Lectures on Art curation for Masters of Visual Arts

Bengaluru School of Visual Arts

Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

Lectures on Art curation for Masters of Visual Arts

Department of Applied Art

Date: 30^th March 2021

Being former Art History students and now the alumnus of Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, Manasa Raj, and Clyde D’mello are both bright and shiny/offbeat curators in the art space. Manasa has worked on installations and public art exhibitions in and around the city of Bangalore, where she has highlighted issues pertaining to women’s rights, cultural interaction, and more. Her work spans the social and cultural enterprise, with a keen interest in visual anthropology and its artistic narrative. Clyde D’mello is currently the visiting faculty at PES University and has also worked as an artist in public spaces. He has extensively created illustrative art and images with texts, as an extension to his visuals. Through his work, Clyde tries to bridge the gap between visual art and theoretical knowledge.

Curators and Art-exhibition designers need to tell a story though a curation in a confined or open space. How does one start with the research, what do you investigate? How do you cater to an artist’s, and gallery’s, needs as you conceptualise in exhibiting their work? Manasa walked our students through a curator’s journey as; first a curator and then an ‘artist/curator’. She carefully explained their differences, the sensitive nature of her field and delved into artist briefs. She further talked about the promotional element, top curators worldwide and misconceptions to the usage of the term “curator”.

Clyde on the other hand, gave students and fellow faculty members a more outlandish perspective. “Everything is curation” he exclaimed. He critically questioned and urged doe-eyed students to take a closer look at the method in which we make our own music playlists for example, or introspect on how we create our own personal social-media galleries. After they ended their talk, Manasa and Clyde opened the hall for discussion.

While they projected juxtaposing views on the subject, the duo complimented each other in their talk, making it well balanced. The evening also saw the students and faculty members asking questions which gave a more holistic perspective on the idea of curation.