Exhibition Texts: Writing, Editing and Ethics

Duration

Oct. 19 - Nov. 16, 2021

Enroll before

Oct. 18, 2021

One-time Payment

172.00 € (incl. VAT)

Live sessions

3 hrs/week

Exhibition texts are vital tools in supporting an audience's understanding of an exhibition, artwork or artist. This course is a practical guide for improving your skills in producing exhibition texts and editing texts received from artists or collaborators. Additionally, this course considers the responsibilities curators have in producing sources of information for audiences and representing the practice of artists.

The course will start out by presenting strategies and standards for structuring texts aimed at different types of audience. We will use the Paddlers, Swimmers and Divers model as a guide through the course to help us shape our texts. We will learn how to embrace and make use of the flexibility of language, considering it in new ways while staying true to our own voice.

The course will consider the ethical responsibilities we have as knowledge producers, interpreters and conveyors for audiences. Alongside this, we have a responsibility to the artists and collaborators we work with to ensure that they are being presented and heard in the ways they want to be. Finally, we will consider the responsibility we have to ourselves in terms of time management, energy and self-representation.

By the end of the course, you will have developed new skills, techniques and confidence in writing, collated a set of resources to help in text production and editing and have created a selection of texts in your own voice which you can refer back to for years to come.

*Prices include VAT

Image by: Marnix Hogendoorn

Week 1: Introduction

This week is a one hour welcome session. The lecturer will present the course and participants will present themselves. No prior preparation is necessary.

Week 2: Writing

Paddlers, Swimmers & Divers
What have we written and how have we written it?
What do we like and dislike in text?
An introduction to Paddlers, Swimmers and Divers
How do you want your voice to sound?
Complexity / Simplicity in text
How can/do we as writers and editors convey complex ideas effectively in simple ways?
How can/do we as writers and editors deal with terms that can’t be simplified?

Week 3: Editing

Language, Structure & Feel
Self-editing strategies and tools
Collaborative editing strategies and tools
Language, Structure and Feel
Flexibility in language: How is language formed, where does it come from and who controls it?
English as lingua franca: transferability of these skills and thoughts to other languages
How can/do we as writers and editors edit texts from artists or other collaborators in responsible yet understandable ways
Maintaining the writer's voice during the editorial process
Citation, footnotes and “designed text”
Proofreading

Week 4: Ethics

Audience, Collaborators & Self - How have our views shifted?
Multiple languages and the question of translation
Content warnings
How are we talking to our audience and how does that make them feel?
Working processes with collaborators
What are our responsibilities to them?
The role of critique
Vulnerability and support
Time management - avoiding stress and mistakes
Commitment to maintaining our voice

Week 5: Peer Review

Taking everything we have learned and produced, everyone will have a short time slot where their work will be commented on by the rest of the class and a decision reached as to the clarity and effectiveness of their final texts. The session will be followed by written feedback to every participant from the lecturer.

We will use Zoom for the live video conferences, please check Zoom's technical requirements here.

Live captioning will be available during the video conference.

Exhibition Texts: Writing, Editing and Ethics

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