Week 1: Introduction

This is a one-hour welcome session. The lecturer will introduce the program and participants will introduce themselves. No prior preparation is necessary.

Week 2: Curatorial Ideas and Thoughts

Writing as a process of thinking is key. How can curators spend more time being writers?

How can writing help to identify one’s stakes in the artworks and catch blind spots in thinking?

• Creative and critical thinking through writing
• Case studies: Notebooks, diaries, diagrams
• Can writing also help to get a feeling for the exhibition space?
• Thinking outside the box

Week 3: Curatorial Proposal

How to create an exciting curatorial proposal based on our ideas? How to turn the curatorial statement into an interesting read?

• Aims of a curatorial concept
• Close reading of a selection of curatorial proposals
• The curatorial proposal as a literary text
• Practical writing exercises

Week 4: The Exhibition

In this session, we explore how writing is present in the exhibition with a special focus on the catalogue essay.

• Accompanying exhibition texts: wall text & labels
• The catalogue: from the curatorial proposal to the essay
• Close reading of case studies
• Creative writing exercises to explore various possibilities

Week 5: The Opening

In this session, we see how writing can prepare us for the public part of the exhibition. First, there is the press text, which is based on the initial curatorial proposal. Second, what do curatorial voices do as they move from page to air?

• The press talk and the curatorial speech
• Talking in the exhibition
• Interviewing an artist