Master course in Exhibition and Curatorial Studies

Learn how to curate and exhibit in the fields of fashion, design and visual arts.

Fashion and Textiles, Products and Space, and Visual and Art Books are at the centre of the brand new Master course, focused on the production of contemporary knowledge and exhibitions around the disciplines of design.

This programme takes place in Madrid where the most important museums, hundreds of art galleries and an intense cultural life come together, allowing for the students to develop their network and start their career. Students will work on case studies, theoretical notions and the main lines of research—plus a module in Exhibition Management and Production—on the practical skills and notions necessary for proper management of exhibition spaces and a final project.

Structure:

Fashion and Textiles
The relation between clothing and the body who wears it, which moves and lives into it, is the core theme of the module. Clothes have been exposed since the beginning of times, due to its symbolic significance. Dresses have been collected with (or without) a subjective intention and have been the origin of many of our actual Museums dedicated to Fashion. Once fashion has become an accepted cultural object, exhibitions dedicated to it have spread through many different institutions, with the most diverse goals, endowing clothing with a large variety of significations that multiply the possibilities of exhibition set ups. The fragility of the materials and the complexity of it techniques, the so-told relation with the body and, in consequence, with the person who wore the item itself, the different uses –and meanings- that one garment can live throw time, are some of the aspects that have to be taking notice of when we decide to curate an exhibition on fashion.

The module is coordinated by Helena López de Hierro—Director of Museo del Traje

Products and Space
The module offers critical, conceptual and practical tools for the curating and exhibiting of architecture and design. Through a detailed analysis and discussion of a selection of heterogeneous case studies, it looks at modern and contemporary precedents and discussions about how to exhibit a range of spatial practices that include: industrial design, interior design, architecture, urbanism, landscape, preservation, and material and spatial questions relating to everyday life—from domestic and common spaces to the city and the territory. It investigates new strategies of dissemination and speculates on new ways to effectively communicate with a general and specialized audience. While helping the students to develop their own research and curatorial agenda, this module also offers theoretical and methodological tools to accurately translate them within the exhibition and institutional space.   

The module is coordinated by Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco—architect, curator and scholar (Princeton University)

Visual and Art Books
The module aims to explore the role of the curator in the edition of artists’ books and contemporary art. The lines of research will be structured around the curating of editions, based on case studies and theoretical content, as well as distribution strategies and art book fairs. Visits to artist studios and contemporary art spaces will also be an essential part of the program. As a final project, each student will be accompanied in the development of an artist’s book.

The module is coordinated by Cristina Anglada and Gema Melgar—Co-directors / Co-founders of This is Jackalope.

The course starts in January 2022 and lasts 9 months. Applications are open!

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.

More information here.