Curating and Managing Art Collections
with Claire Dalgleish
Duration: Aug 09 – Sep 6, 2021
Fee: 172€
Max seats: 30
Enroll before: Aug 5, 2021
Dedication: 3 hrs/week
This online course offers curators and arts workers a comprehensive set of tools to use when managing, curating, and developing art collections. Across five-weeks, we will present real world case studies to explore fresh perspectives on how to operate, conserve, showcase and mediate art collections, whether dealing with commercial stockrooms, artist collections, permanent museum collections or other forms.
At the end of this course, participants will have transformed their knowledge and practical skills in collection management and curatorial approaches. Participants will acquire new skills ranging from how to develop collection concepts to writing collection assessments, and how to keep collections relevant.
During the program, participants will have the opportunity to write an exhibition proposal based on a collection of their choice. Constructive and thoughtful feedback on this assignment will allow participants to practically apply course teachings and take their learnings into the real world.
Week 1. Introduction
- Introduction to the program and course overview.
This is a one-hour-only welcome session. The lecturer will introduce the program and participants will introduce themselves. No prior preparation is necessary.
Week 2
- A brief history of collections and collecting
- Defining the role of a curator and collector: who collects, and why?
- Collection models and how they impact collection development
- Overview of course assignment: how to write and deliver a curators exhibition proposal
Week Three
- Developing connections and curating collections
- Reading a collection’s lifespan and using it to develop curatorial approaches
- Understanding collection development and curatorial evolution
Week Four
- Collection impacts: funding, bequests, loans, conservation
- Best practice for collection management: archiving, conserving, assessment writing, and more
- Collection ethics: challenges considerations, and approaches for politically sensitive items
Week Five
- Re-interpreting old concepts to develop new approaches
- Keeping collections relevant: learning to read curatorial trends and debates
- Collection-based educational programmes
- Moving beyond the display through events, initiatives, and engagement
Claire Dalgleish is an independent arts curator and writer based in London. She has worked on large-scale exhibitions and projects at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Design Museum in London, and S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney. Claire has written for traditional and digital publications including Artist Profile, Art Monthly, Artsy, and Junkee Media. Claire holds a Master of Art Curatorship from The University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from The University of Melbourne, where she was the recipient of The Eugenie La Gerche Scholarship in 2010 and 2011. In 2015, she was a finalist in dLux Media and Artreal Gallery’s Emerging Writers’ program.