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Year 11 - Art and design

Artists as curators

Curating an exhibition

Unit Summary

This teacher-led unit concludes the course with a physical or virtual exhibition. Pupils, having been introduced to curating, will select work based on quality and criteria, explore presentation, and mount and frame their pieces.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to understand that artists can take on the role of curator.

Key Notes

  • Artists may curate exhibitions to maintain control over work and engage audiences in new ways.
  • Self-curation can challenge traditional power structures in the art world.
  • In some cases, curation itself becomes part of the artwork.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • audience experience: what people see, feel, think and do when they visit an exhibition or artwork
  • space: often used in the context of gallery spaces, public spaces and domestic spaces

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Only professional curators decide what is exhibited.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain the lesson in two key points.

Artists may curate exhibitions to maintain control over work and engage audiences in new ways. Self-curation can challenge traditional power structures in the art world.

2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'audience experience'

what people see, feel, think and do when they visit an exhibition or artwork.

3. Correct this common mistake.

Mistake: Only professional curators decide what is exhibited. Correction: Throughout history and globally, artists have curated their own work. Sometimes artists self-curate but sometimes this process can be in collaboration with professional curators.

More Lessons In This Unit

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