module specification

This module provides students with the opportunity to produce a live curatorial and editorial project in the form of an exhibition, performance, publication or documentary; or an event that combines these elements. Students will learn about the professional practice and expectations of exhibition curation for a range of outputs, working individually and as teams. The module tests in practice what they learn in this module and in the L6 module ‘Collections’. The principal output of the module will be part of the annual graduation summer show.

In preparation for the final exhibition project, student groups will work on a number of temporary topics in studios led by School and guest practitioners. In consultation with the studio leaders alongside an invited group of guest speakers, makers, archivists and curators, the group will plan and produce a series of temporary or ‘pop-up’ exhibitions or publications in the broadest sense – these might be films, books, radio documentaries, etc., in preparation for the final exhibition.

Students will learn to work independently and, guided by their tutors, take on the roles of curators and producers. A series of workshops and seminars with professionals in the field punctuates the learning curriculum.

Students will be assigned duties and responsibilities, including fundraising, press and publicity, catalogue, interpretation, education and curation. In addition, they will maintain an illustrated record of their exhibition and event activities, outlining what they have learned about the professional practices of exhibition curation and organisation, with reference to real world exemplars.

The module will enable students to:

• develop specialist knowledge and skills within a project team towards production and exhibition of a significant editorial curatorial project;
• explore the relationships between theories of display and the practicalities of curating through participation in the realisation of a professional standard curatorial project;
• critically reflect on their curatorial practice by developing a final report on their exhibition/s;
• develop interpretative models through juxtaposition;
• bring objects, images, written research, oral histories, and other material together into narrative form for display;
• understand how to present existing material to suggest new forms and critical positions.

Pass and completion (120 credits) of prior level

Teaching in this module initially takes place in studios led by practitioners that bring together groups of students around central questions or themes.
A series of visits, workshops and lectures introduces each studio to the wider context of the studio topic. Working in small groups, students subsequently undertake independent research with the aim to develop a professional curatorial concept for an exhibition or live event, and implement this. Regular tutorials, feedback sessions and critiques organised around a number of key coursework submissions support this process LO1,LO2,LO3,LO4,LO5

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to, and have the opportunity to, continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

On completion of the module, students will be able to:
1. develop a coherent, critically reviewed curatorial or editorial concept;
2. use exhibition practice to present theorised interpretations and narratives of artefacts and images;
3. work as producers, communicating with archivists, artists, designers and curators;
4. implement the necessary organisational functions of exhibition design and management, including promotion, from conception to completion;
5. balance the demands of curatorial intention and practical constraints.

This module is designed to facilitate and test integrated knowledge and understanding of curatorial practice. The student will submit two assessment items.

Students will submit an annotated and illustrated record of their temporary or ‘pop-up’ group and individual exhibition and event activities, outlining what they have learned about the professional practices of exhibition curation and organisation, with reference to real world exemplars

Students will plan, design and install a curated exhibition or event (publication of any sort may be proposed, by agreement with the Module Leader), for eventual display in the annual School summer graduation show. This may be comprised of any artefacts, made or collected. It is the exhibition, its curation, narrative or themes, and the quality of its installation and presentation that will be assessed. The artefacts displayed are, in themselves, not assessed. The exhibition (or event, or publication) will be accompanied by an essay (2500 words) setting out its context, purpose, proposed audience and curatorial ambition, together with an evaluation of its effectiveness.

1. Andriesse, P. (ed.) (1996) Art Gallery Exhibiting: The Gallery as a Vehicle for Art, Van Abbemuseum
2. Heiser, J. (2008) All of a Sudden: Things that Matter in Contemporary Art, Sternberg Press
3. Marincola, P. (ed.) (2006) What makes a Great Exhibition?, Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative & Reaktion Books
4. O'Neill, P. (ed.) (2007) Curating Subjects, Open Editions
5. Staple, P. et al (2007) Frieze Projects: Artists Commissions and Talks, Frieze Books
6. Tannert, C. Tischler, U. (2004) Men in Black: Handbook of Practice, Revolver
7. Andrews, M. Cuevas, T. et al (2003) The Straight or Crooked Way, Royal College of Art, London
8. Blaxter, L. Hughes, M. (2001) How to Research, Open University Press (2nd edition)
9. Burns, R. (2000) Introduction to Research Methods, Sage (4th edition)
10. Harrison, C. Wood, P. Gaiger, J. (ed.) (1998) Art in Theory, 1815 - 1900, An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell
11. Harrison, C. Wood, P. (ed.) (2003) Art in Theory, 1900 - 2000, An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell (2nd edition)
12. O'Doherty, B. (1999) Inside the White Cube: The Ideology of the Gallery Space, University of California Press, (expanded edition)
13. O’Neill, Paul, The Culture of curating and the Curating of Culture(s), MIT Press, Camb.Mass, 2012.