A Practical Guide to Curating
*This course offers University credits. To opt for credits read this page
This course gives insights into all practical aspects of curating from finalising a concept to launching an exhibition. Curators can have very different working approaches, but certain practical aspects will be the same and should be kept in mind for developing a successful project.
Over 6 weeks we will go through the major steps of curating, starting with how you develop an idea to finding collaborators, funding and an exhibition space; managing practical aspects such as transport, insurance and install; thinking about PR strategies and gaining audiences; to finally closing the project with deinstall. This course is for aspiring curators who are yet to launch their own exhibition as well as those who have past experience and are looking for a more structured understanding of curating.
At the end of A Practical Guide to Curating, participants should have an understanding of the skills necessary to operate as competent and responsible practitioners. Come with an already existing project idea or start from a blank page. Throughout the course you will develop a concrete outline of how to realise your exhibition.
- Introduction to the program and course overview.
- What is a curatorial practice?
- Introduction to types of exhibition formats, exhibition spaces, and platforms
- Public programming (artist talks, performances, education)
- Audiences (What kind of audiences can one expect? What kind of audiences are you addressing?)
- Strategies of developing a concept (Define your concept, from brainstorming to finalization)
- Turning your concept into a practicable project
- Strategies of research. How to find fitting artistic positions and related topics?
- Contacting artists: open calls, invitations, commissions
- Lending works from artists and galleries (how to source works and secure loans)
- Proposing your exhibition ideas to an independent or institutional entity
- Working with collaborators (exhibition spaces, institutions)
- Defining contracts
- Different types of fundraising (governmental, private, embassies)
- Writing a budget (including ways to calculating artists and curators fees)
- Successful time management
- Creating a checklist of works with display details
- Install (working with technicians, artists and considering packaging and access)
- What to consider when organizing transport (insurance, customs, costs)
- Deinstall and returns
- Ways of displaying artworks (from video work, sculpture, 2D works to performance art)
- Thinking about scenography and dialogs between artworks
- Creating a narrative in an exhibition
- Lighting and sound
- Communication in the exhibition space (handouts, labels; guided tours)
- Developing a Press Kit (writing a press release, press images)
- Communicating the exhibition (invite cards, newsletters, private invites)
- How to use or not use social media
- How to address the press and journalists
- Documentation (taking pics, website, archive, catalogue)
