This book is a unique convening of experts--unique because the "convening" only takes place within its pages. A roster of curators, affectionately dubbed "pigeons," were invited to respond to an evolving list of questions, what the editors called a "pigeonnaire," about their approach to their work. This pigeonnaire probed such topics as influences, daily practice, artist–curator relationships and the curator’s responsibility to society. Over the course of a year, the pigeons dropped by with their answers, and the editors then strung together the questions and answers in a continuous narrative that reads something like the transcript of a large meeting, providing a portrait of common ground and fissures in the field of curating now. The contributing curators are Glenn Adamson, Anne Barlow, Carlos Basualdo, Mark Beasley, Shana Berger, Dan Byers, Joseph del Pesco, Sean Dockray & Fiona Whitton, Christopher Eamon, Mai Abu El Dahab, Peter Eleey, Nicholas Frank, Eric Fredericksen, Daniel Fuller, Lance Fung, Cesar Garcia, Rita Gonzalez, Jennifer Gross, Andrea Grover, Pablo Helguera, Jens Hoffmann, Stuart Horodner, Hou Hanru, Ruba Katrib, Lisa Melandri, Helen Molesworth, Jessica Morgan, Aram Moshayedi, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Jenifer Papararo, Daniela Perez, Ralph Rugoff, Ingrid Schaffner, Paul Schimmel, Sarah Robayo Sheridan, Elizabeth Smith, Robert Storr, Astria Suparak, Claire Tancons, Nato Thompson, Gilbert Vicario and Namita Gupta Wiggers. Pigeons on the Grass Alas includes a bookmark with the Gertrude Stein poem after which the book is titled.