The course is intended for 2nd and 3rd year BA students from all disciplines of the KABK. The course also welcomes students from Leiden University, for whom this is an opportunity to be matched with art students to collaborate with during the course. The emphasis is on theory (writing) and practice (curating) of exhibition making.

Up to 12 KABK students and 4 LU students will be selected to participate in the programme.
The course will be in English.

• Theoretical background:
  Wed 14 & 21 February 2018 10.00-16.00h
• Practice-based research in exhibition spaces, developing exhibition concept and building up exhibition:
  Wed 7, 14 & 21 March 2018 10.00-16.00h
• Opening exhibition:
  Wed 21 March 2018 18.00h
• Artist walk & talk:
  Fri 23 March 2018 14.00h
• Evaluation and breaking down exhibition:
  Fri 23 March 2018 16.00-18.00h
  

+ expected self-study/individual preparation: 48 hours.

To this end, students will have the exhibition spaces at their disposal also outside the abovementioned hours.

Full attendance is obligatory in order to receive study points towards the Individual Study Trajectory (3 EC). Please make sure you will be available on the abovementioned dates.

The course entails two parts. The first part focusses on the history and theory of exhibition making and the role of the (artist as) curator. Influential exhibitions will be analysed and discussed, including Op Losse Schroeven, Magiciens de la Terre, Xerox Book, Documenta, the Venice Biennial, the exhibitions of some avant-garde movements and emerging forms such as exhibitions in virtual space. What are the artistic, social, political and economic issues addressed in these exhibitions?

In the second part the focus lies on the students’ individual research, which will take place in several exhibition spaces in the academy. Students will develop their intuition and ‘spatial thinking’ while experimenting with their works in a variety of display modes, space typologies and presentation forms. Particular exhibition strategies and attitudes, as well as the role of the spectator in relation to specific works, will be discussed. In what ways may this process of analysis and reflection affect one’s work and practice?

Students are expected to read selected texts and artists’ statements in preparation for the first two course sessions.

Students’ individual research and experimentation with installing work in various presentation spaces of the KABK will result in an exhibition which will be open to the public for a few days.

Students will host the exhibition opening and participate in a one-hour collective artist talk/discussion moderated by an invited respondent. This will be an opportunity for students to articulate their artistic, visual and theoretical points of departure.

To wrap up, LU students will be invited to write a text about the work of one or more of the participating art students in connection with the insights gained in the course. KABK students will be asked to document and reflect on their process by keeping a visual diary, and by writing a short reflection paper (750-1.000 words).

Tatjana Macic is a visual artist, writer and theoretician. She studied art at the Academy of Art and Design AKI, and got her Master’s degree from the University of Amsterdam, where she wrote a thesis about curating, politics and innovation. She is founder of Urgent Matters / Srettam Tnegru, an initiative for art, research, dialogue and exchange; and is currently a teacher of Artistic Research at the KABK.