Course detail

Curating in Practice

FaVU-2KvPAcad. year: 2023/2024

The seminar Curating in Practice is a conceptual continuation of the course Curating in in a Shifting Terrain. It focuses on the acquisition of practical knowledge and skills from curatorial practice. It guides students through the various phases of curatorial work - from finding and formulating a concept, to selecting and approaching artists or other collaborators, to studio visits, to selecting an adequate output for public consumption, to formulating a budget proposal, to completing grant forms and production frameworks for the final form. The greatest emphasis will be on developing conceptual curatorial thinking.  

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

2

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Entry knowledge

Graduating from Curating in a Shifting Terrain course is recommended.

Rules for evaluation and completion of the course

Attendance and submission of a curatorial project proposal is required for credit. 
The condition for successful completion of the course is active participation in class and completion of assignments. 3 unexcused absences are allowed. Missed classes can be made up by doing homework.   

Aims

The aim of the course is to help students develop the ability of conceptual curatorial thinking.  
Upon completion of the course, students will gain a deeper understanding of the possibilities of curatorial work, be able to formulate a coherent curatorial proposal, and have a practical understanding of the nature and cycles of curatorial work. 

Study aids

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Basic literature

Pavlína MORGANOVÁ – Terezie NEKVINDOVÁ – Dagmar Svatošová, Výstava jako médium, Praha: AVU 2020. (CS)
Terry SMITH, Thinking Contemporary Curating. New York: Indipendent Curators International 2012. (EN)
Vít HAVRÁNEK, Zbyněk BALADRÁN (eds.): Atlas transformace. Praha: JRP Ringier, tranzit. 2010. (CS)

Recommended reading

Kate FOWLE, „Who Cares? Understanding the Role of the Curator Today“, in: Steven RAND – Heather KOURIS (eds.), Cautionary Tales. Critical Curating,[s.l.]: apexart 2010, s. 26–35. 70 (EN)
Amanda CACHIA, „Disabling the Museum. Curator As Infrastructural Activist“, in: Vanessa BARLETT (ed.), Group Therapy: Mental Distress in a Digital Age, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press 2015. (EN)
Kathy DAVIS, „Intersectionality As Critical Methodology“, in: Nina LYKKE (ed.), Writing Academic Texts Differently. Intersectional Feminist Methodologies and the Playful Art of Writing, New York: Routledge 2014. (EN)
Elke KRASNY, Sophie LINGG, Lena FRITSCH, Birgit BOSOLD, Vera HOFMANN (eds.), Radicalizing Care Feminist and Queer Activismin Curating, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2022. (EN)
Paul O’NEILL – Mick WILSON (eds.), Curating Research, London – Amsterdam: Open Editions 2015. (EN)
Irit ROGOFF – Beatrice VON BISMARCK, “Curating/Curatorial”, in: Beatrice VON BISMARCK – Jörn SCHAFAFF – Thomas WESKI, Cultures of the Curatorial, London: Sternberg Press 2012, s. 21–40. (EN)
Joasia KRYSA, „Exhibitionary Practices at the Intersection of Academic Research and Public Display“, in: Jan KAILA – Anita SEPPÄ – Hendrik P. SLAGER (eds.), The Futures of Artistic Research: at the Intersection of Utopia, Academia and Power, Helsinky: Academy of Fine Arts – Uniarts Helsinki 2017, s. 63–70. (EN)
Paul O’NEILL, The Culture of Curating and the Curating of Culture(s), Cambridge: The MIT Press 2012. 72 (EN)
Linda NOCHLIN: „Proč neexistovaly žádné velké umělkyně?“ In: Martina PACHMANOVÁ: Neviditelná žena: antologie současného amerického myšlení o feminismu, dějinách a vizualitě. 1. vyd., One Woman Press Praha, 2001. (CS)
Claire BISHOP and Dan PERJOVSCHI: Radical Museology: Or, What's 'Contemporary' in Museums of Contemporary Art? London: Koenig, 2014. (EN)
WILL Bradley and Charles ESCHE. Art and Social Change: A Critical Reader. London: Tate Publishing. (EN)
Maria HLAVAJOVA and Simon SHEIKH. Former West: Art and the Contemporary After 1989. Utrecht and Cambridge: basis vor actuele kunst and MIT Press. 2016. (EN)
Brian O´DOHERTY: Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1999. (EN)
Hans Ulrich OBRIST: A Brief History of Curating. JRP Editions. 2008. (EN)
Dieter LESAGE: Art, Research and Politics: Essays in Curatorial Criticism (1999-2014) (EN)
David BALZER: Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else. Pluto Press: London. 2014. (EN)
Terry SMITH: Curating the Complex & The Open Strike. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2021. (EN)
Zdenka BADOVINAC: Unannounced Voices: Curatorial Practice and Changing Institutions, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2022. (EN)
Beatrice von BISMARCK: The Curatorial Condition. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2022. (EN)
Bonaventure Soh Bejeng NDIKUNG: Pidginization as Curatorial Method: Messing with Languages and Praxes of Curating. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2022. (EN)
Jana ŠEVČÍKOVÁ– Jiří ŠEVČÍK: Texty. Praha: tranzit. 2010. (CS)
Petra HANÁKOVÁ: Ženy – Inštitúcie? K dejinám umeleckej prevádzky deväťdesiatych rokov. Bratislava: VŠVU, Slovart. 2010. (SK)

Classification of course in study plans

  • Programme VUM_M Master's, 1. year of study, summer semester, elective

  • Programme VUM Master's

    branch VU-VT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 1. year of study, summer semester, elective

  • Programme VUM_M Master's, 2. year of study, summer semester, elective

  • Programme VUM Master's

    branch VU-VT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-VT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective
    branch VU-IDT , 2. year of study, summer semester, elective

Type of course unit

 

Seminar

26 hours, compulsory

Teacher / Lecturer

Syllabus

1. What is a curatorial concept and how to formulate it? What different curatorial approaches can we choose, what do they provide and what do they not? How to convincingly link the project concept to its outcomes?

2. What outputs are available to us (exhibition, workshop, intervention, publication, speculative formats, etc.) and where can we realise them (gallery, public space, digital space, etc.)? What do they offer us and what are their limits? How do we think curatorially through our chosen output/medium?

3. Studio visits, portfolio viewings... What tools does the curator have at his/her disposal when seeking out and approaching artists or other collaborators? What are the possible types of collaboration between the curator and the artist or other art professionals?

4. How to set up a proper budget? How to write a grant application and where to find funding for your curatorial project?

5. The implementation phase of the project: what to think about when creating the final form? How to make your project known so that it reaches the target groups?