About and
around curating/ Kustosiranje is an educative and research
project, based on the idea of lifelong learning, designed for professionals and
students from the fields of arts and culture, and open for general public.
Based on the experience of professionals as a basis of knowledge, the project
is transparent and flexible, based on alternative methodology, with an idea to
verify the theoretical assumptions through critical and practical experiences. The project’s tendency is to gather young,
future and graduated/ established arts and culture professionals in order to
give them a clearer picture of the professional curatorial possibilities that
lie ahead, developing and nurturing the society’s understanding for all
professions that this vocation covers.
As part of the final activities of each season, exhibition project will
take place together with the participants of the project as practical, hands-on
part of the programme. The exact timetable, venue, form, system and norms of
the selection of the exhibition project’s participants will be announced
opportunely, during the season. A group of 5-10 participants are being selected
by the following criteria: motivational letter (a draft on and exhibition
project, concept, idea; why I want to participate in About and around
curating) and participation in the public programme. Afterwards, a month of
two before the exhibition, in cooperation with the exhibition
venue/institution, meetings and workshops with the participants are taking
place in order to define the exhibition concept, selection of artworks,
setting, catalogue, accompanying programme etc. The authors of the project are
present merely as moderators – advising and providing logistics. For 2013 two
exhibitions have been arranged with the gallery of Dom omladine.
About and
around curating/ Kustosiranje is a public and non-profit programme, open for
all creative individuals from the fields of arts and culture. For more
information, subscribe to our newsletter: about.and.around.curating@gmail.com,
and check our blog: aboutandaroundcurating.blogspot.com.
Project description and origins:
That’s not a cabinet vocation, but a truly
dynamic activity, which requires everyday attendance, devotion, the quest for
sources, connecting information and people, intelligent deliberation of both
present and the past, throughout the challenges, which are all a part of
everyday life, according to the professor Jerko Denegri, in a very interesting
conversation.
By
understanding the surroundings in which the curatorial vocation exists and
develops in Serbia, especially among younger professionals, based on challenges
as shortage or even lack of professional practice, the deficit of stable and
long-lasting specialised curatorial courses and schools, the conservative
public image of a curator’s profession, the connection between the public and
the civil sector, employment and sustainability troubles; these are all the
most important strategic questions to be raised through the project About
and around curating/ Kustosiranje. Instead of stating unnecessarily the impoverished and almost helpless
state in the curatorial field, it is required to point the examples of good
practice, to encourage the possibilities of self-realisation, to stress the
importance of cooperation and team work, but also to give support to proactive
attitude in developing independent projects in the fields of arts and culture.
After all, the main focus is on questions that define the curatorial
profession, the questions which are in line, that “breathe” with the
contemporary, esthetical and social tendencies. The technology of making an
exhibition project, curator-artist relation, different methodological approaches
(public institution and independent work), arbitrariness and the
representativeness of the profession, curator as an artist (and vice versa) –
are just some questions on which we seek possible answers, by developing the About
and around curating/ Kustosiranje project as a research activity, publicly
accessible and visible, affirmative towards the curatorial vocation.
The
institutions of culture – public or independent – are in the position to
actively participate in the project About and around curating/ Kustosiranje, by being a partner organisation, offering
practice or advices relating to younger colleagues.
Project
mission: on
curatorial practices, developing toolbox and required skills, on the
technologies of preparation and realisation of independent exhibition project,
education and supporting proactive attitude of young and future art curators,
team work, developing entrepreneurship in the field of culture, spreading share
culture
Target
group: final-year(s) students and graduates of Arts
universities (art history, visual and applied arts, architecture, dramatic
arts, etc), professionals from the fields of arts and culture (curators,
artists, managers and entrepreneurs)
Venues:
cultural institutions in Belgrade:
galleries, museums, cultural centres in Belgrade, 120min each session, every
two weeks. In between sessions, organised public guidances and visits to
exhibitions and artistic events
Project authors: Andrej Bereta and Srđan Tunić (curators, art
historians)
Work in progress – in realisation for
Seasons #03 (January – June) and #04 (September - December) 2013:
- Publication on the first year of About and around curating project (springtime 2013)
- Academic course About and around curating students' exhibition in Art space U10 (28.02. – 13.03.2012.)
- Exhibitons with participants of the public programme (June 2012); in cooperation with gallery of Dom omladine Beograda
- Internacional project, in cooperation with cultural institutions (universities, NGO's, museums, artistic collectives); spring 2013
- Public programme - public cultural institutions, exhibition spaces etc.
Contact:
Udruženje građana „ARTIKAL: Društvo za promovisanje
i negovanje savremenog i slobodnog umetničkog izražavanja“ / Civil association
„ARTIKAL:
Association for curating and promoting contemporary and free artistic
expression“, Beograd
