STUDY PROGRAMME
Visual arts and Curatorial studies

AFAM CODE
ABST52

DISCIPLINARY AREA
History and methodology of art critic

DISCIPLINARY FIELD
Curatorial studies

CREDITS
12

APPROACH
Theoretical/project based

This course has its foundations in the analysis, carried out in the first year, of exhibition models and curatorial principles, leading the students to directly experience the creation of an exhibition project that is presented to a general public. Under the mentorship of international curators coming from different global contexts, each student is guided into the selection of a cultural topic for in-depth analysis, the creation of object-based narrative paths, and the design of an original exhibition format. The privileged themes that the students are encouraged to follow are archives, genres, ecology, which can be presented not only in form of exhibitions, but also as screening programs, performative cycles, as well as spaces for public debate. At the same time, the students will be put in touch with industry-relevant magazines, commercial galleries and institutional spaces.

The total credits for this course are 12, divided as follows:

• CURATORIAL STUDIES 2: 5 CFA

• CRITICAL WRITING 2: 4 CFA

• ECONOMICS OF ART: 3 CFA

Successful students will be able to:

CURATORIAL STUDIES 2:

• Develop a comprehensive exhibition project for an institution, as a curatorial experimentation platform

• Critically analyse structures and conventions that the curatorial practice re-defines over time

• Re-discuss the limits of the curatorial format emphasizing the possibilities for openness, instability, disciplinary inclusivity

• Adopt an efficient method to approach the different exhibition formats in terms of space and display

• Analyse in-depth, interpret and respond to public in an innovative and suitable way, trying to develop adaptability and flexibility towards the opportunities of the context

• Establish relations among the displayed objects through fictional links, micro-stories, and contextual and situational consistency

CRITICAL WRITING 2:

• Write texts on contemporary art as strictly related to the social and political context, thinning of disciplinary boundaries

• Carry out critical and historical analysis of the modernist tradition of the critical and historiographic art literature

• Organize collective work based on the creation of single items and on the comparison among them

• Write texts that reflect the peculiar features of the academic and professional context

• Communicate art as an active and propositional element for the interpretation of different realities

ECONOMICS OF ART:

• Understand structures and actors of the art market, and its historic and cultural development

• Create a toolbox of categories and instruments to aid the understanding of the art market

• Understand the economic and market implications related to the art system, as well as the dynamics that define value and price of artwork.

• Develop personal interpretations of the world and market of visual arts.

CURATORIAL STUDIES 2:

• Theoretical/project based definition of an experimental exhibition platform

• Opening of the art curatorial practice to design, cinema, architecture and performance.

• Theoretical development of a biennale as a situated and contextual exhibition, geopolitical investigation of the biennale model

• Overcoming of the dominant model of white cube, for an interpretation of display as the theoretical writing of the exhibition

CRITICAL WRITING 2:

• Construction of a critical text

• The linguistic transformation of art critics from the Fifties to date

• Analysis of the headlines of newspapers, weekly magazines and specialized press

• Writing and experimentation workshop

• The influence of news on contemporary art

ECONOMICS OF ART:

• Features and main actors of the art market

• The relation between art and the market

• The value of artwork

• Exchange models for artistic assets

• Basic principles and practices for cultural management

• Analysis of public policies in Italy and abroad, developed to value the link between culture and social cohesion

This is a theoretical/project-based course. Over the course, the students will carry out didactic activities that are functional to achieving the learning goals, that in all modules may include:

• Classroom lectures

• Exercises and revisions

• Field trips

• Development of individual projects

• Individual study and research

• Use of tutorials, videos or other media tools for detailed study

The didactic modules that make the course will be assessed separately. The final grade will result from the weighted average of all marks, based on the final presentation of the project. They may include:

• Oral exam

• Complete projects

• Assessed revisions or mid-term tests

Further details on specific tests can be provided by the professors during the course. Assessment criteria include commitment, active participation and personal growth of the students during the course.

CURATORIAL STUDIES 2:

• Scotini, M. (2017), Politics of Memory: Documentary and Archive, Berlin: Archive Books.

• Bishop C. (2013), Radical Museum, Koln: Walter Konig.

• Steeds L. (2014) Exhibition. Documents of Contemporary Art, MIT.

• AA.VV. (2009), Open, Amsterdam: Nai Publishers.

• AA.VV. (2016), The New Curator, London: Laurence King Publishing.

CRITICAL WRITING 2:

• Berger J. (1980), About Looking, New York: Pantheon.

• Krauss R. (2011), Under Blue Cup, Cambridge: MIT Press.

• Krauss R. (1999), A Voyage on the North Sea, Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition, London: Thames & Hudson.

ECONOMICS OF ART:

• Graw, I. (2010), High Price. Art Between the Market and Celebrity Culture, Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2010.

• Velthuis, O. (2005), Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Further bibliographic recommendations may be provided by the professor during the course. A lot of the referenced material, together with other in-depth study material, can be consulted online in MyNaba, in the Library section.