curatorship (vcl 665) 1 2012

CURATORSHIP(VCL 665)

Prof. Dr. Muliyadi MahamoodDepartment of Visual Culture

Faculty of Art and DesignUiTM Shah Alam

03-5544 4103, 017-284 [email protected];[email protected]

mailto:[email protected];[email protected]

COURSE DESCRIPTION

• This course aims to introduce students with basic principles, approaches and strategies in art curatorship, as well as expose them to traditional and alternative practices in curatorship.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

• This course will also discuss curatorship in relation to artists, public spaces, museums, galleries, larger urban settings, physical and virtual spaces.

• At the end of the course, students should be able to understand basic principles, approaches and strategies in art curatorship.

COURSE OUTCOMES

The students should be able to:

• Understand basic principles and approaches in art curatorship.

• Understand strategies in art curatorship.

• Write a curatorial essay on a chosen theme for an art exhibition.

SYLLABUS CONTENT

• Introduction to Art Curatorship• Basic Principles of Art Curatorship• Basic Approaches in Art Curatorship• Strategies in Art Curatorship• Art and Design Curatorship as a Creative

Practice• Planning and Managing an Art Exhibition• Issues in Art Curatorship• Writing a Curatorial Essay

• Teaching Method: Lecture and Tutorial.

• Evaluation:

Course Work/Assignment/

Presentation : 40%

Final Examination : 60%

Total : 100%

References

• Lord, B. and Lord, G.D., 2002. The Manual of Museum Exhibitions. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

• D’Alleva, A., 2010. How to Write Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Lord, B. and Lord, G.D., 2002. The Manual of Museum Exhibitions. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

D’Alleva, A., 2010. How to Write Art History. London: Laurence King Publishing.

CURATORSHIP

• “Museum curatorship is concerned with all aspects of the development, study, preservation and interpretation of a museum’s collection.”(Lord, B. and Lord, G.D., 2002. The Manual of Museum Exhibitions. Walnut Creek:

Altamira Press, p.345).

CURATORSHIP

• “The curatorial role in the development of exhibitions is more specific: while it is true that all of these concerns are part of the curatorial role in exhibition development, the primary objective is focused on just one of these roles, that of interpretation” (ibid).

CURATORSHIP

• “In the exhibition development process all of the curator’s other considerations are directed towards facilitating the presentation and interpretation of the collections that are to be shown in the exhibitions” (ibid).

CURATOR

• The Chambers Dictionary defines ‘curator’ as ‘the person who has the charge of anything: a superintendent, especially of a museum; a person appointed by law as a guardian of something.

CURATOR

• The word curator comes from the Latin ‘curare’, meaning ‘to care for’, ‘have charge for’, or ‘to cure’.

CURATOR

• A curator (from Latin: curare meaning “care”) is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g. gallery, museum, library or archive) is a content specialist responsible for an institution’s collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material.

Curator

• The object of a traditional curator’s concern necessarily involves tangible objects of some sort, whether it be inter alia artwork, collectibles, historic items or scientific collections.

Abdullah Ariff, 1948. “Coconut Plantation-Dawn”, water color, 38x56cm.

Mohd Hoessein Enas, 1959. “Woman Pounding Paddy”,Ht. 58.7cm.

Ponirin Amin, 1990. “Surah Yasin”, wood print and silk screen, 56x76cm.

Curator

• Curator administer museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, nature centers, and historic sites. The museum director often is a curator. Curators direct the acquisition, storage, and exhibition of collections, including negotiating and authorizing the purchase, sale, exchange, or loan of collections.

(United States Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition).

Curator

• Curators are also responsible for authenticating, evaluating, and categorizing the specimens in a collection. Curators often oversee and help conduct the institution’s research projects and related educational programs. Today, an increasing part of a curator’s duties involves fundraising and promotion, which may include the writing and reviewing of grant proposals, journal articles, and publicity materials, as well as attendance at meetings, conventions, and civic events.


Curator

• Most curators specialize in a particular field, such as botany, art, or history. Those working in large institutions may be highly specialized. A large national history museum, for example, would employ separate curators for its collections of birds, fishes, insects, and mammals.


Curator

• Some curators maintain their collections, others do research, and others perform administrative tasks. In small institutions with only one or a few curators, one curator may be responsible for a number of tasks, from maintaining collections to directing the affairs of the museum.


Archivists, Curators, and Conservators

• Archivists, Curators, and Conservators work for museums, governments, zoos, colleges and universities, corporations, and other institutions that require experts to preserve important records and artifacts. These workers preserve important objects and documents, including works of art, transcripts of meetings, photographs, coins and stamps, and historic objects.


Archivists and Curators

• Archivists and Curators plan and oversee the arrangement, cataloguing, and exhibition of collections. They also maintain collection with technicians and conservators. They acquire and preserve important documents and other valuable items for permanent storage or display. They also describe, catalogue, and analyze, valuable objects for the benefit of researchers and the public.



• Archivists and Curators may coordinate educational and public outreach programs, such as tours, workshops, lectures, and classes, and may work with the boards of institutions to administer plans and policies. They also may research topics or items relevant to their collections.



• Although some duties of Archivists and Curators are similar, the types of items they deal with differ: archivists mainly handle records and documents that are retained because their importance and potential value, while curators usually handle objects with cultural, biological, or historical significance, such as sculptures, textiles, and paintings.


Conservators

• Conservators manage, care for, preserve, treat, and document works of art, artifacts, and specimens-work that may require substantial historical, scientific, and archaeological research. They use x rays, chemical testing, microscopes, special lights, and other laboratory equipment and techniques to examine objects and determine their condition and the appropriate method for preserving them.


Conservators

• Conservators document their findings and treat items to minimize their deterioration or to restore them to their original state. Conservators usually specialize in a particular material or group of objects, such as documents and books, paintings, decorative arts, textiles, metals, or architectural material. (United States Department of Labor,

Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition).

Conservators

• In addition to their conservation work, conservators participate in outreach programs, research topics in their area of specialty, and write articles for scholarly journals. They may be employed by museums or work on a freelance basis.


CURATOR

• IN CONTEMPORATY ART, THE TITLE CURATOR IS GIVEN TO A PERSON WHO SELECTS AND OFTEN INTERPRETS WORKS OF ART. IN ADDITION TO SELECTING WORKS, THE CURATOR OFTEN IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WRITING LABELS, CATALOG ESSAYS, AND OTHER SUPPORTING CONTENT FOR THE EXHIBITION.

CURATOR

• Such curators may be permanent staff members, be “guest curators” from an affiliated organization or university, or be “freelance curators” working on a consultant basis.

Hashim Hassan, ”Ancaman” (1988).

Pameran Solo Hashim Hassan, “Titian Nusantara”, Galeri NST, 2012.

Guest Curators

• Syed Ahmad Jamal

• T.K. Sabapathy

• Redza Piyadasa

• Zakaria Ali

• D’zul Haimi Md Zain

• Muliyadi Mahamood

• Zainol Abidin Ahmad Sharif

Freelance Curators

• Nur Hanim Khairuddin (YKP)

Private Galleries:

• Permanent, Guest and Freelance Curators (RA Gallery, AP Gallery, Artcase Galleries, etc).

Permanent Curators

• Wairah Marzuki (BSLN/Director BSLN)

• Sharifah Fatimah Zubir (BSLN)

• Rohana Abdullah (BSVN)

• Badrol Hisham Mohd Tahir (Galeri Petronas/BSVN)

• Ratna Siti Akbari (Galeri Petronas)

CURATOR RESPONSIBILITIES

• Within the world of museums and galleries today, the responsibilities of curatorship fall into two main areas:


• The care and research of a specific collection: understanding the collection and keeping up to date with new developments that might alter that understanding: writing about the collection: locating the whereabouts of new material (or relate to its wider understanding): adding to the collection: preserving it for a new generation


• Its display and interpretation


• In smaller organizations, a curator may have sole responsibility for the acquisition and care of objects. The curator will make decisions regarding what objects to collect, oversee their care and documentation, conduct research based on the collection, provide proper packaging or art for transport, and share that research with the public and scholarly community through exhibitions and publications.


• In a very small volunteer-based museums, such as local historical societies, a curator may be the only paid staff member.


• IN LARGER INSTITUTIONS, THE CURATOR’S FUNCTION IS AS A SUBJECT SPECIALIST, WITH THE EXPECTATION THAT HE OR SHE WILL CONDUCT ORIGINAL RESEARCH ON OBJECTS AND GUIDE THE ORGANIZATION IN ITS COLLECTING.


• LARGER INSTITUTIONS CAN HAVE MULTIPLE CURATORS, EACH ASSIGNED TO A SPECIFIC COLLECTING AREA (e.g. CURATOR OF ANCIENT ART, CURATOR OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS, etc) AND OFTEN OPERATING UNDER THE DIRECTION OF A HEAD CURATOR.

Education and Training

• Curators generally hold a higher academic degree in their subject, such as history, history of art, archaeology, anthropology, or classics.


• Curators are also expected to have contributed to their academic field, for example, by delivering public talks, publishing articles or presenting at specialist academic conferences.


• It is important that curators have knowledge of the current collecting market for their area of expertise, and are aware of current ethical practices and laws that may impact their organization’s collecting.


• Curatorial positions often require knowledge in a number of fields. For historic and artistic conservation, courses in chemistry, physics, and art are desirable. Like archivists, curators need computer skills and the ability to work with electronic databases. Many curators are responsible for posting information on the internet, so they also need to be familiar with digital imaging, scanning technology, and copyright law.


Curators

• Curators must be flexible because of their wide variety of duties, including the design and presentation of exhibits. In small museums, curators need manual dexterity to build exhibits or restore objects. Leadership ability and business skills are important for museum directors, while marketing skills are valuable in increasing museum attendance and fundraising.


MUSEUM/GALLERY

“Museums are important because they serve to remind us of who we are and what our

place is in the world”(Davis, 2007: 53 in Carnegie, E. “Museums in Society or Society as a Museum?”, 2010:

231).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

• “Secara umum, muzium adalah sebuah institusi yang mengumpul, mendokumentasi, memulihara, memperaga serta mentafsir bukti-bukti material dan informasi berkaitannya untuk faedah awam” (American Association of Museum, 1984 dalam

Muliyadi Mahamood, 2008: 71).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

• “Koleksi dan bahan peragaan dapat dimanfaatkan oleh pengunjung muzium atau galeri dengan mudah sebagai suatu cara menyalurkan pendidikan menerusi pengalaman yang ditimba mereka daripada proses pengamatan dan penghayatan” (Smith, 1989 dalam Muliyadi Mahamood, 2008: 71).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

• “Muzium dan peragaannya perlu digunakan oleh masyarakat. Kiranya peranan pendidikan tidak ditekankan, muzium dan galeri akan menjadi institusi yang tidak berfaedah. Bukan sahaja dipulihara, karya-karya seni seharusnya dikaji dan diperkatakan”

(Smith, 1989 dalam Muliyadi Mahamood, 2008: 71).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

• “Muzium memainkan peranannya dengan melibatkan masyarakat dalam aktiviti-aktiviti yang berorientasikan pendidikan. Jelasnya, muzium dan galeri perlu didekatkan kepada masyarakat dan begitulah sebaliknya” (Marcouse, 1973; Smith, 1989;

Greenhaigh, 1989; Zain Azraai, 1990; American Association of Museums, 1992; The Museum and Gallerie Commission Great Britain, 1993; Muliyadi, 1993; Greenhill, 1994).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

• “Muzium mestilah mudah dan boleh dikunjungi, difahami, dihayati dan disenangi semua. Proses integrasi muzium dengan kehidupan seharian perlu dilakukan serta diperluaskan menerusi aktiviti-aktiviti kebudayaan dan pendidikan. Justeru, muzium dan galeri seni menjadi suatu ruang atau media pendidikan yang bersifat formal dan informal”

(Marcouse, 1973 dalam Muliyadi Mahamood, 2008: 72).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

• “Muzium dan galeri perlulah mesra pengguna, bukan sebagai suatu istana yang terpisah daripada masyarakat. Muzium dan galeri harus menjadi tempat yang disenangi umum”

(Zain Azraai, 1990 dalam Muliyadi Mahamood, 2008: 72).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

MUSEUMS TODAY OFTEN EXIST IN MORE THAN ONE FORM –

THE REAL AND

THE VIRTUAL(Beall-Fofana, B.A., 2007).

MUSEUM/GALLERY

• “The real form refers to the physical building, its location, and the objects contained within. But understanding the role and contribution of the virtual museum-websites sponsored by the museum-is also useful. Both types of museums are important resources, and each provide specific opportunities to experience and study art”.

(Beall-Fofana, B.A., 2007).

• Thank you.

EXHIBITIONS

curatorship (vcl 665) 1 2012

Documents

art curatorship art

curatorship museum curatorship

curator curators

art curatorship strategies

art history

design curatorship

curatorship vcl

word curator