1) Choose a contemporary issue that interests you. (e.g. climate change, Black Lives Matter, gun violence, LGBTQ issues, immigration, fiscal reform, GMOs are just a few examples of the many possibilities. Not sure? Read The New York Times over the next couple of days and find a thread that intrigues you. It doesn’t have to be a big theme or a big theme in its entirety. For example, you could choose the demise of the bumblebee as a way of getting to a number of questions of climate change).
2) Think about how you might design an exhibit around this topic that helps others to think about and see the issue in new ways. (See Helpful Information below about defining “new ways.”)
3) a) Find a range of 2-D artworks (paintings, drawings, sketches, photographs) as well as a sample of 3-D art forms (sculpture, material objects) in the Artstor database that you think speak to your topic. Pick 10 pieces (preferably a mixture of 2-D and 3-D pieces). Create an image group in Arstor and save your selected pieces to the image group. (Note: When you are done with the work below, you will need to find the stable url for the image group created by Artstor and to add it to your blog post. b) If you’d like, you can also imagine a performance/installation element and/or soundscape that will also be part of the exhibit. These you should imagine and design yourself. Do not use someone else’s work.
4) Then begin imagining the exhibit you would form around the selected pieces and write a detailed description of all elements of the exhibit. Imagine the museum and exhibition space where you will present the exhibit and write a description of it. Provide a map if necessary. Then arrange the pieces in the Artstor image group as you would in this exhibition space and write a description of how you plan to place and show the pieces. Write this clearly enough so that someone else can actually visualize what this exhibit would look like and what it would be like to move through the space from piece to piece. Then write the opening text that will introduce the audience to the exhibit and additional information that you wish to provide on exhibit labels. When you are done with this work, the reader should be able to do a virtual visit of the exhibition.
5) When you are done designing the exhibit write a short 400-500 self-analysis of your work. In it you should answer three main questions: What was your overarching goal for the exhibit? How and why did you pick the pieces in your exhibit? How and why did you decide to exhibit them as described? How and why did you decide to include or not include a performance/installation element and/or soundscape? In short, you should make transparent the curatorial decisions that you made in the course of designing your exhibit that allowed you to use the selected artworks to communicate a set of ideas to used art to an audience.
6) Finally, pull all of your work together and post it to your personal website. Your project should contain 3 main elements: 1) a stable url for your Artstor image group, preferably added as a hyperlink; and also your accompanying materials (performance/installation piece and soundtrack); 2) an exhibition description (everything outlined in #4); and your self-analysis.
Post your curatorial project to you personal website by Sunday, October 1st at 5:00 pm. Then take time to read the projects of the members of your peer review group (see below) in preparation for the discussion that we will have at the beginning of class on October 3rd.
Helpful Information
You are required to limit yourself to material available in the Artstor for the 2-D and 3-D aspects of this project. All museums face limits in the materials that can be borrowed; this is your version of the limit.
Where to find the Artstor database:
Go to Baruch Newman library > Students > Databases and then look for Artstor.
If you are accessing the website offsite you will need to login using your Baruch credentials.
You will need to register for an account to be able to start creating an image folder.
See the short tutorial provided in the Resources section of the course e-portfolio site for information about how to navigate the Artstor image group program.
How you define “see the issue in new ways” is open. For example, you might decide to use the exhibit to present an argument or to tell a story or to ask questions that lead others to rethink their assumptions or to provoke debate. Or something else entirely. It is your choice, but you must explain your define in the self-analysis that you write to accompanying the exhibit.
Review Groups
Alon
Courtney
Sarin
Ronald
Jayne
Kevin
Yael
Lejla
Julie
AJ
Anastasiya
Lile
Amy
Karina
Ariel
Ellen
Alyssa H.
Grace
Claire
Marie
Veronica
Andrew
Alyssa M.
Julia
