Curatorial Practices in Focus

How do we define curating, the curator and the curatorial?

Featuring a diverse selection of curatorial theorists and practitioners connected to the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, this seminar will highlight some key current debates in the practice and theory of curating.

Participants:

Nick Cass works at the conjunction of museums, heritage and contemporary art practice. Drawing on projects such as Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience, as well as his interdisciplinary background as an artist and museum education officer, he will question how we might address curating ‘as praxis’.

Jade French is Director of Development for The Royal Standard Gallery and Studios, Liverpool and a PhD candidate at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds. For her PhD research on inclusive curatorship, she facilitated five learning disabled artists to curate the exhibition Auto Agents at Bluecoat, Liverpool. She will discuss collective approaches and accessible models of curating, and their role in initiating broader conversations around democracy in the gallery.

Chris Taylor is a practising artist, curator and publisher, particularly interested in the role of artists' books as a primary medium within contemporary art. He will discuss curating in relation to PAGES, an integrated programme of artists’ book initiatives that develops the book as a primary medium in artistic practice. In particular, he will examine its partnership with The Tetley since 2014, which has led to the group experimenting around the artists’ book as a primary medium for engagement with audience, display and dissemination.

Chair: Rob Knifton, University Academic Fellow in Museums, Galleries & Heritage

The venue is Room G.04 in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University Road, University of Leeds. See here for a campus map.

It is free to attend and all are welcome.

This event is organised by the Centre for Critical Studies in Museums, Galleries and Heritage in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies as part of the autumn research seminar series.

Image: ‘ARCHIVE’, a touring exhibition of 55 artists’ books, curated by Chris Taylor and John McDowall, 2003