Please note! Course description is confirmed for two academic years, which means that in general, e.g. Learning outcomes, assessment methods and key content stays unchanged. However, via course syllabus, it is possible to specify or change the course execution in each realization of the course, such as how the contact sessions are organized, assessment methods weighted or materials used.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students will learn how to research and formulate conceptual frameworks for curatorial projects. They will work collaboratively in groups together with course teacher(s) on planning a project from A to Z, writing a curatorial statement, selecting artistic content, public programme development, mediation and documentation.
Credits: 10
Schedule: 12.01.2021 - 09.04.2021
Teacher in charge (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022): Patrizia Costantin, Bassam El Baroni
Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Patrizia Costantin, Bassam El Baroni
Contact information for the course (valid 03.01.2021-21.12.2112):
CEFR level (applies in this implementation):
Language of instruction and studies (valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022):
Teaching language: English
Languages of study attainment: English
CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD
Content
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
A project that students plan and implement as a group using the interrogative model of inquiry on select themes and/or topics initiated by the course’s teacher(s), from which they develop a public project (exhibition, event, seminar, publication etc). The course starts by building a strong theoretical grounding for the topic/theme and gradually works its way towards the practical side of curating.
Applies in this implementation:
The theme for this year’s ‘Curating in the Live’ will be the topic of infrastructures.
Lectures and talks will look at a variety of critical approaches to the main theme. Students are expected to take part in weekly screenings and discussions (Assignment A) and develop and realize a project (Assignment B) which explores infrastructures.
The first 5 weeks will be centered around a combination of lectures by Bassam El Baroni and Patrizia Costantin and student-led screening and discussion sessions. The second 5 weeks (Fridays 5 March – 9 April) will be dedicated to the realization of the curatorial project (Assignment B). Talks by guests speakers are also being arranged.
The sessions discuss numerous topics including:
Infrastructural Critique
Media Archeologies
Machinic Landscapes
Infrastructure and the question of scale
Infrastructural Futures
Infrastructural Histories / Politics of Infrastructure
How artists and curators engage with infrastructural research and concerns.
The lectures, discussions and materials will permutate between different scales, nuances and understandings of infrastructure. One focus will be on the shift from ‘institutional critique’ to ‘infrastructural critique’ (Marina Vishmidt) that the expanded field of art has gone through over the past 15 years or so. Considerable emphasis will be given to the questions of the planetary and futurity while other strands will look at historically entrenched systems and the technological developments in trade routes. The question of scale is dominated by conversations around digital and technological advances becoming prominent in most aspects of our everyday life. We will look at the unseen infrastructure that allows the digital to function as well as at the socio-political implications that are tied to it. We will discuss the deep material layers of the digital and the ways in which these are influencing everyday life. We will discuss the role of sovereignty in relation to infrastructure and look at artworks, exhibitions and research projects that critically examine the planetary (and the cosmological) in relation to power plays and colonization. From urban infrastructures based around sensing to freeports as recent apparatuses for storing and making profit from art pieces to the logistical operations of warehouses and the counter-histories of computational infrastructures during the cold-war era. And from ‘infrastructural praxis’ (Victoria Ivanova) to thinking infrastructure after earth (Bogna Konior), the materials and ideas explore a wide ranging grounding for the topic of infrastructure and its intersection with art, philosophy, media theory, cybernetics and speculation.
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
Coursework and course participation
Applies in this implementation:
‘‘Assignment A’’
The student-led screening and discussion constitute ‘‘Assignment A’’ and will take place during the first part of the course.
Student-led screening and discussion sessions: each week, students in group will propose a screening of an artwork, a short documentary, a visual essay, a presentation, an exhibition, etc. to the rest of the class.
‘‘Assignment B’’
The realisation of a curatorial project exploring infrastructures constitute ‘‘Assignment B’’.During the break from 9/02-5/03, the class will be split into 2 groups. Each group will have the responsibility to work together and independently during the break to think about the project that they’d want to realize for this course.
During the second part of the course, which will take place on Fridays, the 2 proposals will be improved, finalized and executed. At the beginning of March, we will also work on developing the overarching concept that the 2 projects concur to explore.
The final 3 sessions will be dedicated to the realization of the projects which will take place at Galleria Aarni, a space run by the Espoo Artists Association.
Friday sessions will be organized closer to the date. We expect them to take place online 9:00-15:00. However, please keep in mind that the final session may run till 17:00 to accommodate further discussion, planning, and install time in the gallery if needed.
***Please note that you are expected to carry out 150h of independent work (on top of the Tuesdays and Fridays sessions), and that 80% of attendance is necessary to pass the course.***
Workload
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
120 hours of contact teaching, 150 hours of individual work. Requirement of all schedules activities a minimum of 80%.
DETAILS
Study Material
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
Readings (Theory, Philosophy and Scienctific Papers) updated on MyCourses, Latter Parts of Course mostly Practical
Substitutes for Courses
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
Curatorial Project
Prerequisites
Valid 01.08.2020-31.07.2022:
No
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
4 Quality Education
5 Gender Equality
10 Reduced Inequality
16 Peace and Justice Strong Institutions