Course information
Department
Length
2 years full-time; or 1 year full-time and 2 years part-time
Course overview
Goldsmiths' operating principles for 2022-23 have not yet been finalised but should changes be required to teaching in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will publish these as early as possible for prospective students wishing to start their programme in September 2022.
The programme is designed for students who wish to take up the challenge of contemporary curating as an artistic, social and critical undertaking, and who wish to develop their professional practice in this area.
The programme is situated within the Department of Art and draws its understanding of contemporary art as a practice from this setting. As a curating student, you will thus be working alongside the postgraduate fine art students and MA artist film students, allowing for a unique dialogue among emerging practitioners about contemporary and future practice, and the most pressing concerns of our day. We are currently based in the same building in Deptford, an area fast becoming an important hub for emerging artists and galleries.
MFA Curating at Goldsmiths focuses in-depth on aesthetic, social, political and philosophical questions that are brought to bear in any place or at any event in which contemporary art takes place.
The programme is designed to provide a practice-led research context for students at any stage of their professional practice and is aimed at curators, artists and those with relevant academic and practical experience.
As a two-part programme, MFA Curating enables you to experiment and innovate in the expanded field of curatorial practice, to collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis and extend your and other students' knowledge through this process, through an ongoing conversation in the forms of seminars, workshops, tutorials, reading groups and writing classes. Our teaching is based on an art school model of individual trajectories, and we will help you develop the style and area of practice you want to pursue and refine; not just in terms of exhibition-making, but also public programming, screening series, social projects and various forms of curatorial writing.
Goldsmiths' MFA Curating programme is recognised worldwide for producing highly qualified curators and other arts professionals, as well as pursuing further academic study on a PhD level.
Our graduates find employment in top international museums, commercial galleries, auction houses, magazines, alternative spaces and not-for-profit organisations. Others choose employment as artist’s studio managers; arts education programmers; museum public talks and events organisers; gallery archivists and registrars.
Recent speakers and visiting lecturers
Barby Asante, Artist and Curator, London, Asleigh Barice, Founder and Director, b.Dewitt Gallery, London, Christina Barton, Director, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington, Jochen Becker, Independent Curator, Berlin, Iwona Blazwick OBE, Director, Whitechapel Gallery, London, Melanie Bouteloup, Director, Betonsalon, Paris, Brad Butler, Artist, London, Ruth Catlow, Co-Director, Furtherfield, London, Persilia Caton, Curator, SPACE, London, Aaron Cezar, Director of Delfina Foundation, London, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Director of Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Teresa Cisneros, Inclusive Practice Lead, Wellcome Collection, London, Anna Colin, Director, Open School East, Margate, Celine Condorelli, artist and cofounder of Eastside Projects, Birmingham, Mathieu Copeland, Independent Curator, London, Alfredo Cramerotti, Director, Mostyn, Llandudno, Elvira Dyangani-Ose, Director, The Showroom, London, Rozsa Farkas, Director, Arcadia Missa, London, Cédric Fauq, Curator, Nottingham , Contemporary, Nottingham, Ryan Gander, Artist, London, Gavin Grindon, Co-curator ‘Disobedient Objects,’ Victoria & Albert Museum, and lecturer Essex University, Carles Guerra, Director, Fundacio Tapies, Barcelona, Hou Hanru, Director, MAXXI, Rome, Maria Hlavajova, Director, BAK, Utrecht, Amal Khalaf, Director of Programmes, Cubitt Gallery, London, Daria Khan, Director, Mimosa House, London, James Lingwood, Co-Director, Artangel, Andrea Lissoni, Artistic Director, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Sarah McCrory, Director, Goldsmiths CCA, Marie-Anne McQuay, Head of Programme, Bluecoat, Liverpool, Grace Ndiritu, Artist, London, Christopher Rawcliffe, Artistic Director, Forma Arts, London, Markus Reymann, Director TBA21 Academy, London & Vienna, Erica Scourti, Artist, London, Adrian Searle, Critic, The Guardian, Louise Shelley, Curatorial Fellow, Cubitt, London, Kuba Szreder, Independent Curator, Warsaw, George Vasey, Curator, Wellcome Collection, London, Victor Wang, Artistic Director & Chief Curator, M Woods Museum, Beijing, Catherine Wood, Curator of Performance, Tate Modern, Lydia Yee, Chief Curator, Whitechapel Gallery, London.
Work experience and Professional Development
The course offers students the possibility of realizing curatorial projects through our associations with Chisenhale Studios, Cubitt, Deptford X, EnclaveLab and the Swiss Church, and students will be engaging directly with the Goldsmiths CCA on their events programme. We also offer opportunities for professional development through our placements at Tate Modern and collaboration with New Contemporaries.
The Tate Modern annually offers two hands-on placements to Goldsmiths MFA Curating students, who are given the opportunity to work directly on an exhibition matched to the students' interests. Accepted Goldsmiths curating students are given details on how to apply for a Tate Modern internship prior to starting the school year. New Contemporaries offers a three month paid internship during the summer term.
Upon graduation, graduates will also be eligible for one of our three Junior Fellowships, designed to further your professional development. Currently, we are offering one fellowship to work with the MFA Curating itself, partaking in the delivery of an academic programme, and two fellowships based in the Goldsmiths’ CCA, partaking in delivering its exhibitions and public programmes.
Further information
Why not visit one of our Postgraduate Art Open Days? You can also visit our Exhibitions and Events Archive.
Contact the department
If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Helena Reckitt.