Mick Wilson, Director, Valand Academy, University of Gothenburg; Jacqueline Kok, SVA MA Curatorial Practice fellow; and Elena Filipovic, Director, Kunsthalle Basel (photo by Birdie Piccininni)
Here we are, a nation in the midst of drastic historical change. Perhaps it was foolishness, or decades of comfortable assumption, that brought us to think that our civil liberties were safe. That there should be tax breaks for students, that an internet legislatively protected as a 21st-century utility shouldn’t be gouged by providers, that the separation of church and state should be inviolable were all assumed to be decent and reasonable evidence of modern American democracy and its institutions. Now that our wake-up calls are daily — and, in fact, that the wake-up calls are global — how do we act as a liberal citizenry that suddenly looks out of step with the goose-stepping of contemporary times?
These were among the kinds of questions we asked at SVA CP’s recent summit, “Curatorial Activism and the Politics of Shock,” which brought together more than twenty renowned curators and directors from around the world. After all, in an art world that has thousands of museums and Kunsthallen that could act as public spaces for societal conversations, isn’t it possible to envision a forum for debate about the daily needs and daily government of contemporary life? Forums that educate and influence.
The Curatorial Practice master’s program provides fundamental training in curating — techniques, histories, theories — grounding curatorial practice and social practice as an interdisciplinary engagement in the broader sense of the care of the self and the care of community. The costs of the program are highly competitive with other programs in the field, and support grants are limited but possible. Full-time and part-time studies available.
Visit macp.sva.edu to learn more.
