Approaches to Curatorial Practice

Overview

This module introduces the history and current practice of art curation. Through a range of case studies and texts, it exposes you to relevant methodologies and conceptual problems, and equips you to critically assess the collection and display of visual objects.

By the end of the module you should have:

• Familiarity with a range of case studies and secondary texts concerning art curation
• Understanding of how art objects of varying kinds have been assembled and displayed in the past, in comparison with current practices in different types of galleries and institutions
• The ability to analyze and evaluate different methodological approaches to the collection and display of art objects

Preliminary reading

Eilean Hooper-Greenhill, Museums and the Shaping of Knowledge (1992)

John Elsner and Roger Cardinal, eds, The Cultures of Collecting (1994)

Peter Vargo, ed., The New Museology (2011)

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Ways of Curating (2014)

Paul O’Neill, The Culture of Curating and the Curating of Culture(s) (2012)

Paula Marincola, ed., What Makes a Great Exhibition? (2006)