August 11–September 6, 2014
Application submission period: April 25–May 10
Host: Gwangju Biennale Foundation & Gwangju Metropolitan City
Principal: Yongwoo Lee (President, Gwangju Biennale Foundation)
Visiting professor: Ruth Noack (author, art critic and exhibition maker, trained as a visual artist and art historian)
The Gwangju Biennale calls for applications for its sixth edition of the International Curator Course. The Gwangju Biennale International Curator Course (GBICC) was launched in 2009 as an open educational platform to foster the professional development of curators, theorists, and arts administrators in various fields of contemporary art and design. Since its inception, the course has provided an open platform for collaborative education and expansion of curatorial practice as well as an opportunity for young curators to build an international network. In addition, the course offers a unique occasion to examine the cultural and aesthetic strategy of the biennale, working closely with the biennale director, curators and participating artists.
Visiting professor Ruth Noack will lead this year’s program on “The dynamics of thinking through art,” bringing her wide range of expertise both in curatorial studies and contemporary art to the GBICC. Noack was curator of dOCUMENTA (12), 2007. Exhibitions include Things We Don’t Understand (Generali Foundation, Vienna, 2000), The Government (Witte de With, Rotterdam; Secession, Vienna; 2005) and Not Dressed for Conquering – Ines Doujak’s Loomshuttles/Warpaths (RCA, London, 2012). Noack headed the Curating Contemporary Art programme at the RCA, London and was Research Leader for MeLa – European Museums in an age of migrations (2012–13). She recently published Sanja Ivekovic: Triangle (Afterall Books) and Agency, Ambivalence, Analysis. Approaching the Museum with Migration in Mind (Politecnico di Milano, 2013).
This year’s lecturers will include the Artistic Director of the 10th Gwangju Biennale and the next Gwangju Design Biennale, the participating artists of the 10th Gwangju Biennale and several professionals in the field to discuss their rich experience.
The course has been previously led by Barbara Vanderlinden, Dan Cameron, Ute Meta Bauer, Jens Hoffmann, Carol Yinghua Lu and Maria Lind as visiting professors. Past lecturers include Nathalie Angles, Maurizio Bortolotti, Marco Burno, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Byungsoo Eun, Anthony Fontenot, Beatrice Galilee, Eva Franch Gilabert, Massimiliano Gioni, Marieke van Hal, Yuko Hasegawa, Nikolaus Hirsch, Tan Boon Hui, Lu Jie, Mami Kataoka, Jesi Khadivi, Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Alice Kim, Heejin Kim, Sunjung Kim, Soonin Lee, Sohl Lee, Yongwoo Lee, Carol Yinghua Lu, Brendan McGetrick, Jessica Morgan, Reineke Otten, Hyungmin Pai, Marina Pugliese, Heidi Rabben, Francisco Sanin, Anton Scholz, Seung H-Sang, Stephanie Sykes, Tom Trevor, Jun Yang, June Yap, and Ai Weiwei.
In addition to the lecture program, the course participants will be given ample opportunities to take part in the preparation of the 10th Gwangju Biennale and participate in the exhibition and international conference of special projects for the 20-year anniversary of the Gwangju Biennale. Visits to museums, galleries, and artists’ studios in Gwangju and Seoul will also be scheduled. The participants are asked to make group presentations during the final week of the course.
The Gwangju Biennale will grant tuition and accommodations to all of the selected participants for the entire course. Participants will be responsible for their round-trip airfares to and from Gwangju and living expenses during their stay. Since the course is designed to provide young curators with opportunities to receive in-depth training, the age restriction for applicants has been set to 33 and under. The entire course will be conducted in English.
Application details
Applications will be accepted April 25–May 10.
Application requirements:
– All documents should be written in English
– Application form (downloadable from www.gwangjubiennale.org)
– CV
– Motivational statement explaining the applicant’s interests and the purpose for applying (1,000-word limit)
– Supporting materials: one or two copies of the most relevant published materials for curatorial/exhibition-related projects that the applicant participated in.
Submitted documents and/or materials will not be returned.
Submission process
Send by email to [email protected].
Successful candidates will be contacted around mid-June.