Curating Society
| Module title | Curating Society |
|---|---|
| Module code | AHVM007 |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Marcus Jack (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 5 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 16 |
|---|
Module description
Mediating between artists and the diverse publics with which they engage, curators are often facilitators to ideas which can be provocative, challenging, and political. This intensive module explores the role of curators in working directly with communities beyond the gallery towards discursive and social justice aims, covering topics such as restitution and decolonisation, archival activism, and the advocation for marginalised groups, including indigenous, queer, racialised and gendered subjects. Exploring an array of contemporary participatory, community engaged and ‘live’ curatorial practices, this module offers models and approaches for working with and within society. Culminating in a proposal for a socially-engaged project or public programme, the module encourages lateral views of curating including, though not limited to, the production and programming of screenings, talks, symposia, tours, videos and podcasts. Completion of AHVM001, AHVM002 and AHVM003 as pre-requisites is required to undertake this module, and proposals for projects develop directly from previous professional practice workshops.
You may work collectively with other students, as a group, to develop the proposal for a public programme if you wish, subject to approval at the outset. However, each student will be required to submit their project proposal and the associated critical essay individually, including a clear outline of their role within the programme team. If you work as a collective, your contribution to the proposal will still be assessed individually, along with your written text.
There will be a 2-day field trip to visit socially-engaged art projects during this period.
This module is unsuitable for non-specialist students.
It is not recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to:
- Introduce you to a range of artistic and curatorial praxes operating beyond the gallery space.
- Introduce you to key theories and methodologies pertaining to participation, epistemology, publics and counter-publics.
- Provide you with an understanding of the fundamental techniques, methods and resources involved in curating beyond the gallery space.
- Develop and expand your abilities in visual analysis through consideration of social affects and meaning-making.
- Establish links between activistic intention and curatorial practice through the shared aim of enabling participatory democracy.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Demonstrate an informed understanding of the historical, theoretical, social, and political development of curatorial practice beyond the gallery.
- 2. Demonstrate an ability to identify and contextualise key methods and techniques used in the production and programming of participatory, socially engaged or live projects.
- 3. Demonstrate developing practical skills in researching, curating and presenting an original project.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Demonstrate advanced knowledge of key theories and methodologies used in the development of curatorial and artistic projects and successfully apply these in original critical interpretation.
- 5. Demonstrate the ability to identify a productive range of sources and interpretations, and to collect, analyse and critically appraise these in the development of an independent interpretation of a specific body of art works.
- 6. Evidence initiative, self-direction and collaboration in the conceptualisation, research and production of an original curatorial project.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Demonstrate the ability to undertake research using a variety of different kinds of sources
- 8. Assess the merits of complex arguments, comparing divergent points of view /approaches and evaluating their application
- 9. Formulate independent responses to works, practices and debates utilising appropriate methods of analysis
- 10. Demonstrate independence, intellectual autonomy and organisational skills through the formulation of original arguments using informed critical judgement and discrimination
- 11. Communicate ideas and arguments effectively, both orally and in writing, making effective use of visual material and digital resources where appropriate
Syllabus plan
Lectures will be structured thematically to address a multifaceted and cross-disciplinary context. Indicatively weekly topics could include:
- Publics: who speaks, who listens
- Justice: curating towards liberation
- Speculation: modelling democratic worlds
- Failure: learning from fault-lines
- Ethics: a philosophy of minefields
Lectures are supported by five discussion-led seminars in which we will consider case studies in relation to assigned literature.
Five task-led workshops will improve practical skills in designing, developing and producing a group curatorial project with respect to the module aims. These groups will be supported by three biweekly one-to-one tutorials with teaching staff.
Two symposia, at a midway point and the module conclusion, will allow for tutor- and peer-evaluation and reflection upon the development of students’ project assessment.
One field trip to local community-based arts organisations.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 30.5 | 269.5 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 5 | 5 x 60-minute lectures |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 7.5 | 5 x 90-minute seminars |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 4 | 2 x 120-minute symposia (including formative session) |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 5 | 5 x 1-hour workshops focusing on practical skills |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 1 | 2 x 30-minute group tutorials with tutor |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | 8 | Field trip |
| Guided independent Study | 49.5 | Group research, collaboration and planning towards project |
| Guided independent Study | 220 | Reading, individual research and assessment |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentations | 15 minutes | 1-11 | Oral (in-class) |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Critical essay | 50 | 3,000 words | 1-11 | Written feedback with opportunity for follow-up |
| Project proposal | 50 | 2,500 words | 1-11 | Written feedback with opportunity for follow-up |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical essay (3000 words) | Review (3,000 words) | 1-11 | Referral/Deferral Period |
| Project proposal (2500 words) | Critical essay (2,500 words) | 1-11 | Referral/Deferral Period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Beatrice von Bismarck (ed.), Archives on Show: Revoicing, Shapeshifting, Displacing – A Curatorial Glossary (Archive Books, 2023)
- Jeroen Boomgaard and Rogier Brom (eds.), Being Public: How Art Creates the Public (Valiz, 2017)
- Katy Deepwell (ed.) Feminist Art Activisms and Artivisms (Valiz, 2020)
- Charles Esche, Lucy Steeds, David Morris (eds.) Art and its Worlds: Exhibitions, Institutions and Art Becoming Publics (Afterall, 2017)
- Katya García-Antón (ed.), Art and Solidarity Reader: Radical Actions, Politics and Friendships (Valiz, 2023)
- Bas Hendrikx (ed.), Queer Exhibition Histories (Valiz, 2023)
- Maria Lind and What, How & For Whom/WHW (eds.), Art and the F Word (Sternberg, 2014)
- Steven Henry Madoff (ed.), What about Activism? (Sternberg, 2019)
- Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Pidginization as Curatorial Method (Sternberg, 2023)
- Laura Raicovich, Culture Strike: Art and Museums in an Age of Protest (Verso, 2021)
- Maura Reilly, Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating (Thames and Hudson, 2018)
- Jim Ricks (ed.), Artist-Run Deomcracy: Sustaining a Model (Onamatopee, 2021)
- Terry Smith, Curating the Complex and The Open Strike (Sternberg, 2021)
- Michael Warner, Publics and Counterpublics (Zone, 2002)
- Marina Vishmidt, “Between Not Everything and Not Nothing: Cuts Toward Infrastructural Critique,” Former West: Art and the Contemporary after 1989 (MIT, 2017)
- Marina Vishmidt, Speculation as a Mode of Production: Forms of Value Subjectivity in Art and Capital (Brill, 2018)
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
- e-flux
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | AHVM001, AHVM002, AHVM003 |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 11/11/2024 |
