“Intermission: Curatorial Studies / Education?”

International symposium “Intermission: Curatorial Studies/Education?” belongs to annual symposium series “Panel 21” initiated by China Academy of Art. This year’s Panel 21 focus specifically on curatorial education, and will be held on November 3–4, 2024, at the Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, organized by School of Intermedia Art and National Institute of Art/Education and convened by Institute of Contemporary Art and Social Thoughts.

The symposium will gather leaders from curatorial education departments across continents, experts from significant museums, biennials, and foundations around the world who focus on curatorial research and education, as well as professionals from collectives, self-organized, and experimental institutions with rich local curatorial practice, research, and educational experience to come together and discuss the history, current status, and future of curatorial education. It also include a panel for young curators, researchers, and practitioners in curatorial studies/education to express their insights on this topic and engage in conversations.

“Intermission: Curatorial Studies/Education?” stems from a sense of the reality: we seem to be in a period of stagnation in both art and human history at this moment. The previous “act” has ended, the next has yet to begin. The grandeur of the past has faded, while the new historical tone is still awaiting its definitive articulation—this awkward Intermission is still in search of its Mission.

The intermission is not only for contemporary art but also for broader cultural and political realities. For art today, it is both the background and, more importantly, the working object. We observe that the activities of the art world are increasingly caught in a involution cycle, turning into a stagnated routine carnival that occurs regularly at different intervals. On the other hand, technology and the social structures it shapes are rapidly changing, chaotic opinions (doxa) are becoming more cacophonous and divisive, people are constantly being segmented and polarized… Those phenomena have naturally become the material for much of today’s art creation and exhibitions. However, this still falls short of the preparation needed to open a new big play.

Thus, can curatorial actions, which have long served as a radical force, become a fulcrum to overcome this Intermission situation? Especially when it occurs within the educational field, shaping and nurturing the new generation—this is the fundamental premise for our inquiry into the potential of curatorial studies and education: How do we understand the unique agency of curatorial studies/education? What are the methodology and focal points of curatorial studies/education during this Intermission?

Discussion topics will include but not limit to: the educational turn in contemporary curating; the curatorial turn in education(?); curatorial education as liberal arts education; the politics of action in curatorial education.

With the participation of leading international Curatorial Studies/ Education world figures including Ute Meta Bauer (Professor, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), Beatrice von Bismarck (Professor, Cultures of the Curatorial at Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig, Germany), Zoe Butt (Founder, In-tangible Institute, Chiangmai, Thailand), Chang Tsong-zung (Founder, Hanart TZ Gallery and co-founder, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, China), Marina Christodoulidou (Curatorial fellow, de Appel, Amsterdam, Netherlands), Octavian Esanu (Associate Professor, Department of Fine Arts and Art History and Director/Curator, AUB Art Galleries, Beirut, Lebanon), Lu Jie (Professor, China Academy of Art and Director, Institute of Contemporary Art and Social Thoughts, Hangzhou, China), Tobi Maier (Chief-Curator, Amant, New York, United States), Gabi Ngcobo (Director, Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam, Netherlands), Karen Smith (Head of Academic Affairs, De Ying Foundation, Shanghai, China), Lucy Steeds (Director, Art in Context in Edinburgh College of Art of University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom), Terry Smith (Andrew W. Mellon Emeritus Professor, History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, United States), Laura Vallés-Vílchez (Tutor, Curating Contemporary Art MA at Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom).

For a preview of the program, check out here. If you are interested to know more about our symposium or have any questions, please contact us via e-mail. 

Host: China Academy of Art
Organizers: School of Intermedia Art, CAA; National Institute of Art/Education, CAA
Convener: Institute of Contemporary Art and Social Thoughts (ICAST), CAA