This module is designed as a Level 2 practical foundation to the Arts and Culture Management second major and aims to equip students with an expansive and inclusive knowledge of the key processes, practices and principles affecting the current and future directions of visual arts management in Singapore.
Balancing conceptual analysis of past and existing institutional models with practical steps towards creating new approaches, students will engage critically and experientially with the structures, operations and management of the artists, organisations and stakeholders that present or produce visual artworks on various settings and scales. Strong emphasis will be placed on interrogating exhibition-making as material, embodied and dialogic practices, as well as considering the influences and issues arising from the proliferation of artistic and curatorial activities that have moved beyond the gallery to the street, heartlands, festivals and the internet.
Ultimately, this module is aimed at enabling the Arts and Culture Management student in cultivating the competences required to support and respond to our fast-changing visual arts ecosystem challenged by various artistic, systemic, and audience-related issues.
For AY24/25, the primary focus of this course is two fold:
‣ Experiencing professional project management within the Contemporary Art World
‣ Understanding the key stakeholders, professional activities and aesthetic vocabulary of the Contemporary Art World, especially in the Singapore context.
Critical questions to be explored include:
‣What are the stakeholders, professional activities and specialised areas of activity in the contemporary art world today, especially within the context of Singapore?
‣What are the roles and responsibilities of arts managers in the contemporary art world?
‣How do arts managers develop, engage and enrich the experiences of contemporary art audiences?
‣How do arts managers manage differing interests and stakeholders, while striving for financial sustainability in the contemporary art world?
‣What is the best way - if any - to frame and promote a particular contemporary art exhibition?
‣What role does the public have in engaging with the objects and ideas in exhibitions?
Students who complete this course should acquire the following course-specific skills :
‣ Be familiar with the scope and function of the various bodies, industries and organisations involved in the promotion, collection and presentation of contemporary visual culture, especially in the SG context.
‣ Understand what is involved in the roles and responsibilities of arts managers and intermediaries working behind the scenes to enable the local visual arts world ‣ Obtain familiarity with the aesthetic vocabulary of the contemporary art world from provenance to compliance and connoisseurship
‣ Be able to engage critically with a range of curatorial and exhibition strategies in varying display settings
‣ Be able to apply a range of critical, theoretical, art historical and museological approaches to the study of exhibitions and displays in contemporary settings ‣ Be keenly aware of the changing nature of exhibiting contemporary art, including peripatetic, freelance and nomadic models
‣ Be able to critical assess the potential impact of different and varied influences on changing nature contemporary art, including ethical issues and growing crises