Undergraduate - UnitAHT3602 - Art Criticism and Curatorship

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture
Organisational Unit	Department of Fine Art
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Dr Daniel Palmer

Notes

This unit was formerly coded TAD3602

Synopsis

This unit explores the related practices of art criticism and curatorship and their role in communicating art to its publics. It offers a brief history of criticism/curatorship and critical/curatorial approaches, an assessment of reviews, including those of local exhibitions in Melbourne, and considerations of the theoretical underpinnings of critical reception. Students are invited to explore how they might themselves participate in the production of visual critique in the form of exhibition reviews, catalogue essays, curatorial statements, artist statements and so forth.

Outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, students should:

have a critical perspective of the selection of the voice, motives and bias of art critics and criticism
appreciate criticism as a genre of writing, with the unique cultural and practical contingencies acting upon it, and understand the variety of art writing which it comprises
understand the role of the curator as having a creative, political and active part in the production, mediation and dissemination of contemporary art
identify and understand the developments specific to the rise of curator as an important cultural commentator, and the contemporary challenges faced by art criticism
have developed their ability to think creatively and express their ideas clearly in written communication.

Assessment

Assignment 1,500 words (40%)
Research essay 2,500 words (60%)

Workload requirements

12 Hours per week including; 3 contact hours and 9 hours independent study or equivalent.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Daniel Palmer

Prerequisites

12 credit points at second year level in Art history and theory, or Theory of Art and Design, Visual Culture or permission from Unit Coordinator.

Prohibitions

TAD3612, TAD2602, TAD3602, AHT2602