Exhibition and Curatorial Practice

This course will provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to conceive of and implement an exhibition. We will consider, analyze, and critique different approaches to exhibition making and curatorial thinking, focusing in particular on recent projects that address issues of gender and subjugation. Students will learn about different strategies of display and interpretation and different ways exhibitions tell stories and construct arguments. Students will be asked to lead and participate in discussions about readings and evaluate exhibitions they have seen. An international group of curators will talk to the class about projects they are currently working on and the professional goals, opportunities, and challenges associated with exhibition making. The class will encourage experimentation in curatorial thinking. Each student will prepare an exhibition proposal and create an exhibition using Google SketchUp. The Sketchup models should also show the interpretative scaffolding for the exhibition including labels, text panels, photographic enlargements and other digital components such as interactive devices. This course is a prerequisite for those students intending to submit an Exhibition QP. As in other QP tracks, topics should come out of a pre-existing paper written for another class. The student’s faculty advisor for whom the original paper was written will share advising for the Exhibition QP. Deadlines and other aspects of the QP process will remain consistent with other tracks. Students who are not intending to pursue an Exhibition QP are also encouraged to take this class. 3 credits. This class will satisfy the digital project requirement.