Yes, but ... Jens Hoffmann answers back

The director of exhibitions, ICA, London responds to the critics

Faced with Around the World in 80 Days, an exhibition exploring globalisation at the ICA and South London Gallery in London, Sue Hubbard of the Independent felt troubled. "There is a fashion among curators," she wrote last week, "to have an idea and then go shopping for artists to fit their theme, so that the concept is often stronger than the individual or collective work." Jens Hoffmann, director of exhibitions at the ICA, responds:

Since Daniel Buren's influential 1972 essay, Exhibition of an Exhibition, the argument that the ideas, concerns and fixations of curators overshadow the work of artists has been with us. Curators are often accused of developing ideas and themes for exhibitions, then simply illustrating them by using art works that in some way address the topic. I hope every artist has the strength to articulate her or his concern should they feel used by a curator, but the dynamics of putting together an exhibition are often far more complex than this oppositional formulation suggests.

Curating has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Where once they were the organisers and selectors of exhibitions, many curators have become more creative and can be understood as exhibition-makers or exhibition "authors". I would describe the authorial approach as involving a strong creative sensibility in regard to the interpretation of works of art, and the development of a close relationship with artists.

Every exhibition needs a premise, an argument that holds it together. Now that curating has emancipated itself from being only an administrative or academic profession, everything one does as a curator can be accused of utilising art works to make a larger curatorial statement. I personally always give the last word about installation, the selection of work for a show, etc, to the artists, and could not imagine forcing an artist or a work of art into a frame where it does not belong.