Critically analyse a range of textual and non-textual sources concerning art exhibitions in a variety of contexts. Articulate how exhibitions operate for contemporary art, clearly presenting responses that are imaginative, rigorous and nuanced.

Contemporary art exhibition

Present evidence of a high level of independent, scholarly research.
Critically analyse a range of textual and non-textual sources concerning art exhibitions in a variety of contexts.
Articulate how exhibitions operate for contemporary art, clearly presenting responses that are imaginative, rigorous and nuanced.

“Major exhibitions or curated projects initiated in different places around the world have variously convened a shared present across distance through art. We will reflect on the implications for selected artworks at the moment of public engagement: how do these conjure with or disrupt the idea of international, cross-cultural, global, planetary – or another understanding of – contemporaneity?

On this course we will discuss the “extreme internationalism” of Conceptual art shows since the late 1960s, and the “global contemporary” framing of survey exhibitions – notably art biennials – since the late 1980s. We will consider the roles played by concepts such as national representation, multiculturalism and anti-imperial nationalism. We will analyse how numerous factors – for example: artist networks, curatorial agency, installation serendipity, national backing, educational experience and cultural identity – may affect visibility, especially when exhibiting “at large” rather than “at home” (however many places may be counted as “home”). Visibility afar, or critical engagement in a distant locality, will be prioritised above successful commercial access to new art markets, when thinking about exhibiting abroad.”