Curatorial Practice Seminar

Curatorial Practice Seminar

Ingredients for a Great Exhibition

This 4-week seminar will introduce participants to curatorial research and writing. Participants will consider different approaches to researching exhibition topics and writing for an exhibition audience. They will be exposed to a wide range of texts about photography and contemporary art.

The course will be organized around a case study: a proposed future exhibition of photographs that the American artist Paul Strand made in Ghana during a six-month visit in 1963-64. Participants will identify research topics from that body of work, explore available resources for investigation, and then carry out research to report back to the group. While our focus will be the intellectual work that is vital to any successful exhibition, the course will touch upon all aspects of exhibition management, from the theoretical to the logistical. Participants will meet and hear from multiple professionals, including curators, conservators, and one or more artists.

It is more of a research-based workshop; the sessions will be two to three hours long and one-on-one sessions. Two to three days a week.

Goals for the Course:

·      Participants think critically about every aspect of exhibitions

·      Participants think critically about Paul Strand’s work and legacy

·      Participants finish the course equipped to conduct exhibition research; write exhibition texts; plan and execute exhibition projects.

·      Research contributed by workshop members will be credited in a future exhibition publication.

Guiding Question: What should an exhibition of Paul Strand’s Ghana photographs look like in Accra?   

   Context, context, context.