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Institutions and Agencies: the Business of Contemporary Art

Module description

This module explores the multifaceted apparatus of the contemporary art world, from public galleries and museums to the commercial sector, from art fairs to international biennials, from collections and collectors to commissioning agencies and socially engaged projects, as well as the critical, institutional and economic structures that support them. It provides you with an overview of the multiple roles of the curator, along with their historical grounding, and is designed to equip you with the understanding and skills necessary to navigate your way through this complex system.

The module also investigates the economics of the art world, including the role of auction houses and the commercial gallery sector, and their relationship to the public sector, the direct patronage of artists and exhibitions, the acquisition of contemporary art (including digital art, installation, performance, sonic art, etc.) by both public and private collectors, the theoretical and practical contexts for devising exhibitions and the constraints that govern curatorial decisions. In addition, there will be a series of seminars focusing on professional practice, providing practical business knowledge and curatorial methodologies in relation to project development, fundraising and partnerships, financial management and administration, and how to communicate your ideas to diverse audiences. There will also be a series of studio workshops exploring curatorial and artistic practice. During Term 1 you will visit a variety of exhibition venues and arts institutions, as well as participating in discussions with art world professionals.

This module is suitable for non-specialist students.

This module is recommended for interdisciplinary pathways.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• enable you to gain an advanced understanding of the contemporary art world’s major stakeholders
• offer opportunities for the focussed study and analysis of specific critical, institutional and economic structures supporting the production of global contemporary art
• encourage curiosity and creativity identify and discuss significant issues and debates relating to the development of the contemporary art world in a global context
• provide training in professional practices and curatorial methodologies, as well the histories of curating
• initiate and develop productive research methods and strategies on which to build sustained interpretative and analytic accounts 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Describe the major types of economic and institutional structures supporting contemporary art, in a global context
• 2. Assess the significance of the international art market, and discriminate between public and private stakeholders in the promotion of contemporary art
• 3. Understand the relationship between media exposure, arts criticism, reputation and collections policy, and discriminate between public and private stakeholders in the promotion of contemporary art
• 4. Articulate an informed understanding of the social and political contexts affecting the production and circulation of contemporary art in different countries

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of the theoretical debates in the field of contemporary art (art historical, museological, sociological, etc.)
• 6. Possess a good understanding of the practical constraints associated with collecting/preserving particular genres of contemporary art
• 7. Have a good understanding of a range of current curatorial strategies, in a global context
• 8. Apply appropriate critical methodologies when reviewing the display of contemporary works of art

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Demonstrate critical acumen and originality in analysing a display, collection or policy in a systematic and analytical manner
• 10. Exercise autonomy and initiative in research and writing

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Lectures will involve analysis and discussion of a selection of significant contemporary art institutions, structures and agencies, public and private. Attention will be paid to economic, social, political and ideological contexts.
• Field trip (3 days) will include visits to relevant art fairs, museums, galleries and other institutions in a major centre for international art. Discursive sessions will be held in relation to collection displays or exhibitions encountered on the trip.
• Seminars are intended as student presentations and group discussion with a seminar tutor’s guidance. A set of required readings and bibliographic suggestions will structure and guide students’ initial studies, but it is expected that students will develop ideas and research strategies more independently.
• In addition, a series of workshops will provide professional training in curatorial practice and conventions. 
• Tutorials (1 x 30 minutes): one-to-one meetings between each student and their module tutor.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• Altshuler, B. Biennials and beyond: exhibitions that made art history, 1962-2002, Phaidon 2013
• Altshuler, B. et al. A Manual: For the 21st Century Art Institution, Walther König, Köln, 2009
• Barker, E. Contemporary Cultures of Display, Yale University Press, 1999
• Bishop, C. Artificial hells: participatory art and the politics of spectatorship, Verso 2012
• Becker, H.  Artworlds, Berkeley 1982
• Bishop,C. Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship, Verso, 2012
• Bourdieu, P. Distinction: a social critique of the judgement of taste, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984
• Bourriaud, N. Relational Aesthetics, Les Presses du Réel, 2002
• Cook, S. & Graham, B. Rethinking Curating: Art After New Media, MIT Press, 2010
• Cook, S.,   Gfader, V.,   Graham, B. & Lapp, A.  A Brief History of Curating New Media Art - Conversations with Curators, Berlin, The Green Box, 2010
• Danto, A. ‘The Artworld’, Journal of Philosophy, vol.61, no.19, 15 October 1964, pp. 571-84
• Fox, D.M. Engines of Culture: Philanthropy and Art Museums, New Brunswick: Transaction, 1965
• Gielen, P. (Ed.) Institutional Attitudea Valiz, 2013
• Hackforth-Jones, J. & Robertson, I. Art Business Today: 20 Key Topics (Handbooks in International Art Business), Lund Humphries, 2016
• Hoffmann, J. Ten Fundamental Questions of Curating, Mousse, 2013
• Horowitz, N. Art of the Deal: Contemporary Art in a Global Financial Market   Princeton UP, 2014
• Klanten, R. (ed.), Art & Agenda: Political Art & Activism, Gestalten, Berlin, 2011
• McAndrew, C. (ed.) Fine Art and High Finance: Expert Advice on the Economics of Ownership, Bloomberg,   2010
• Montmann, N. (Ed.) Art and Its Institutions, Black Dog Publishing, 2006
• O’Neill, P The cultures of curating and the curating of culture(s), MIT Press, 2012

• Paul, C. New Media in the White Cube & Beyond, University of California Press, 2008
• Pearce, S. Collecting in contemporary practice, Sage, 1998
• Rancière, J. The Emancipated Spectator, Verso 2011
• Rand, S. (ed.) Cautionary Tales: Critical Curating, Apex, 2007
• Robertson, I. Understanding Art Markets: Inside the world of art and business, Routledge 2015
• Robertson, I. A New Art From Emerging Markets, Lund Humphries, 2011
• Rogoff, I. Terra Infirma, Routledge, 2000
• Ross, A. ‘The Great un-American numbers game’ in Real Love: In Pursuit of Cultural Justice, Routledge, 1998,  pp. 117-48.
• Steedman, M. Gallery as Community: Art, Education, Politics, Whitechapel Gallery, 2012
• Velthuis, O. Talking Prices: Symbolic Meanings of Prices on the Market for Contemporary Art, Princeton UP, 2007

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=9951
• Graham, B. & Cook, S. ‘Curating New Media,’ Art Monthly 261: November 2002. http://www.artmonthly.co.uk/magazine/site/article/curating-new-media-by-beryl-graham-sarah-cook-november-2002
• Smith, T. Thinking contemporary curating, ICI, 2012 - https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/736947/8edcf925a5fb3705a5c666106cb8e944.pdf
• Minnie Scott – ‘Regimes of Attention in the Contemporary Art Museum’ paper delivered at Provoking Attention Conference, Brown University, May 2017,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ysiyQMO0ZM [NB subtitling is poor]
• David Levi Strauss ‘The Bias of the World: Curating After Szeemann & Hopps’, in Rand (2007) [above] – also online at The Brooklyn Rail, 8 December 2006, http://brooklynrail.org/2006/12/art/the-bias-of-the-world
• MJ - Manifesta Journal (2003-) http://www.manifestajournal.org/
• CRUMB (Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss) http://www.crumbweb.org/
• http://www.on-curating.org/ (web journal focusing on questions around curatorial theory and practice)
• Rhizome.org (online platform for the global new media art community) http://www.eai.org/resourceguide/exhibition/computer/interview_rhizome.html

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=9951

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Lawrence Alloway, ‘Network: The Art World Described as a System’, Artforum, vol.11, no.1, September 1972

Key words search

Contemporary art; visual art; art curator; curatorial practice; galleries; museums; art collections; collectors; art fairs; auction houses; biennials