If art’s task is to ask questions, propose possible visions and spark processes of critical thought, the curator’s role is to interpret and mediate the messages that art can transmit so that we stop, observe and reflect. It is an important role. It involves care and responsibility for the artists and their works, public relations, far-reaching knowledge of the world around us, attention to change, and awareness of the current topics in the social, political and cultural debate.
ICON - Course for curators
Course for curators
A one-year specialization course aimed at those wishing to develop the necessary skills to organize exhibitions and cultural events in the visual, digital and performative arts, in particular photography and moving images.
Syllabus- Teachers
- End-of-year exhibition
- Internships and partnerships
- Students’ projects
- Testimonials
- Students
- Costs and payment methods
Course: 19 September - 30 June 2023
Enrolment: 24 August - 10 September 2022
Language: Italian - English
Attendance requirements: One-year course | 1 week per month, from Monday to Saturday
Enrolment: 24 August - 10 September 2022
Language: Italian - English
Attendance requirements: One-year course | 1 week per month, from Monday to Saturday
ICON is a vocational course covering the figure of curator in its entirety, in which students study, gain knowledge, learn to plan and build up personal networks. The course focuses on how the image is redefined in the current context. It looks at the possibilities given by technology to come up with innovative models of art and try out new cultural experiences that can grasp changes and anticipate the urgencies of the contemporary world. The course is aimed at people trained in art who are looking for a vocational course in the field of curatorship and event organization as well as all art lovers from other educational or career backgrounds who want to acquire curatorship skills. It is also a course for people who already work in this sector but wish to boost their knowledge and efficacy on the job.
ICON gives students the skills needed to work as exhibition curators and art event organizers in the contemporary image and visual arts sector, as consultants in the public or private sector – in museums, foundations, private collections, non-profit organizations, galleries, fairs or festivals – as editors in the publishing industry or specific campaign promoters in various professional contexts.
FMAV and Modena, city for the media arts
FMAV is a is a culture production hub and professional training and teaching centre for contemporary art and visual culture. This means unique opportunities to meet leading figures in art in a student-friendly city, where art and culture increasingly come face to face with technology and innovation: Modena is the first city in Italy to have been named a UNESCO creative city for the media arts.
The School of Advanced Studies in Modena is a prestigious institution dedicated to photography, the moving image and the various practices linked to digital and the performative arts. It has an innovative educational model that is completely integrated in the artistic sector, in an exclusive environment devoted to advanced study supported by small class sizes and direct teacher-student relationships.
Studying in safety
The times we are living in have changed our way of learning and being together but not our enthusiasm or our commitment to devise high-level training courses where we can learn in safety, without missing out on the pleasure of exchanging views, sharing and creating with other people. Rapidly changing times require high-speed adaptability: the school’s staff and teachers are always ready to reorganize programmes and lessons on the basis of the changes that might happen.
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The course will only be held when the minimum number of participants is reached.
End-of-year exhibition
The curator course members are involved in curating and organizing a group exhibition with works from the historical and contemporary collections managed by Fondazione Modena Arti Visive.
Internships and partnerships
Students can apply for the internships or residency periods offered by the exchange programme and FMAV’s Italian and international partnerships.
Students’ projects
Discover the students’ projects from the past course exhibitions: new curatorial proposals, ready to be readapted for specific location requirements and to be really put into practice.
find out more hereSyllabus
The training course is based on practice and methodological learning of the different curatorship skills and helps students build critical and planning competencies.
The course modules deal with the fields of curatorship through the analysis of case studies, best practices and benchmark models: the lessons lead students to identify a work method which they then put into practice in individual and group work. In the workshops, all students devise and discuss new projects to build up their own line of curatorial research. The course programme is rounded off by guided tours of particularly significant events, meetings with managers of institutions and other entities in the sector, in-depth study opportunities and job training with FMAV project organizers.
The art system and figure of curator
The main , the : the multiple the profession of curator.
History of exhibitions and display techniques
Evolution of display methods and techniques, case studies and devising an exhibition layout.
Project management
Fundraising, budget and feasibility studies.Economic sustainability of cultural projects and fundraising activities.
Exhibition organization and production
The planning phase and practical organization of an exhibition: relations with artists and galleries, transport, loans and insurance.
Communication, press office and social media
Features of the different means of communication and building an effective promotional plan. Specific focus on social media.
Archives and collections; market and collecting
Collection management and care, digitization processes and main market trends: galleries, fairs and collecting.
Multiplatform project
Devising complex art projects: new, interdisciplinary technologies and project usages.
Publishing
Overview of books, journals, catalogues, magazines and multimedia products for contemporary art.
Copyright
Main copyright regulations, protection requirements and duration of protection of intellectual works.
Devising new projects
The practical planning phases from coming up with the idea to drafting individual end-of-year projects.
Writing
Study and practice in writing texts and apparatus criticus aimed at specialist and general audiences.
Exhibition planning
Shared planning and organization of a group exhibition taken from collections managed by FMAV, to take place at one of the foundation’s venues.
Visual culture
A closer look at the focal points of visual culture and reflection on the role of the image and its prospects in the contemporary world.
Job training
A series of meetings with stakeholders and professionals in the sector, plus specific training modules held by the foundation department heads.
Guided tours
Guided tours of exhibitions and significant events on the art scene and meetings with the initiative organizers and institutions.
Teachers
Testimonials
For me it was a positive experience that helped me grow. The course helped me to get clarity on my professional and personal goals thanks to the team talks and individual work on different levels and topics. The course gave me the chance to get out there and put myself to the test.
Silvia Vercelli - Studentessa ICON 2016
To really get into contemporary art, you have to study photography. But dealing with photographic images means taking part in a wider set of activities, which start from the visual to produce contents, documents and organize archives. It also means creating formats for reflection on society, fashion, communication and anthropology.
Stefano Coletto - Docente
Against a background of changing techniques and digital broadcasting channels, our school sets out to train a generation of curators who can deal with the dynamism of the contemporary image in its vast range of approaches and its hybridization, from analogue photos to post-Internet works. The course provides specific practical skills and intends to be a place to meet, make connections and cue reflection to form a professional profile that will create leading players in the art system.
Claudia Löffelholz - Head of the School of Advanced Studies
The course gave me an all-round view of the world of curatorship. The thing that probably stuck most is the whole host of creative forms that an exhibition and exhibition concept can take today, also thanks to the use of new technologies. The module held by Bas Vroege was very instructive and stimulating as it made us think outside the box as to how we could put photos on show, also following new routes of communication.
Daniela Bazzani - Student
Curators have to be able to deal with artists and institutions, find funding, and above all, pinpoint and help to build a “critical” way of thinking. To do so, you have to ask questions about and be able to interpret the present, while looking beyond the boundaries of photography.
Luca Panaro - Professor
My advice is to stay determined, in your studies and in project work. Be patient and wait to find the right moment to get a new project off the ground and bring it to life. Never think that you’ve made it, there’s so much to learn and observe around us, so many life experiences that we can make our own.
Gabriele Romeo - Student
Curatorship is a trade, a profession that requires know-how on the practices and procedures. My course takes a practical and pragmatic slant; the idea is to take down the mindset that a curator’s work is all about “thinking” and that’s it. While thinking has to be the first stage in building a project, it’s also true that there are a whole series of practical steps that are just as necessary. There are systems, methods (but also trends and behaviours) that you have to know and follow in every phase: from drawing up the concept to the relationship with the artists and the lenders, the display, the catalogue, communication, etc. These aspects are often undervalued but they play a substantial role in an exhibition’s success.
Francesca Fabiani - Professor
Thanks to the research work I did during the course, I was able to successfully curate and put on the exhibition that I presented as my end-of-course exhibition project.
Jana Liskova - Student
Photography has a unique relationship with reality and so even now it remains a powerful tool that makes us reflect on society and the role that we play in it. But we live in a world saturated by the media and so we have to use innovative strategies and exploit different platforms to wow the public. On the course, students can come into contact with international experts and specialists. This is fundamental in a hyperconnected world, where borders are less and less important, and it helps to create a solid structure of educational opportunities and international internships
Bas Vroege - Professor
Thanks to the curators course, I got to know some exceptional people, professionals and projects. I also made contacts and had to constantly produce ideas to share with colleagues and propose to public and private institutions and galleries.
Ilaria Dall’Olio - Student
Since July 2021, thanks to ICON, I’ve been working with Generazione Critica, an online magazine of research on the contemporary world. I started getting into curating exhibition projects on contemporary artists without ever abandoning my writing as a critic and journalist. I hope to soon take part in a project for Art City Bologna 2022 with a cultural association from Bologna.
Antongiulio Vergine - Student
What I found most enriching was getting to know great professionals from the sector. It really meant a lot to be able to listen to the lives of some of the leading figures in contemporary art and to come into direct contact with them. At the same time, sharing this course with my fellow students enabled me to create new contacts and discover realities I had had no idea about before.
Rita Meschiari - Student
The internship at the Accademia Tedesca at Villa Massimo in Rome allowed me to appreciate the job of curator even more, in particular how this figure can support artists, cultural workers and projects.At the moment I’m working on socio-cultural projects and I’m always looking for the best way to communicate and raise awareness on social themes through art and creativity.
Samira Mosca - Student
During my internship at Leporello in Rome, a specialist photography bookshop, I was able to see the practicalities of managing a place like that from close up. I was also able to take part personally in the different activities offered by the bookshop, planning them and putting them on, in particular the press office activities that I looked after myself during the months of my placement.So it was a fundamental step in my professional training, both in terms of the skills I acquired but above all the relationships and contacts that it allowed me to develop.
Giorgia Padovani - Student
I'm working in various associations and publishing teams. I write articles, organize events and along with some organizations that I came into contact with when I was putting together my individual project, I’m running a multi-purpose community-building space in the multi-ethnic neighbourhood where I held my end-of-course exhibition.
Manuel Beinat - Student
Students
Costs and payment methods
Per scoprire i costi e le modalità di pagamento scarica il bando e la brochure.
Info and enrolment
Course: 19 September - 30 June 2023
Enrolment: 24 August - 10 September 2022
Language: Italian - English
Attendance requirements: One-year course | 1 week per month, from Monday to Saturday
Enrolment: 24 August - 10 September 2022
Language: Italian - English
Attendance requirements: One-year course | 1 week per month, from Monday to Saturday