The Bachelor of Arts is the ultimate, flexible university degree. With over twenty named majors, you can select subjects to build your knowledge, and electives to enhance your skills. Our students are curious about the big questions of life, embrace the joy of open enquiry, and are on a life-long quest for knowledge and inspiration. At the University of Tasmania, you will be part of an academic community that cares deeply about the topics that we teach and study. In a time when the term ‘curated’ is thrown around everywhere, the Art and Curatorial Practices major shows how an understanding of art as both artefacts and experiences can shape how creative work is made, analysed and communicated. Curatorial practices, as a term, encapsulates the idea that curatorship question the traditional narratives of art history, and create transformative encounters with creative work. In this major, you will develop visual and spatial literacies in conjunction with high level writing and project management skills, enabling you to conceptualise and carry out curatorial projects in the visual arts. This major immerses you in contemporary curatorial debates and practices, using object-based learning, authentic assessment, and industry contextualisation. You will develop an understanding of art theory and history from a contemporary Tasmanian standpoint, with a commitment to decolonisation, ecological awareness, and place.
This major will prepare you to work in areas such as curating and administrating in emerging, independent and events-based arts, as well as equipping you for further study in postgraduate coursework and research. The major will provide training in project management and develop your effective communication strategies and digital literacy. Unit choices allow you to explore how art and curatorial practices can facilitate the voices of diverse communities, become part of tourism and cultural heritage interpretation, and bring the past into the present through digital humanities. In your curatorial practice project, you will develop and pitch an idea for your own curatorial project to a panel of industry experts, ready to take your next step through connections with art institutions and experimental, independent art organisations.
