Curating New Media Art: Process, Interaction, Virtuality

Online Course by Node Center with Pau Waelder

Duration: Feb 12 – Mar 5, 2018
Fee: 148€
Max seats: 28
Enroll before: Feb 8, 2018
Dedication: 3 hrs/week

As more and more artists integrate digital technologies in their work, it is common for curators to deal with the specificities of artworks that move away from the traditional notion of the static object and need to be plugged, configured, maintained or interacted with. The artworks usually labeled as new media art present certain challenges for curators, exhibitions spaces and audiences, while they open up possibilities for different ways of conceiving and developing an exhibition.

This course will focus on curating new media art through three features commonly present in artworks related to technology: process, interaction and virtuality. These aspects will lead us to consider, through a hands-on approach, the practicalities of curating new media art, from the very concept of the exhibition, to developing a project, calculating a budget, installing the artworks and presenting them to the public. Each week, we will discuss these subjects through case studies, suggested readings and sharing ideas.

Week 1. Why curate (new media art)?

• What is new media art?
• Narratives in new media art exhibitions
• The technology in new media art
• Working with new media artists

Week 2. Process

• Artworks that won’t stop (or should not)
• Explaining processes
• When the artwork controls the duration of contemplation
• Preserving by curating

Week 3. Interaction

• Setting the stage for interactive artworks
• Engaging the audience
• The exhibition as amusement park
• Interaction inside and outside the white cube

Week 4. Virtuality

• Not so immaterial: working with net art, AR and VR
• Conceiving an exhibition space without objects
• Presenting the show to a virtual audience
• What will be left, in the end?