Museum without Walls
MWW is an accessible digital exhibition platform developed to showcase works from the British Council Collection and works by international artists since 2017. The platform now provides an accessible online exhibition experience compatible with screen readers, audio descriptions and sign language translations of the texts and works, as well as traditional text-based descriptions.
The project offers a professional development opportunity for curators to hone skills in digital curation, accessibility and intercultural dialogue, whilst familiarising themselves with UK and local visual art scenes.
The first three editions focused on curators from Turkey, and the fourth exhibition ‘Almost There’, hosted three curators from Georgia, Turkey and Ukraine and was delivered in five written languages (Georgian, English, Russian, Turkish and Ukrainian) and their respective sign languages.
Since 2017, Museum Without Walls has showcased more than 60 works by 25 international artists, curated by six curators from three different countries. It has reached 850,000 unique visitors from more than 90 countries and received over 15 awards from local and international competitions including the Honorary Award at the 2020 Webbys, two Best Website of the Year Awards at the Golden Spider Awards and a Silver Medal at the International Design and Communications Awards.
This fifth edition will host two emerging curators, one from the UK and one from Turkey, with the exhibition going live in May 2021.
The theme of the fifth edition is a celebration of feminist solidarity. The theme coincides with the first WOW (Women of the World Festival) in Istanbul, which will take place in March 2021, celebrating women’s empowerment and gender equality. The exhibition will explore the lives of women today – and particularly as highlighted by the disruptions of 2020 – the crucial interplay of the domestic and public spheres.
Together, the curators will explore how these topics resonate with audiences from the UK and Turkey and will use the British Council Collection as a core resource.
Due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic this will be an online only opportunity.
Who are we looking for?
We are now looking for a UK based emerging curator to co-curate the fifth exhibition of the platform in collaboration with a curator from Turkey. The curator from Turkey is being selected through a concurrent open call.
This professional development opportunity is offered to emerging visual arts curatorial professionals who are looking to expand their experience.
Candidates:
● Must be resident in the UK.
● Should live and/or work in Britain. You do not need to have been born in the UK.
● Could either be employed by organisations or work independently but must be able to take time away from other commitments to fulfil the work of the co-curator. As part of the application, the candidates will need to confirm how they plan to manage this opportunity with other work commitments, including a letter from their current employer(s) if applicable.
● Approximately 3 years ’experience in exhibition curation.
● Must be interested in international work including building connections in Turkey, and able to
collaborate curatorially.
● Demonstrate their knowledge of, and interest in developing their skills in digital arts, online exhibitions and arts accessibility.
● Have a fluent command of spoken English and good command of written English.
● A proven knowledge and interest in gender issues and women’s rights would be an asset.
● Be a team player.
We do not accept curator group proposals.
We particularly welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the Visual Arts sector.
The opportunity
The UK emerging curator will be responsible for co-curating a digital visual arts exhibition together with the curator from Turkey and will work closely with a British Council Project Manager based in Turkey, and an external Artistic Advisor based in the UK.
The curators will be responsible for:
● Co-curating a digital exhibition on the theme of celebration of feminist solidarity, working
closely with the Project Manager, co-curator and Artistic Advisor.
● Together with their fellow co-curator, deliver exhibition texts (i.e. concept, captions, biographies) – (approx. 3500 words).
● Support Project Manager with liaison and copyrights of artworks of non-collection works.
● This opportunity also includes training and development on various topics to support the curation of the exhibition including: digital exhibition making, digital curation, digital accessibility. The content and schedule of training will be confirmed together with and according to the needs of selected curators, but we expect will be weekly for eight weeks. This is a requirement of the opportunity and the selected curator will be expected to attend all meetings.
● Weekly progress report and evaluation meetings supervised by Project Manager and Artistic Advisor.
● Act as spokesperson champion for the project and exhibition.
This is not a full-time appointment and is a professional development opportunity that we anticipate will require an overall commitment of 18 days starting in February 2021 and ending in May 2021 when the exhibition launches.
Co-curators will be supported by experienced members of British Council staff in their relationships with the co-curator, consultants, other stakeholders and the media. As a result of this opportunity co-curators will have:
• gained insights into and knowledge of the British Council Collection;
• acquired a strong understanding and knowledge of digital exhibition making and
accessibility features;
• gained contacts in and knowledge of contemporary visual arts from Turkey and the UK;
• increased international contacts;
• learnt more about the cultural relations work of the British Council.
The successful applicant will be expected to sign a contract with the British Council and will receive a Fee of £3,080. This fee is to cover the time and work required to meet the Responsibilities and deliverables outlined in The Opportunity section, of approximately 18 days.
The Application process
The open call application is a two-stage process.
Stage 1: Applications submitted via open call by 23:59 UK time Sunday 17 January 2021
Stage 2: Shortlisted candidates interviewed online by a selection panel between 26-27 January 2021
Please use: https://airtable.com/shrvMIocvNeDNGeZA to complete the application form for this position.
Please note, we recommend you keep a copy of your answers as you will not receive an automated copy of your response and if you leave the browser before the form is submitted, your application will not be saved.
The candidates will be expected to submit:
● A CV demonstrating three years ’curatorial experience and any relevant digital curation and international experience
● A letter of support from employer if appropriate
● Statement explaining how the role will support the development of their career and what
they hope to gain from the experience (no more than 200 words)
● Curatorial concept note (no more than 500 words) responding to the proposed exhibition
theme and including a preliminary selection of five artworks from the British Council Collection (see website link below*) and three additional artworks by living UK based artists. The concept note should contain links to the British Council Collection works and explain why they have been selected. However the three non Collection works should be illustrated, clearly labelled and their inclusion explained. (The final exhibition concept and work list will be defined at concept development.)
● Personal statement on how you will ensure that British Council’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (detailed in links below**) are articulated in their exhibition (no more than 250 words).
*to access the British Council Collection
