Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design at University of Bergen
MA Curatorial Practice is a two-year low residency, seminar-based education.
The Faculty encourage applications from curators who are independent or affiliated to institutions. We also welcome applications from art professionals with a practice that is strongly linked to curatorial practice (such as curating artists, educators, writers and others) and those from affiliating fields of culture (theatre, film, literature, music etc.) willing to reflect on and translate their knowledge and practice.
The group will consist of ten individuals who have a personal commitment to their project and a strong interest in sharing their knowledge and thinking. The candidates should be eager to investigate and question their surroundings and professional contexts in order to create a discussion forum, and we acknowledge that curatorial practice is varied and contextual.
The MA candidates are required to develop, produce and contextualise one project each in a public context, with a responsibility to secure and develop the collaborations necessary to make this happen—with artists and other professionals, funding bodies, art institutions or other sites. There is an emphasis on sharing knowledge and debate within and beyond the group of candidates, thus the Faculty will fund a public seminar organised by the candidates in collaboration.
Teaching is organised via a varied group of guest tutors, invited by the course director to respond to the candidates’ particular needs, interests and curiosities, and these are open to suggestions from the group of candidates. Each candidate will also choose an external tutor, who will receive a fee paid by the programme, to follow their project individually throughout their MA.
The MA consists of 16 seminars in total. Please read more about the seminars on the application page, and consult the study plan.
Seminars will happen in Bergen and in the locations where the candidates live and work. The locations and extent of travel will be decided collectively.
Seminars have since 2015 taken place in Accra, Amsterdam, Beirut, Bergen, Berlin, Budapest, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jogjakarta, Lofoten, Nairobi, Oslo, Paris, Portland, Singapore, Stockholm, Trondheim, Tromsø.
Seminars autumn 2021 will be in Bergen, and two other locations. Students on the programme are not required to move to Bergen, and we welcome national, international and inter-cultural applicants to a safe study environment. We are hopeful that the cohort starting autumn 2021 will be able to benefit from a programme that can operate without COVID-19 restrictions, but will of course accommodate any particularities that are offered to us by this very special time in history.
The teaching language is English.
There are no tuition fees. Each candidate receives a small traveling stipend of NOK 10,000 in total over two years.
Candidates have in dialogue with their employers incorporated this MA as part of their working practice within institutions willing to invest in their employees and further their professional development.
A Master’s Degree in Curatorial Practice qualifies the candidate to apply for admission to the PhD Programme in Artistic Research.
The candidates will graduate in June 2023, provided they have fulfilled the following criteria:
–A minimum of 80 % attendance and participation is required
–Successfully passed semesters 1–3
–Successfully completed the individual project
–Submitted documentation of this project (images, sound, video, ephemera etc.)
–Submitted a written piece reflecting on and contextualising the individual project (8,000–12,000 words)
–Passed an oral examination with external examiners
The applicant must hold a Bachelor’s Degree and have at least two years of professional practice to apply.
Applicants are assessed on the basis of a project description, a portfolio documenting previous projects, CV, past diplomas/certificates, and an interview, which will be conducted online in week 24; June 14–18. Application form.
