• Offered by School of Art and Design
  • ANU College ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Course subject Art History
  • Areas of interest Art History

This course introduces students to the history and profession of curatorship, and explores the roles of curators across varying collecting environments, with a focus on art collections. Students will become familiar with the main factors for consideration when preparing exhibitions and displays. They will also be introduced to the organisation of museums and the various professions within the museum environment. Topics will include the development of art galleries and museums, especially in the 20th century; the development, management and display of art collections; and approaches to documentation and publication. The course will study issues related to the responsibilities of the curator to the community (accessibility, education, exhibition and public relations) as well as responsibility to the objects (conservation, storage, accessioning and loan policies). There is a focus on Australian institutions and collections at national and regional levels.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

  1. Describe the roles of an art curator in the modern both orally and in written form.
  2. Evaluate current discourses related to museums and galleries
  3. Evaluate art exhibitions and permanent collections and communicate their views in written and oral form.
  4. Describe and discuss the processes involved in staging an art exhibition.

Indicative Assessment

Participation 10% (LO 1,2,3,4)

Tutorial Presentation and Tutorial paper 1500 words 20% (LO 1,2,3)

Exhibition Review 600 words 10% (LO3)

Exhibition proposal 500 words and short class presentation 20% (3,4)

Exhibition Package 2500 words  40% (4)

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

260 hours of total student learning time made up from: a) 30 hours of contact over 12 weeks: 18 hours of lectures and 12 hours of tutorials; and b) 230 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course you must have completed 36 units of ANU courses towards a degree, or with the permission of the convenor. You are not able to enrol in this course if you have previously completed ARTH6045

Preliminary Reading

There are no specific texts for this course. Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the following journals, available as full-text electronic journals through the ANU Library Curator. The Museum Journal, Museum Management and Curatorship.

Majors

Minors

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
1
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2017 $2856
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2017 $4080
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Second Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
9025 23 Jul 2018 30 Jul 2018 31 Aug 2018 26 Oct 2018 In Person N/A

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