Open call: Summer School in Curatorial Practice during the Venice Biennale

The Summer School in Curatorial Practice will take place during the international Venice Biennale. With an interdisciplinary approach, the course provides practical training and experience within museums and exhibition settings. Its international faculty includes curators and museum professionals, artists and critics. The course is designed to increase students understanding of the intellectual and technical tasks of the curator figure. English-taught lectures cover both theoretical and practical topics that go from the history of contemporary visual arts and practices of exhibition-making, to exhibition management. The students will participate in weekly activities, such as artist studio visits, tours of exhibition spaces, networking events and workshops. The program culminates with the set up of the exhibition and a publication.

The Summer School includes visits of specific art venues all over the city of Venice during the Biennale. A series of selected case studies will offer the students an opportunity to observe the development of contemporary art. The School’s goal is to align these specific theoretical lectures with a practical approach. Besides the theoretical lectures, a series of laboratories and workshops aims to introduce the students to the work of critical text writing, press releases and to structure all the different aspects of publishing. The students will be offered the possibility of a gallery training and of setting up together—with one of our tutors, their exhibition in Venice, as a final project of the course.

The School’s teaching staff is formed by Italian and international professionals, scholars, historians and art critics of recognized experience. Among them: Matt Williams (curator), Aaron Cesar (Delfina foundation), Louise McKinney (art advisor), Angela Vettese (art critic), Luca Massimo Barbero (Peggy Guggenheim Collection), Francesca Colasante (Pinault Foundation), Andrea Goffo (Prada Found.), Nicola Lees (Serpentine London).

June 5–August 3, 2018
The first module
The first module involves 350 contact hours: History of Curatorial Practices; Exhibition Design; Aesthetics and Cultural Theory; Contemporary Art History; Cultural Events Management and Organization; Curating Exhibitions; Fine Arts Management; Fundraising and Marketing/Workshop; Communication Strategies and Artistic Events Promotion/Workshop; New Media and Digital Technologies; Workshop on Critical Writing; Artist studio visits and visits to the 57th Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia)

Optional: Trip to Berlin: August 6–11, 2018
The program is very intensive, visit of the 10th Berlin Biennale/ artists studio visits/meeting with the leading art galleries/ visiting the institutional places like the Hamburger Bahnhof.

August 13–24, 2018
The second module
The second module is dedicated to individual researching and finalizing the final project. During this period of time the students will have to face practical duties, such as coordinating the artists, managing transportation and insurance policies, promoting and curating the promotional material.

August 28–September 4, 2018
The third module
The last part of the course lies in the production of the event. During this period of time all the work concerning the final event will take place. The students will coordinate the arrival and the display of the works of art and supervise all the different aspects related to the event, such as promotion, organization, last details about the publication, opening. After the presentation to the public, the student will be given the tools to professionally document the event.

Duration and structure 
The course has a duration of 450 hours. The participants will develop themes as well as concepts, organization, acquisition, communication and the concrete implementation of their skills together with the course director and international guests (artists, curators, architects, critics, fine arts scientists and publishers of art journals).

The application form must be sent by e-mail before the deadline (March 15, 2018) of the Curatorial Program to:

The application form can be downloaded at www.corsocuratori.com, where you can find more information about our curatorial program and your stay in Venice.

Information: info [​at​] corsocuratori.com