Master course in Curatorial Practice

November 1, 2021–October 31, 2022

Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) Firenze
via Bufalini 6/r
50122 Florence
Italy

The course will start in November 2021, completely renovated in terms of faculty and partnerships.
Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) presents the 6th edition of the Master course in Curatorial Practice, starting in November 2021, completely renovated in terms of faculty and partnerships. The Curatorial Practice Master is a yearlong program in English aiming to form a central figure in our society so deeply intertwined with the visual culture such as the curator.
“The curator today is a producer of knowledge, a pivotal figure that interprets reality and its complexities through the creation of bodies of knowledge such as exhibitions—complex organisms made of multiple tensions—public programs, participative projects. To be a curator today means to have a direct relation with artists, thinkers, cultural managers; means to engage, negotiate and propose a new form of visual and discursive construction of reality.” Daria Filardo—independent Curator—coordinator of the Master Course in Curatorial Practice

Faculty

The Masters structure relies on a solid theoretical framework and on a vast dialogical and practical experience that national and international curators, art historians and professionals offer to students.

Among the member of the faculty are:
Antonia Alampi (Curator, Savvy Contemporary, curatorial team of the quadrennial sonsbeek 2020–2024), Margot Black (British Museum, London), Leonardo Bigazzi (Curator, In Between Art Film, Lo Schermo dell’arte), Giuliana Benassi (Independent Curator), Irene Campolmi (Senior Curator, Creator Projects, Copenhagen), Valentino Catricalà (Curator, SODA Gallery Manchester), Sarah Cosulich (Director, Quadriennale, Roma), Pietro Gaglianò (Curator, Director, Scripta, Florence), Stefania Galegati (Artist), Carola Haupt (Radio Papesse), Cecilie Holleberg (Director, Galleria dell’Accademia Florence), Hesperia Iliadu (Lecturer, Node Center for Curatorial Studies, Public Program Consultant), Fanny Liotto (Guggenheim Foundation, Venice), Raimundas Malašauskas (Independent Curator and Writer), Martino Margheri (Head of Education department, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze), Yoeri Messen (Head of Education & Interpretation at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen – Rotterdam), Simone Menegoi (Director, Arte Fiera Bologna), Camilla Mozzato (Curator, Centro Pecci, Prato), Salvador Nadales (Curator, at Reina Sofia, Madrid), Fabiola Naldi (Independent Curator), Mariantonia Rinaldi (Art historian), Luca Scarlini (Writer), Angelika Stepken (Director, Villa Romana Florence), Justin Randolph Thompson (Director, Black History Month Florence)

Methodology

IED’s philosophy of learning by doing and the dialogic environment permits an active team work within the group which develops curatorial ideas with their mentors. Students will propose projects on the different approaches to curating: from the historical museum, to that of contemporary art ones, from the research spaces to the pavilions of the Venice Biennale, from site specific projects, to participatory and educative ones.

The course covers all the skills of the professional figure, from the conception and realization of the curatorial idea to the writing process and strategies of storytelling, from the development of an education and public program to the communication and fundraising skills.
The Master also offers the experience of engaging in a final project that sees the creation of a complete exhibition, of a public program and a catalog from its conception to its realization. Students will be able to experience what they learn and build a complex project in collaboration with our institutional partners.

As an example, the current edition of the Master course is working on the final exhibition in cooperation with Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze

NOT AN ARTIST
The profession of the curator is one of the many involved in the research project NOT AN ARTIST. The goal is to foster a conversation and a discussion about the role and evolution of all the “side-professions” that complement the work of Artists in order to constantly update the academic offer and the faculty of IED and to provide the most effective education experience to those interested in entering the world of contemporary art.