Call for applications: Cultures of the Curatorial MA

The Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig is welcoming applications for the MA Program Cultures of the Curatorial. 

Cultures of the Curatorial is a graduate program which combines practice-based research and theoretical reflection. It addresses people from a variety of disciplinary or professional backgrounds: the arts i.e. visual arts, dance, theatre, film, architecture, design or music as well as cultural mediation, the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences—who have a shared interest in a dedicated practice in the cultural field and in a concentrated, academically grounded acquisition of additional qualifications for their future professional practice in the curatorial field.

Tightly interweaving theory and practice the program addresses in seminars, workshops, lectures and field trips the historical and current relations, conditions and potentials the curatorial has developed as an independent cultural practice. In two curatorial projects the participants will develop their own positions in relation to the current challenges and possibilities of the curatorial.

What is the relevance of the curatorial within the cultural field under the conditions of globalisation? How do processes, strategies and methods of the curatorial relate to those of art and science? Where could common grounds or perspectives of reciprocal exchange be located? What kind of specificities does the curatorial adopt in the different arts and which forms does it assume in different cultures? And which functions does the curatorial take on in the respective aesthetic, social or economic contexts?

The seminar sessions usually take place in four to five blocks per semester. This offers the opportunity to continue an occupational activity and follow one’s own projects parallel to the study program.

Teaching Team: Beatrice von Bismarck, Benjamin Meyer-Krahmer, Julia Kurz

Guest Speakers: In addition to the teaching team the following guests gave input into the study program since 2009, a.o.: Heba Amin, Gabriele Brandstetter, Binna Choi, Zasha Colah, Pip Day, Clémentine Deliss, Rike Frank, Anselm Franke, Sigrid Gareis, Fehras Publishing Practices, Adrian Heathfield, Hannah Hurtzig, Maria Lind, Léontine Meijer-van Mensch, Doreen Mende, Matthias Michalka, Matthias Mühling, Vanessa Joan Müller, Marion von Osten, Sarah Pierce, Raqs Media Collective, Marcelo Rezende, Willem de Rooij, Irit Rogoff, ruangrupa (Indra Ameng, farid rakun), Eran Schaerf, Avinoam Shalem, Simon Sheik, Slavs and Tatars, Nanette Snoep, Kerstin Stakemeier, Lucy Steeds, Barbara Steiner, Nora Sternfeld, Hito Steyerl, Magda Tyżlik-Carver, Anton Vidokle, Danh Vo, Eyal Weizman, Jun Yang, Tirdad Zolghadr

Cooperations: Goethe Institutes New Delhi, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro and Beirut, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin (HKW), Dresden State Art Collections (SKD), Museum of Contemporary Art Leipzig (GfZK), American University Beirut, a.o.

Please note: German language skills are required for the enrolment into the program. Additional information about the conditions of admission, application procedure and dates can be found on our website.

All application materials must be uploaded between March 1st to April 30, 2021 to the HGB online platform. Applications which have not been received by April 30, 2021 at midnight cannot be considered.

Start of the program: October 2021.

For more information please visit the Cultures of the Curatorial website or write to kdk [​at​] hgb-leipzig.de