Lecturer in Curating

Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, the Department of Art invites applications for a Lecturer in Curating

The Department of Art at Aalto University is working to strengthen curating as a field situated at the crossroads between visual culture, contemporary artistic practices and a plethora of disciplines across the sciences, humanities and education. The Department of Art is looking to appoint a candidate with substantial teaching experience and a record in researching and curating projects that align with an expanded concept of the curatorial as an interdisciplinary field of research. 

The position is open within the context of Aalto University’s Lecturer Career System for a fixed-term of 5 years. The selected candidate will be hired to start at University lecturer level with a title of Lecturer or University Lecturer. For more info on our University’s Lecturer Career System please visit this webpage.

Role and goals
The lecturer´s duties consist mainly of teaching at the Department of Art’s ViCCA programme as well as other degree programmess within the department. The lecturer will work closely with other faculty members co-teaching courses when appropriate and planning courses and curricula together. The lecturer will act as a coordinator of courses, excursions and collaborations and will guide and assess student assignments as well as supervise and review MA theses. The lecturer will take part in student selections and other occasional administrative responsibilities. They will cooperate with the other departments within the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, the other schools of Aalto University, other universities, as well as institutions and organizations within the local and global cultural field to enrich the pedagogical experience of Aalto students.

Experience and ambitions
We are seeking a full-time lecturer in curating with a solid track record in course teaching and thesis supervision at MA level. The Department of Art considers curating to be an investigative and constructive practice broader than exhibition making, but also including the latter. Curating contributes to the creation of knowledges through cross-disciplinary forms of research, their public exposure and the debates that ensue. Accordingly, the candidate will have prior experience in the curation of such projects. Curatorially oriented courses at the department engage with a wide array of topics that connect contemporary practices, visual culture and politics elaborating on discourses around art’s social impact in connection to advancements in technology, infrastructures and science.

The position requires relocation to Finland for candidates not already located in the country. The candidate will hold a relevant degree in either curatorial studies or a related field. They will have good organizational skills and enjoy working in a collaborative environment. Excellent written and spoken English is essential. The position will commence in August 2020.  Salary will be determined upon competence and experience of the chosen person following the salary system of Finnish universities.

Application
Please submit your application through Aalto University eRecruitment system no later than Monday, December 16, 2019. The link to the eRecruitment system (“Apply for this job”) can be found at the bottom of the page. The applicants are required to submit the following material:

–Curriculum Vitae incl. publication history (no longer than 3 pages).
–Cover letter which reflects your strengths as aligned to the position description and featuring brief single paragraph descriptions of two curated projects you find relevant to this application (this document altogether (no longer than 3 pages).
–Teaching portfolio according to Aalto requirements.

All application materials are to be submitted in pdf format and in English. Please ensure filenames include your name. The Departmental Committee carrying out the recruitment process reserves the right to request the applicants to submit additional material if needed.

Aalto University reserves the right for justified reasons to leave the position vacant, to extend the application period or to consider candidates who have not submitted applications during the application period.

All applicants will be assessed by independent external evaluators as well as a Departmental Committee. The Departmental Committee will choose applicants to visit the Department of Art and deliver teaching demonstrations scheduled for Wednesday, February 26, 2020. The Departmental Committee will also interview the short-listed applicants. The applicants will be reviewed on the basis of the following: teaching competence, artistic-professional and/or research merits, track record in collaborative projects and activity in the professional field.

Additional information
For further information on the available position, please contact Asst. Professor Bassam El Baroni by e-mail bassam.elbaroni [​at​] aalto.fi. Questions concerning the recruitment process please contact recruitments-arts [​at​] aalto.fi.

Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto University has been ranked the 9th best young university in the world (Top 50 under 50, QS 2018) and one of the world’s top technology challenger universities (THE 2017), for its outside-the-box thinking on research collaboration, funding and innovation. Aalto has six schools with nearly 11,000 students and 4000 employees of whom close to 400 are professors. Our main campus is located in Espoo, capital area of Finland. With 37% of our academic faculty coming from outside Finland, we are a highly international community with strong academic standing.

At Aalto, high-quality research, art, education and entrepreneurship are promoted hand in hand. Disciplinary excellence is combined with multidisciplinary activities, engaging both students and the local innovation ecosystem. Our main campus is quickly transforming into an open collaboration hub that encourages encounters between students, researchers, industry, startups and other partners. Aalto University was founded in 2010 as three leading Finnish universities, Helsinki University of Technology, the Helsinki School of Economics and the University of Art and Design Helsinki, were merged to strengthen Finland’s innovative capability.