Program Structure

The Curatorial Practice minor is available after completing second year and consists of several required courses and electives.

Required courses focus on a specific theme or practice, with a historical, theoretical and practical context. Electives span various program areas, including art history and exhibition practices.

Required Courses

SOCS 310 Studies in Curatorial Practices 

Studies in Curatorial Practice

SOCS 310

This course is an introduction to the history and theories that inform Curatorial Practice. It will develop a foundational understanding of current discourses around Curatorial Practice, as well as critical awareness of the content and context of this field in relation to a wide range of issues and theories. Students are required to undertake research, give presentations, and write papers. Seminar topics may change each term, while key concepts, theories, and histories will consistently be addressed.

This course is subject to priority rules; see here.

WRTG 300 Writing Criticism

Writing Criticism

WRTG 300

Art criticism has increasingly come to shape not only public perception, but art practice itself. This is a pragmatic course which will help students develop the skills necessary for writing about art. The course will also examine the evolution of written criticism and some of its underlying cultural assumptions. It is an opportunity to assess the state of contemporary art criticism in order to develop the analytical and presentational skills necessary to participate actively in the current public written discourse about art and design.

AHIS 401 Topics in Curatorial Projects

Topics in Curatorial Projects

AHIS 401

This fourth year three credit course gives students an in depth experience with curatorial projects. Building on the third year SOCS 310 Studies in Curatorial Practices, students develop their knowledge with a focus on contemporary examples, case studies and the key components necessary for organizing an exhibition. In this course students will investigate a specific topic or issue relevant to a variety of practices and critical concerns related to curatorial projects. They will develop writing projects directly related to proposing and installing an exhibition with the potential to realize a project. The emphasis will be upon the development and articulation of critical and speculative thinking that will encourage personal research and prepare students for further study or practice whether through future curatorial studies, self-curating or curating in relation to one’s own practice and curatorial projects with one’s peers. Potential assignments and outcomes may include an exhibition plan, curatorial proposals, grant proposal writing, and criteria for curating a space or a virtual exhibition.

Each section of this course runs with a different topic. See here.

Sample Electives

AHIS 301 History of Print Practice

History of Print Practice

AHIS 301

This course will trace how printing-the act of making multiples of images or text-shapes our thinking, the world, and art practice. Printed images are a blend of information technology and art that can reach and affect a larger public while providing the artist with a broad personal expressive vocabulary. Of use to all students, this course will investigate who made prints in the past and why, who saw them, what ideology they convey, and how the print process is integral to contemporary culture and current practice in any medium.

AHIS 320 Studies in Feminism, Gender, Cultural Studies

Introduction to Feminist, Gender + Cultural Studies

AHIS 320

This course is an introduction to basic concepts of feminist and gender analysis relevant to cultural studies in the areas of art, design, and media. The contemporary and changing roles of women in art will be a persistent theme throughout as students consider women’s absence from traditional cultural history. Students will learn about critical criteria, content analysis, gender representation and basic consideration of a work’s structure in relation to the gender identity of the viewer.

CCID 300 Community Projects

Community Projects

CCID 300

This studio course offers students the opportunity to collaborate on a directed studies project initiated by a public interest organization such as a non-profit community group, charity, or a Non-Governmental Organization (an NGO). Projects may include websites, three-dimensional displays, community art projects, or customized visual presentations which may have elements from every discipline, including English and Critical Studies. Students from all year levels may take this course which models collaboration and vertical learning where knowledge and skills are shared among students, faculty, external research partners, and community group representatives.

Each section of this course runs with a different topic. See here.

DESN 301 Exhibit Design

Exhibit Design

DESN 301

Exhibition design involves the exploration and design conceptualization of space, as well as the exploration and conceptualization of objects that function within that space. In this course students will explore a partial cycle of design activities: observation and analysis, research, planning, design conceptualization, detail development and documentation in two and three dimensions. Students will be encouraged to explore context and the interrelationship of design for site/program specific situations together with some of the different aspects that make up the dynamics of a designer-client relationship. Students will work in a variety of media in both two and three dimensions to communicate their findings, approaches and design solutions.

Priority is given to COMD, INDD and INTD students in Years 3 and 4. Students outside of the registration priority group may register/waitlist for this course as of the registration rule release date.

SOCS 302 The Ethics of Representation

The Ethics of Representation

SOCS 302

This course offers the opportunity to critically engage with defined topics in the social sciences as they relate to ethics of representation by introducing methods and practices for building community relationships, cultural diversity and social activism. Specific historical, cultural and social contexts will be explored using approaches such as ethnography, documentary, social justice studies, critical disability studies, and environmental studies to broadly address ethics of representation in art, media and design practice.

This course is subject to priority rules; see here.

Program

Curatorial Practices

Faculty

The Audain Faculty of Art

REQUIREMENTS

18 credits:
9 from required courses
9 from electives

PRE-REQUISITES

Must have completed second
year with a GPA of 3.0 or higher

TO APPLY

Submit a Declaration of Minor
form through Student Services

Apply for Minor

Minors

Students may declare a minor after completing their second year. A minimum GPA of 3.0 is required. To declare, download, complete, and submit the Declaration of Minor Form.

Available Minors

Art + Text
Curatorial Practices
Ecological Design Practice (BDES only)
Ecological Practices in Art
Social Practices + Community Engagement (SPACE)