LOS ANGELES — The word “curator” has become so ubiquitous as to be essentially meaningless, comprising everything from a custodian of objects and artifacts at a museum, to someone who merely selects things, be those internet memes, corporate brands, or songs for a digital playlist. The Getty Research Institute’s exhibition Harald Szeemann: Museum of Obsessions brings some gravitas back to the title, perhaps ironically, by showcasing the work of the groundbreaking Swiss curator whose intellectual scope extended well beyond the confines of the contemporary art world.

Born in 1933, Szeemann became the youngest museum director in the world when he assumed the directorship of the Kunsthalle Bern at the age of 28 in 1961. He put the institution on the international map with a series of exhibitions that not only showcased then-underground movements in contemporary art, but also focused on art of the mentally ill, religious folk art, and science fiction. He left the Kunsthalle in 1969, becoming what some consider to be the first “independent curator,”  traveling the world and creating over 200 exhibitions throughout his career. He essentially created the model of the globe-trotting celebrity curator of which Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach are perhaps the most recognizable heirs (for better or for worse). Driven by a boundless intellectual curiosity, Szeemann’s exhibitions challenged historical narratives and exploded aesthetic hierarchies, expanding the role of curator from simply a steward of objects to a shaper of ideas.

The Getty exhibition originated in the museum’s acquisition of Szeemann’s archives — which he dubbed the “Museum of Obsessions” — in 2011. It was the largest collection ever acquired by the Getty Research Institute, including 28,000 books, 36,000 photos, and over 1,000 boxes of ephemera, drawings, letters, and notes. Exhibition curators Glenn Phillips and Philipp Kaiser have done an impressive job of paring down from this massive trove of material, choosing to focus on a few seminal exhibitions as opposed to attempting to cover Szeemann’s five-decade career in full. It is divided into three sections: “Avant-Gardes,” focused on his seminal exhibitions of contemporary art of the ’60s and ’70s; “Utopias and Visionaries,” which explores exhibitions about early 20th-century utopias, modernists, and mystics; and “Geographies,” examining his Swiss identity and peripatetic later career. This was a wise choice, presenting an exhibition that is both didactic and dynamic without feeling overwhelming, and leaving room for further exploration.