facilitator more than a director. I am doing my job when I am helping them create their project the way they see it. That would be my ideal situation as an artist.”
After seven years at the MoCA, Steffensen was eventually offered the position of museum curator. Steffensen defined a curator as “the person who determines what the exhibitions are, what the content is, and how to help people understand that content through the way they write about it.” His instinct was to turn down the position because he did not think he had the relevant education and experience. After further discussion with the museum director, he realized his background as an artist would be beneficial to his career as a curator.
“As an artist, I can think about how I would want to interact with a curator if I was invited to do an exhibition. Unlike other curators, I may not have the specialty and mental focus that guides their curation. But as an artist, I have the ability to jump around, see what’s happening, get excited about an exhibit and make it happen,” Steffensen learned.
No two days look the same in the life of a museum curator, and all are filled with a variety of tasks. Steffensen broke his process down into steps, stating, “First, I must come up with an idea for an exhibit and then I must find artists that fall under the umbrella of what I want the exhibit to investigate.” Steffensen admitted that the easiest way to find artists who are making art he wants to show is via social media. He starts with a long list of artists to consider, then narrows it down. It can be a difficult process selecting which artists to feature in an exhibit, but for Steffensen, it is about showcasing art that “causes questions rather than provides answers.”
Not only did Steffensen walk UVU students through his career as a museum curator, but he also provided a presentation of his own artistic projects. Earlier in his career, Steffensen was concerned with recreating a small moment that might go unnoticed. Steffensen recounted how excited he was to notice a speck of dust poetically floating through a beam of light because it was beautiful, but he knew nobody else was noticing it. He then went on to recreate that experience through art.
Similarly, Steffensen created interactive works that provided a special experience for viewers, like walking through the ocean or on the beach. He was also interested in forcing a connection between viewers, with projects such as two bikes sharing one chain.
As his career progressed, Steffensen’s two biggest muses became homesickness and skateboarding. As a child, Steffensen’s father was in the military which caused them to move around a lot. Steffensen explored each new city on his skateboard. “I would be desperately searching for something familiar. As I skated around, I was looking for nuance, for parts of a city that had been forgotten and how I could interact with them,” Steffensen claimed. Later on in his career, Steffensen embraced his love for skateboarding and started to heavily incorporate objects and themes of skateboarding into his art.
Eventually, Steffensen’s family settled in Utah and that became his home. Because he had moved around so much, Steffensen didn’t expect to miss Utah as much as he did when he moved to Texas for grad school. The theme of his work at grad school became the concepts of place and home. “I started thinking about the possibility of bringing a place with you. It’s like an absurd security blanket for an adult,” Steffensen joked. Steffensen created visual representations of carrying one’s home around with them, such as a sculpture of a mountain that could be tied around the waist and physically dragged around.
To see the exhibitions Steffensen curates, visit utahmoca.org and to see Steffensen’s own work, visit jaredsteffensen.com
