Unit 1 - Introduction to curatorial practices, concepts and collections
This unit is an introduction to your course, the college and the university.
- To provide a grounding for you to understand your key research concerns, through discussion and reflection
- To develop your knowledge of key issues in the curatorial field
- To gain hands-on experience of curating, through practice-based approaches to learning
- To develop your communication skills, through written work and oral presentations
- To understand curating as a means of reinterpreting objects and practices
Unit 2 - Methodology and techniques
This unit will deepen your practice through engagement with collections research alongside curatorial activity.
- To establish connections with curatorial networks to help you progress your research interests
- To gain a critical perspective on institutional practices, through a detailed knowledge of the curatorial contexts
- To plan and implement a collections-based display
- To increase communication skills, through written work and oral presentations.
- To evaluate curatorial methods used to reinterpret objects and practices.
Unit 3 - Synthesis: Exhibition project and self-directed study
In this unit you will reflect upon current curatorial practice and develop your own professional practice utilising Chelsea Space as a venue.
- To develop a critical understanding of work that challenges existing practice
- To articulate your own position in respect of key curatorial debates.
- To plan and implement an exhibition as part of a postgraduate show
- To finesse communication skills, through written work and oral presentations
- To analyse curatorial methods used to reinterpret objects and practices
Throughout the 3 units of the course, you will study in the following ways:
- Exhibition studio workshop - practical sessions focusing on exhibition-building skills
- Curatorial studies - sessions focusing on historical and theoretical framing of curatorial practice
- Collections visits - engagement with museums, events, exhibitions and displays
- Guest speakers sessions led by professors, readers and other invited speakers
During the course, you will have individual and group tutorials developing your skills through the taught sessions alongside the professional practice activity with staff at Chelsea Space.
Individual research will be guided to help you make the most of the Special Collections, as well as, library and learning resources across UAL.
The UAL collections include:
- Chelsea's Special Collections, which have a strong emphasis on modern and contemporary art and design
- Camberwell's ILEA collection of ceramics and glassware
- Central Saint Martins' Museum and Study Collection, which include early printed books, prints, illuminated manuscripts, embroideries, 1920s German film posters, textiles and garments
Note: 120 Credits must be passed before the final unit is undertaken.