TIM_M_018 Curatorship: social context and practical aspects

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Marika Kupková, Ph.D. (lecturer), doc. Mgr. Jana Horáková, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Marika Kupková, Ph.D.
Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Bc. Jitka Leflíková
Supplier department: Department of Musicology – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 100 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/100, only registered: 0/100, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/100
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 6 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The lecture will present curatorship as a profession oscillating between a research, managerial, art-critical and creative content. The professional demands placed on a curator are diametrically different in relation to his or her institutional background. Different tasks and skills are required from a curator as an employee of a collection institution, from an independent curator, or from a curator of art or audio-visual shows and festivals. And festivals and shows of gallery films and experimental film work present an important part of this lecture, extended with the related issue of distribution and archiving of the art of moving images beyond cinematographic institutions. We will also focus on the area of art mediation, which is in the forefront of interest of gallery institutions and their founders. We will take into account the consolidation of art and curating approaches, we will mention representative cases of exhibition activities, the concept of which was an art project on its own. We will also mention trends that point to the end of presenting art in the form of standard exhibitions. The lecture will end with a creation of the students’ own exhibition project: formulation of starting points, argumentation of the selected approach and its objectives. The exhibition project will also include a suggestion of the accompanying programme. The objective of the lecture following the course of Curatorship: The History of the Profession thus focuses on the social structures of the art operation with regard to the position of the curator as a determining participant. At the same time, it will provide students with a critical and creative insight into the current curating trends.
Learning outcomes
After completion of the course, the student will be able to:
- distinguish curatorship in specific social and institutional context
- be aware of the content of curatorship within the new media or audio-visual festivals and shows
- define basic strategies of mediating art, including basic genres of gallery-related education and accompanying programmes to exhibitions
- formulate and argument their own curating intention
- know basic professions that the curator usually cooperates with during the preparation of exhibitions (exhibition architect, installation technician, graphic designers, production manager, PR managers and custodians)
- have a basic idea of the common methods of financing exhibitions and accompanying activities
- have the confidence to think creatively and be able to communicate persuasively
Syllabus
  • - Specific contents of the curator profession in relation to the institutional relations: independent curator, curator-artist, curator of museum collections
  • - Curators outside galleries or museums: shows, festivals, archives of the new media art and experimental films
  • - Film curatorship
  • - The actors of the exhibition practice: curator, production manager, architect, installer, graphic designer, PR etc.
  • - Mediating art: gallery-related education
  • - Mediating art: new strategies of work with the public
  • - The end of exhibitions? Seeking new forms of art presentation
  • - Critical curatorship: basic characteristics and representatives
  • - Preparation of students’ curating projects
  • - Presentation and discussion regarding the students’ curating projects
  • - How to exhibit a curator? A self-reflective tendency in curatorship at the level of exhibitions, research and publishing activities
Literature
  • KORECKÝ, David (ed.). Médium kurátor. Role kurátora v současném českém umění. Praha: Agite/Fra, 2009.
  • Potter, John. Digital Media and Learner Identity: The New Curatorship. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2012.
  • Thompson, John A. M. Manual of Curatorship: A Guide to Museum Practice. New York: Routlegde, 2012.
  • Usai, Paolo Cherchi, David Francis, Alexander Horwath, Michael Loebenstein. Film Curatorship: Archives, Museums, and the Digital Marketplace. Vídeň: Synema - Ges. für Film und Medien, 2008.
  • BALSOM, Erika. Exhibiting Cinema in Contemporary Art. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2013. Dostupné z http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=442726.
  • SÝKOROVÁ, Lenka. Nezávislé kurátorství ve volném čase: nezávislý kurátor a umělec-kurátor na české vizuální scéně 2000-2016 = Independent curating as a leisure activity : an independent curator and artist-curator on the Czech visual art scene in 2000-201
  • FRIEDLOVÁ, Martina. Umění: prostor pro život a hru. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci, 2008.
  • VESELÁ, Romana. Pozice kurátor: poznámky správců umění a designu. Ústí nad Labem: Fakulta umění a designu Univerzity Jana Evangelisty Purkyně, 2016.
Teaching methods
Reviewing lecture with a commentary of selected case studies
Assessment methods
Real PC test and at least 50% participation in lectures
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/TIM_M_018