Master of Art Curatorship

The Master of Art Curatorship introduces students to key concepts in art curatorship and equips them for a career in the art museum and gallery world. Students will gain a deep understanding of the changing contexts in which the art curatorial profession operates, such as globalisation and decolonisation, new curatorial innovations, shifts in art and art museums, and the impact of new technologies on art museums, art galleries and professional practice. The program delivers subjects in the key areas of museum theory and practice, art collection management and conservation, and the interpretation and curating of exhibitions, together with challenging analytical content that assists graduates to participate in the ethical, political and philosophical dimensions of curating art in an international context. Students have the opportunity to do an industry internship as part of their studies. Students also have the option to undertake a research thesis that can provide a pathway to PhD study.

Students who complete the Master of Art Curatorship should have a good understanding of:

• Articulate and advocate for the role of visual arts in Australia, via professional networks, funding bodies and government departments/agencies
• Discuss the history of collecting, and the changing role of art galleries/museums in society
• Engage with issues of access, education and funding within cultural institutions
• Describe and critique the organisational structure of a collecting institution and the various tasks and responsibilities of its personnel
• Apply art conservation theory and practice to the storage, transportation, display and interpretation of art objects
• Catalogue and present objects in an art museum
• Research and write about art objects at an advanced level.

Academically excellent

• The program will be taught by leading industry practitioners;
• It will introduce students to key concepts in art curatorship in the context of the most recent scholarship in the field; students will, above all, acquire the skills to research, conserve and display art.
• Students will gain a deep understanding of the changing contexts in which the profession operates, such as globalisation, new curatorial innovations, shifts in art and art museums, and the impact of new technologies on art museums, art galleries and professional practice.

Knowledgeable across the range of specialisations that now comprise art curatorship

• Art curatorship is by nature an interdisciplinary profession requiring deep knowledge across a variety of specialised fields such as collection management, writing on art, and exhibition management and the course is designed to reflect this. Through the diverse curriculum of the course students will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of major ideas and recent developments in fields such as collection registration, art theory, globalisation, art museum management, biennials, cultural policy, funding changes, and art world ecologies.

Leaders in their communities

• As art curatorship is by nature a public-facing profession concerned with questions of civic culture and public innovation and engagement, students will gain a theoretical and practical grounding in issues such as public engagement, cultural governance, the communication of complex and fraught social and cultural issues, and ethical leadership.

Attuned to cultural diversity:

• The course places a major emphasis on issues of cultural diversity in its content, with its emphasis on issues of global culture and cultural difference, and is at the same time expected to attract a diverse local and international cohort.

Active global citizens:

• Art curatorship is by nature a profession oriented around notions of active public engagement on the parts of its curators, their artists and the consumers of art, and this is demonstrated by the blurring of lines between the three through an ever-increasing emphasis on public interaction with art and artists that is mediated by curators; fostering a public, shared ownership of culture across all parts of the community.

See http://provost.unimelb.edu.au/teaching-learning for more information.