Curation Elective

Camberwell College of Art.
Curation Elective Journal.

On trying to compile my notes and journal for my elective I found that it was spread across a range of different notebooks and scraps of paper.

In order to make it easier for myself and provide a record of online resources and links for further research, I have compiled it into this blog. Although not strictly a journal, in the traditional sense, it works much better for me and hopefully will also help others in their research.

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→ 03 Jan 10 at 6 pm
Areas to research.

From this course I have learnt that I don’t really know much about curation in general and have a sparse knowledge of art history. Having never had any classes in art history and contextual studies lessons that involved the tutor talking about crack and loosely going over McLuhan’s ‘medium is the message’, I really need to start doing some research. I had thought that this elective might cover a little bit more theory and practical aspects, but nevermind.

To provide myself with a future guide I read the course outline and documents for the MA Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art. Even though my interest lies more in the arena of design it seems like as good a place as any to start.

RCA Course Objectives:

  • Develop skills of observation, interpretation and criticism, based on detailed examination and discussion of specific works of art, critical texts and exhibitions.
  • Understanding of a range of theoretical models and conceptual frameworks which may be applied to the study of visual art and exhibitions.
  • Professional ethics and a curator’s responsibilities to and relationships with works of art, artists, audiences, institutions, lenders and funders.
  • Practical and theoretical aspects of specific art forms and concepts, ie:
    • Exhibition/Audience
    • Commodity/Object
    • Curate/Archive
    • Space/Place
    • Participation/Performance
  • Art and the public domain. A critical awareness of the political, economic and environmental contexts within which artists are engaged and art is produced. The criteria by which art is judged. What constitutes public and publics?
  • Curatorial Strategies: Past and Present
    • History of exhibitions produced by the avant-garde of the 1920s-1970s
    • White cube, alternative spaces and institutions
    • Curating during dematerialisation
    • Site specific and situationist curating
    • New institutionalism and performative curating
    • The impact of the new biennial
    • Artists as curators
  • Art after modernism - The study of contemporary art through consideration of its material history. Traditional classification of the arts by medium ~ extent to which these remain relevant.
  • Cultural representations and globalisation
  • Philosophy in relation to aesthetics etc.