Module: AR7002-30 The Role of the Curator

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Ben Parry

Module Tutor Contact Details: b.parry@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

This module asks the fundamental questions of contemporary curating and explores the factors that shape the answers to them. What do curators do? What are their responsibilities? What opportunities can they develop and use, and how does context influence their role?

This module addresses the varying roles of the curator, especially in relation to the changing politics of curating. It has been designed to enhance your understanding of the approaches adopted by museums and galleries today alongside the histories of exhibition making. The curatorial field, no longer bound to exhibition practice and display today includes academic research, off-site projects in public space, working in communities, festival programming, conferences and educational activities as well as curating media space and publishing on the web. We consider the recent ‘cult’ of curating, but also define curating as a positive practice relevant to many different fields of practice.

This module offers valuable experience by taking you to the different kinds of settings in which curators work. A series of case studies are offered, involving presentations from and discussion with a wide range of working curators in the Bath/Bristol area and beyond. We offer this through a programme of focused discussions during site visits in collections-based organisations, artist-run spaces, in large scale organisations with prominent buildings and in site specific temporary locations.

Role of the Curator seminar programme is designed to explore recent trends in contemporary art, contemporary curating and curatorial discourse. The programme aims to foster critical thinking and reflection, whist providing the research tools and theoretical foundation for you to develop your own practical projects in curating.

2.Outline syllabus

The role of the curator is discussed in a range of public contexts that can be demonstrated by direct contact with organisations in the Bath / Bristol region.

The curatorial role is discussed primarily by reference to the traditional categories of practice.

These are considered to be:

• The historic art collection

• The modern and contemporary art collection, including the digital

• The historic applied arts/fashion/design collection

• The mainstream publicly funded contemporary art exhibition programme

• The mainstream civic exhibition and project programme in the public realm

• The artist-led space

• The commercially based contemporary art gallery

• The temporary setting for new visual arts projects, including the digital

Ways in which developments in critical theory have impacted on curatorial practice are considered, as are topics such as representing communities, ethnicities, ‘interventions’, feminist and queer curating, participation and spectatorship, museum and gallery-based learning, biennials and independent’ curating.

Reading and web-based material will set this range of regional organisations and curatorial practices in a national and international context.

3.Teaching and learning activities:

The module is taught by a series of three-hour study sessions. These include sessions on-site at venues which represent the range of contexts above. You are required to cover the essential reading listed and develop a proactive approach to any further reading and research specific to your own focused interests to be presented in the final assessment. Course tutors provide continuity between the different field sessions and will use group and one-to-one tutorial sessions to provide individual student focus in preparation for the final module presentations.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: Individual presentation, with images if necessary, of 10-15 minutes in length
• % Weighting: 30%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: Written assessment, of 5,000 – 6,000 words
• % Weighting: 70%