Students at SL should also develop a curatorial rationale which accompanies their original artworks (400 words maximum). This rationale explains the intentions of the student and how they have considered the presentation of work using curatorial methodologies.
Students at HL should also develop a curatorial rationale which accompanies their original artworks (700 words maximum). This rationale explains the intentions of the student and how they have considered the presentation of work using curatorial methodologies, as well as considering the potential relationship between the artworks and the viewer.
Structuring the curatorial rationale
The curatorial rationale requires SL and HL students to explain why specific artworks have been chosen and presented in a particular format. It provides students with an opportunity to explain any challenges, triumphs, innovations or issues that have impacted upon the selection and presentation of the artworks. Students should use the curatorial rationale to explain the context in which particular artworks were made and presented in order to connect the work with the viewer. In addition to this, students at HL should also explain how the arrangement and presentation of artworks contributes to the audience’s ability to interpret and understand the intentions and meanings within the artworks exhibited.
SL students may find the following questions helpful when approaching this task. This structure is for
guidance only and is neither prescriptive nor restrictive.
What are you hoping to achieve by presenting this body of work? What impact will this body of work have on your audience? What are the concepts and understandings you initially intend to convey?
How have particular issues, motifs or ideas been explored, or particular materials or techniques used?
What themes can be identified in the work, or what experiences have influenced it?
How does the way you have exhibited your artwork contribute to the meanings you are trying to convey to an audience?
HL students may find the following questions helpful when approaching this task. This structure is for guidance only and is neither prescriptive nor restrictive.
What is the vision for presenting this body of work?
How have particular issues, motifs or ideas been explored, or particular materials or techniques used?
What themes can be identified in the work, or what experiences have influenced it?
How does the way you have exhibited your artwork contribute to the meanings you are trying to convey to an audience?
What strategies did you use to develop a relationship between the artwork and the viewer, for example, visual impact?
How does the way you have arranged and presented your artworks support the relationship and connection between the artworks presented?
What do you intend your audience to feel, think, experience, understand, see, learn, consider from the work you have selected for exhibition?