Call for applications 2023: MA Curation at University of Exeter

The MA Curation is taught in Exeter and London, with Term II taking place at a leading contemporary arts institution. In 2022, the MA was taught in residence at Camden Art Centre in North London for the first six weeks of the second semester, where students met the Director, Martin Clark, and many of the senior staff team, as well as a series of visiting lecturers, as well as making regular visits to the capital’s museums and galleries. The MA will return to Camden Art Centre for the 2022/23 cohort, coinciding with Mohammed Sami’s (b.1984, Baghdad, Iraq) first institutional solo show in the UK and Atiéna R. Kilfa’s (b.1990, Paris, France) new moving-image commission presented within a site-specific architectural structure for her first UK institutional solo exhibition.

MA Curation students also participate in field trips to international biennials, exhibits, and institutions, as well as a six-week professional placement that is tailored to their curatorial interests. Sharjah Art Foundation in the UAE has hosted internships, as have Frieze Art Fair, Whitechapel Gallery, Sketch and the Government Art Collection in London, as well as regional museums and galleries in the South West, such as KARST and The Box in Plymouth and RAMM in Exeter. The Turing Scheme has also financed an internship with the British Council at the Venice Biennale during the last two years. The students’ MA Curation Blog Series, commenting on their internship experiences, can be accessed on the University’s Arts and Culture platform.

The University of Exeter’s MA Curation programme has an international focus and emphasizes an awareness of the social, cultural, and economic challenges that surround the contemporary art industry. We consider the link between the local and the international in various parts of the world, the art market and non-profit venues, and the decolonization of exhibition programs and art fairs. A professional practice strand of the course focuses on production skills and administration, in addition to addressing the critical context and theoretical perspectives linked with current artistic practices. Modules include “Arts of the Contemporary World,” “Institutions and Agencies: Contemporary Art Business,” and “Art Writing,” among others.

In the final term, students have the option to either organise a curatorial project or write a research dissertation. In our inaugural year, the theme for the 2021 practice-based projects chosen by the MA students was “Antibodies: Art During the Pandemic”, while in 2022 the theme was “Now’s the Time: Art Year Zero“.

The course is led by Programme Director, Professor Tom Trevor and draws on additional expertise from the University’s Art History and Visual Culture team and across the world. Lectures and seminars are framed around conversations with internationally recognised curators, artists, researchers and writers. Recent guest lecturers have included: Yvette Mutumba, Billy Tang, Shwetal Patel, Omar Kholeif, Dulcie Abrahams Altass, Raluca Voinea, Jessica Taylor, Sally O’Reilly, Melissa Gronlund, Ben Eastham, Tamsin Dillon and Anthony Huberman, amongst others.

The University of Exeter, located in the South West of England, is a Russell Group university that ranks among the top 150 universities in the world according to the Times Higher Education and QS World University Rankings 2022. With over 22,000 students and 4,600 faculty and staff from 180 different countries, we combine world-class teaching with world-class research.

Camden Art Centre hosts world-class contemporary art exhibitions and educational programs. Camden Art Centre, located in Hampstead, North London (charity number 1065829), is a place for art and artists; a place for the curious, the novice, and the expert alike. It’s a place to see, make, learn, and speak about modern art, whether in our building, at off-site projects, or online. Founded by artists in 1965, the Centre remains a lively and diverse mix of practices and ideas, and is committed to assisting artists at all stages of their careers.