24 Jun 2009

Last Call for Applications: Postgraduate Programme in Curating

The Postgraduate Programme in Curating (MAS/CAS) is a discursive platform designed to impart specialist knowledge of contemporary curating practices through practice-oriented projects.

The Postgraduate Programme in Curating examines the key issues involved in contemporary exhibition making through taught modules, group activities, and practical project work. Coursework explores different areas of knowledge, and involves the development and production of projects through lectures and workshops delivered by an international selection of artists, curators, theorists, architects and designers. The programme focuses less on the concept of the exhibition planner as an individual author, which has been a highly controversial topic since the 1990s, and more on cooperative, interdisciplinary working methods.

The Postgraduate Programme in Curating offers two study opportunities. The Postgraduate Diploma (CAS) is a one-year, part-time course providing participants with a basic qualification in key areas of curatorial practice, namely research, design, organisation and communication, in addition to basic theoretical knowledge. The Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) is a two-year, part-time programme leading to an advanced qualification. It provides participants with an indepth enquiry into the key areas of curatorial practice and relevant theory. Students are guided in the development of projects and are given the tools to assess the context of their curatorial work, to critically appraise their own practice, and to establish a suitable network for this activity. The Master's programme involves a major project and the submission of a written dissertation.

The aim of the Postgraduate Programme in Curating is to examine changes in current cultural production and to develop innovative displays in relation to these. Aimed at participants from the fields of design, art, culture and media, the programme aims to open up new perspectives in the professional field. The programme also fosters the development of an international network, inviting an international selection of tutors and promoting opportunities for course participants to conduct projects locally, in Europe, and further afield.

Modules
• Project work
• Aesthetic and cultural theory
• Recent art history
• Exhibition design
• Digital media
• Project management and Fine Arts administration
• Re-interpreting collections
• Communal discussions and excursions
• Language skills (German and English are required; written work can be submitted in either language)

Course sessions
Fridays and Saturdays, 10 units of contact teaching per week
Flexibility is allowed in relation to project work

Course director
Dorothee Richter, art expert, curator and writer, Ludwigsburg/Zurich

Teaching staff
The Postgraduate Programme in Curating involves a wide range of international curators, artists and theorists, from whom a pool of inspiring people is chosen each year to deliver guest talks and workshops on the theory and practice of curating:

- Marius Babias, director, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein
- Beatrice von Bismarck, author, curator, art historian, DOCK Projektbereich
- Lionel Bovier, publisher, director of JRP-Ringier, Verlag für zeitgenössische Kunst
- Sabeth Buchmann, critic, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
- Diedrich Diederichsen, cultural Analyst, pop culture critic
- Sønke Gau, Katharina Schlieben, curatorial team, Shedhalle Zurich
- Jeanne van Heeswijk, artist, urban curator
- Annemarie Hürlimann, art historian and curator
- Therese Kaufmann, European Institute for Progressive Cultural Policies, Vienna
- Kinoapparatom, Simone Schardt & Wolf Schmelter, artists and film curators
- Moritz Küng, director, Kunstzentrum de Singel exhibition programme, Antwerpen
- Oliver Marchart, philospher, professor at the University of Lucerne
- Stella Rollig, director, Lentos Museum for Contemporary Art, Linz
- Anette Schindler, director [Plug in] Art and New Media, Basel
- Simon Sheikh, curator, and critic; coordinator Critical Studies Program, Malmö
- Szuper Gallery, Susanne Clausen and Pawlo Kerestey
- Adam Szymczyk, director, Kunsthalle Basel
- Axel J. Wieder, artistic director, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart; co-founder Pro qm