Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice
Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Curatorial Strategies Talk
Size of student group: 2 – 25
Observer: Claire Undy
Observee: Renee Odjidja
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Part One: Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
Through this talk I will introduce students to two key exhibition making strategies: developing curatorial concepts and prototyping.
It forms part of a day-long workshop on Curatorial Strategies needed for the professional realm. Throughout the day students will work collaboratively or independently to develop a compelling rationale or idea for an exhibition and construct a model of it. Through their selection of works, spatial arrangements, display approaches and consideration of audience encounter, they will test new connections and propose new narratives.
The entire workshop sits within Unit 10: Practice and Presentation which emphasizes in students realizing a body of work for the degree show and developing professional skills needed for their future beyond the course.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
Since September, Y3 Tutor.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
Through this talk, students will be able
- to understand and identify different strategies for developing curatorial concepts or rationales.
- to understand the importance of prototyping – drawing, writing, and building a model – for testing and improving a concept.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
During the talk, there will be an opportunity for students to ask questions and share some initial ideas of concepts they might want to develop in the afternoon.
I will also introduce the task of developing concepts and give them a printed document with key slides from the talk to look over during the break and in the afternoon session.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Attendance. Since this is my first time running this day I am not sure how many students will attend. I am concerned that they will think of it as solely relevant to students interested in curation, overlooking its benefits to their individual practices such as conceiving space and situating their work, and therefore might decide not to attend.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
I will introduce Claire and her role at the beginning of the talk.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
There are several parts to the day so I would like feedback on if there information is clear enough for students to proceed to the next stage and whether there is too much content.
How will feedback be exchanged?
–RO
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Part Two: Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
The observed session provided the conceptual underpinning to the otherwise practical curatorial workshop, summarising three components of a curatorial concept – theme, content and audience. It was attended by a small but interested group of 12-15 students, who had previously been making scale-models of gallery spaces in the studio. The previous session in the lecture theatre overran by 15mins, which was unfortunate but you handled the situation gracefully and the students did not seem concerned by the delay.
The examples in the presentation were thoughtful and exciting, and these were delivered in a warm and enthusiastic manner. Moving away from the podium to discuss Amy Sillman’s exhibition strategies and the position of works within this show made this section more engaging. Newly introduced names or concepts were put to the group- eg. ‘has anyone heard of John Akomfrah?’ – this allowed you to pitch the information correctly but also made it clear there was no expectation of prior knowledge. Participation was invited, and input from students was referred back to, making it clear that it was valued.
There was a lot of information covered, however it was delivered in a way that was relevant for the group, for example situating social justice as a UAL theme within a wider professional practice. A good definition of terms such as ‘sightlines’ was provided. This might have been a good opportunity to get students involved in describing sightlines in order to check their understanding. I appreciated when the relevant ’strategy’ was shown in the top corner of a slide as sometimes the examples were fairly in-depth and this helped me remember which strategy it related to. A short recap at the end of the session would have helped to consolidate the information.
It was a privillege to hear about such significant exhibitions from ‘behind the scenes’ and this supported the ideas discussed with a high level of professionalism, which the students respected. They were impressed by your industry experince and had several questions about this. Hearing about how you had overcome various professional challenges made the examples more relatable. The exhibitions were discussed to illustrate the different strategies for developing a curatorial concept. I wondered if it would be worth pairing examples at high-level institutions like Whitechapel Gallery with a few more low-key references, like a show curated up by students or recent graduates. This might allow them to envisage more accessible steps for them to begin to apply their own curatorial ideas.
The session was very successful at applying conceptual curatorial principles to anecdotal examples. When asked to talk about their own work at the end of the session, students fell silent. My impression was that they were in ‘listening’ mode, and busy digesting a lot of information. Applying the knowledge learned to students’ practical prototypes within the hour might have been too ambitious. They might have more confidence to share their thinking after a break and chance to recap the information in a different environment after lunch.
Overall, it was a highly enjoyable session and I was grateful to be part of it. It’s a shame that a bigger group did not take part as I think there were many insights and skills that would have been relevant to all, regardless of whether they saw themselves as potential curators. Thank you for inviting me!
–CU
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Part Three: Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
Thank you Claire for taking the time to review the session. I am glad you found it highly enjoyable. This was my first time delivering it so your constructive feedback has provided prompts for reflection and adaptation.
In retrospect, for the overrun of the previous session, I could have walked behind the students towards the lectern to make my presence more known to the speaker after other attempts failed. It is a useful lesson going forward. The shortened time impacted on my ability to do a recap at the end, I will endeavour to include this in future.
Diversifying the content to include some low-key references enabling students to imagine more accessible steps is a great recommendation! In addition to this, I will also include images of some of the models created and speak about them briefly. Hopefully these will inspire and help them envision what can be achieved in the workshop and beyond.
Asking students to describe sightlines to ensure they have understood it will also be a good addition. It became more apparent as a curatorial strategy when deciding on the placements of their selected works in the afternoon.
Indeed, asking about ideas right after the talk was too ambitious. It would have been better saved for discussion after lunch when they had had more time to digest the information. Some interesting prototypes emerged from the workshop, you can view some here.
Attendance was a major concern for me considering the subject matter. Given the uptake, the workshop could potentially be opened up to students from another course in future.
Thank you again. While I have primarily focused on the areas for improvement, I appreciate the strengths you have highlighted as well. It has given me valuable insights into how to adapt the session and generally for my teaching practice.
-RO