As a part of the Valletta 2018 Cultural Programme, the Curatorial School boasts a one-week intensive lecture programme featuring international guest speakers from various institutions. The School is intended for practitioners and students in a variety of related fields such as the fine arts, art education, arts administration, curation and history of art.

The theme for this year’s Curatorial School is Curating the New, which focuses on the meaning of the ‘new’ in contemporary art and curatorial practices. By bringing together international and local perspectives, this year’s programme asks: what is the meaning of the ‘new’ in contemporary art and curatorial practices?

The Curatorial School’s lecture programme will explore a range of topics that are highly relevant to practitioners and students today, including the commissioning of new work from artists, the re-staging of historical exhibitions, the negotiation of ideas between artists and curators, the use of new media in exhibitions, artistic autonomy and the ‘uses’ of art, locally engaged art projects, the rhetoric of immateriality in contemporary art, references to many specific exhibitions and international venues such as Art Rotterdam, the Berlin Biennale and Arts Maebashi.

A series of interactive workshops will complete the programme, offering participants the opportunity to respond to tasks put forward by guest curators and receive extensive feedback on aspects of curating, producing and presenting new ideas. Workshop themes include ‘Curating Light Art Projects in Public Space,’ ‘Curating in a Maltese Context,’ ‘Curating New Productions,’ ‘Art in the Public Domain’ and ‘From Concept to Exhibition.’

To view the full list of the guest speakers and workshop leaders visit the Curatorial School 2016 page.