Summary:
To complete your proposal, you will need to detail the why, who, where, what and when – indicating how your curatorial decisions relate to your overall aims for your project.
As you do this think about the following questions:
Content
•What is the central idea or purpose of the art/curatorial project?
•How do those ideas relate to a broader context?
•Why should this be staged/produced now/what needs redressing/addressing?
•What do I want people to take away from this?
•What will the materials, ‘objects’ or ‘moments’ of my art project/‘exhibition’ be?
Public
• What audience am I planning to address? Do I understand them as visitors, customers or participants etc? How will I address them as such?
• How will I encourage and inspire audience participation?
• How will my audience interact with the exhibition’s objects/spaces/artists/works?
Scale and Design
• How big do I want my project to be? How many spaces/buildings/objects do I want to incorporate?
• Do I want to stage a digital or a physical art project/exhibition?
• For a physical art project/exhibition, what space do I want my exhibition to inhabit and why?
• For a digital project, what kind of interface and platform do I want to use?
Proposal Format
Your proposal (3500 words) must be submitted via Turnitin (deadline 23rd April) and include the following sections:
A. Summary (250 words)
Provide the title and a brief overview of your exhibition. Describe the main theme(s) of your project and why you think it is important that your project should be produced.
B. Introduction to the Exhibition (500 words)
This is the introduction to the project that would appear on the brochure, on the front page of your digital exhibition or on the wall of any physical space that might house the art project/exhibition. It should describe the main theme, an overview of the content and structure, and what is new and unusual about your project. What does it offer the public that they have not encountered before?
C. List of items and accompanying interpretation panels/texts (750 words)
In case of exhibition project:
This section should list between FOUR and SIX objects/buildings/spaces/artists/pieces that you plan to put on display. You should give a full description of each exhibit item including provenance. You should also include a short interpretation panel. This is the piece of text that accompanies the exhibition item that is designed to help the audience understand and interpret the item within the context of your exhibition.
Please note: you may choose whether this list represents only one section of your exhibition, or comprises the entire exhibition. Be clear about your choice at the start of this section.
In case of art project:
This is where you describe the material and immaterial elements of your art project and the accompanying information you intend to give to visitors.
D. Method (1000 words)
In this section you should describe clearly your approach and method: how you will display the contents of your exhibition and/or how you will create the relationships and spaces that you desire.
E. Context and rationale (1000 words)
In this section you should describe and explain the context and rationale for your exhibition. Please address the following:
•What is the significance of this project? What is its context?
•Why do this project at all? Does it link to the present? To an anniversary? What contemporary themes does it illuminate? What themes does it address or issues does it re-dress? Does it add a new context, a new perspective, or method? How has your subject/objects/artists been tackled before? Does this differ, if so, how and why?
•Why have you chosen the space/platform you have chosen? How does it fit with past programmes and the space’s mission/focus and agenda?
•Who is this aimed at and why? Who is your public, how will you be helping to create a public? What is your audience engagement strategy? Will you hold other workshops or events? Where do you see this project leading to?
You should refer to secondary sources in this section and footnote in the usual way. These footnotes are NOT included in the word count.
•Will interpretation materials be printed onto a wall, under glass, touchable, projected, with sound in the background?
•Will you determine how the public encounters the art project/exhibition or will you leave them free to encounter it in order they like (for example is it a walking tour that they can join anywhere, or a space which they will be guided around by the room’s layout?)
•What is the duration of the project? Will it stay the same or change?
In this section you will also describe and explain your selection of objects/artists/moments (the specifics and the type/genre) as well as their juxtaposition. Discuss the relationships between them, and what you hope the juxtaposition will illuminate.
You should refer to secondary sources in this section and footnote in the usual way. These footnotes are included in the word count.
