Benjamin Lignel: Masterclass

Any exhibition must contend with the physical constraints of the medium you work in and with the ongoing discussion the wider field of art is having regarding display conventions: less critical than complicit, current curatorial trends treat those conventions like a toolbox of endless combinatory possibilities. As a result, exhibition set-ups dialogue with their heritage (the white-cube, the wunderkammer), incorporate strategies borrowed from other fields in the distribution business (the shop, the vending machine) and employ various penetration methods (installation, occupation, infiltration).

Meanwhile, the last decade has seen the rise to prominence of the curator, who takes an ever more active (and playful) role in determining how we engage with art. Whether they obscure or activate the intention of the artist, their curatorial strategies have a huge effect on how we perceive art, and give it value. However, ‘impactful’ does not always translate into ‘meaningful’, and we often wonder how much control and understanding curators (and artist-curators) have over the environments they set-up, and whether those environments actually do the work a favor.

During this workshop, the participants will investigate, separately, two of the exhibition formats they will encounter in their career: the group show, and the solo show.
No longer a second choice, the group show - when done well - can lend itself to 'creating' something that is more that the simple addition of unrelated parts. It can define the contours of a new genre (like Germano Celan's Arte Povera show, and closer to us, the YBA's Sensation show), revisit and modernize an old one (Les Magiciens de la Terre) or become a tool to research an idea (Nul si découvert). The challenges facing collective projects have to do with working from a given (in this case, a diverse group of makers) and reconciling various artistic ambitions under a single umbrella. Group shows are also human adventures: their success hangs on our ability to work together towards different goals.

The solo show, on the other hand, presumably lets the artist have total control of how, what, and where: there is more freedom there. The challenges are also different, and have to do with putting out something that is 'proportioned' to your intentions, and manufacturing an experience from the few constraints that do exist (the space where you exhibit).

The participants will start working in groups of two: they will plan, and design solo exhibitions in two adjoining rooms of the same museum/gallery/alternative space. After their projects have been presented and discussed, they will then be asked to work in groups of eight (half the total number of students) to conceive, design and explain two group shows.
In both cases, we will look at how the participants’ projects articulate their conceptual allegiance to art, fashion, design or the applied, and what mediation strategy they use to put their message across.


Three guests curators will come during the week to attend the de-briefing and discussion sessions.


Language: English
Maximum number of participants: 16
What to bring: Need to have a finished body of work/installation project etc that will serve as 'material' for the curatorial research (you will be contacted concerning the preparation)
Requirements: A good understanding and spoken level of English / Master level or graduated from a similar education

Dates and price

Dates: Monday 24th to Friday 28th March.2014 at 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. (except Monday 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.)
Duration: 25 hours
Price: EUR 95 (not incl. Materials)