Making Exhibitions: A Critical and Practical Introduction to Curatorial Processes

In this studio seminar, we will study and discuss processes and strategies for exhibition making. We will examine recent examples of curatorial projects and exhibition design solutions. A special focus will be on curatorial as well as artistic strategies for engaging an audience during the process of preparing an exhibition: We will develop strategies to engage people and build a committed audience that is not merely treated as passive viewers of the works of others, but actively takes part in art production and the exhibition-making processes.

The participants of the class will form a curatorial collective, and each member will become a producer of our department’s participation in the upcoming Angewandte Festival. Together, we will go through the entire curatorial process, from conceptualization, selection of artists, development of artistic works together with the artists, to writing, outreach, exhibition design, production, and analysis and evaluation.

Participants of this semester’s seminar are invited to join next semester’s edition of this class as well, to further participate in the implementation of the artistic and curatorial ideas for Angewandte Festival.

The class will proceed in the following stages:

• 1) Introduction to curating: thinking about exhibitions
• 2) Introduction to curatorial strategies for engaging and developing active audiences
• 3) Research stage: From idea to conceptualization
• 4) Collaborative working processes, division of labour and roles
• 5) Working with artists and developing work in the context of an exhibition
• 6) Exhibition planning and design
• 7) Production and outreach
• 8) Critical analysis and evaluation

There will be exhibition visits and meetings with practitioners will be part of this studio seminar.

Individual participations to the collective project will have the following stages:

• 1) Research Stage: from forming an idea to conceptualization (4 weeks)
• 2) Production Stage: artistic/curatorial expression & execution of the idea (6 weeks)
• 3) Documentation and Presentation (2 weeks)

The results of each step and the final result of the overall project will be assessed separately. Attendance, active participation in discussions, and meaningful feedback to peers will be highly regarded towards the final examination.

Active participation in the seminars is essential for this class. The classroom will function as a curatorial collective, and both collaborative as well as individual work will be developed based on mutual feedback. In addition to plenary group meetings, there will be individual one-on-one meetings for in-depth discussions. Each student is required to have at least one individual meeting every three weeks to discuss the progress and further steps.

The group meetings will take place between 16:00-18:00 on the dates listed below, following to and followed by individual meetings. Appointments for individual meetings will be organised and announced weekly.

The class will be held in English.