Curating.info

The Ulrich Museum of Art seeks candidates for the position of Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Responsibilities:
The Ulrich Museum Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art reports to the museum director and works collaboratively with other staff in a team environment. The position balances responsibilities for collection development and art acquisition with exhibition programming, organization, and interpretation. An ability to cultivate patrons and collectors, engage faculty and program partners, serve artists, and connect with students are important traits for the successful candidate. The Ulrich Museum seeks a candidate committed to the learning of its audiences and eager to creatively interpret and contextualize contemporary art for non-specialist museum visitors.

Description:
Founded in 1974, the Ulrich is a nationally recognized university art museum emphasizing modern and contemporary art and based in the largest metropolitan area in Kansas. The WSU sculpture collection was noted among the Top Ten in Public Art Review in 2006. Recent sculpture garden commissions have added work by Andy Goldsworthy and Wichita-native Tom Otterness. The permanent collection boasts over 6,000 works across the modern era to today and includes work by Joan Miró, August Rodin, Robert Henri, Barbara Hepworth, Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol, Sol Lewitt, Kara Walker, and Kota Ezawa. Museum endowments generously support active collection acquisition. With 6,250 square feet of gallery space, the Ulrich presents a schedule of six to eight rotating exhibitions annually, regularly self-organized and/or drawn from the museum collection.

Qualifications:
Required—Master’s degree or equivalent professional experience in art, art history, or related field (Ph.D. preferred). Experience with curatorial organization (three years of museum curatorial experience preferred).
A commitment to diversity is required. Desirable: Evidence of past innovative, interdisciplinary programming.
Demonstrated evidence of clear writing. Confidence in public speaking.

Application guidelines:
Candidates must apply online. Candidates must also submit a cover letter addressing the position qualifications, and resumes, names, addresses, e-mail addresses, ad telephone numbers of three professional references to: Curator Search, Ulrich Museum of Art, 1845 Fairmount St, Wichita KS 67260-0046. All application materials must be received at the Ulrich Museum by September 21, 2007. Wichita State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

The National Maritime Museum is seeking to appoint a Curator of Fine Art who is able to lead the research and interpretation of the Museum’s art collections and the strategy for the Queen’s House, the Museum’s main art venue.

Key responsibilities:
•Manage the Art Team, ensuring that they work creatively to deliver research and exhibitions that meet in full the Museum’s objectives
•Lead the development of the Museum’s Queen’s House strategy, championing it at the highest level
•Lead and develop the Centre for Art and Travel, liaising between curatorial staff, external academic partners and funding bodies to build a coherent and successful research programme
•Champion the strategic development of the art collections to explain their significance within historical and artistic contexts
•Liaise with key personnel in Collections Management, Exhibitions, Learning and Online to ensure that the Art Team’s outputs support broader Museum objectives
•Lead the team in raising the national profile of the collections and subject s through research, publications and seminars
•Lead and support the professional development of the Art Team and champion key arts partnerships for the Museum

Salary: £27,500 - £35,000
Closing Date: Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

For full details and information on how to apply, please visit the National Maritime Museum website.

Exit Art is a leading non-profit cultural arts center in New York, USA that champions the work of young and emerging artists and addresses important social, cultural and political issues through multi-disciplinary programming that include contemporary art exhibitions, performances, film and video programs, and panel discussions.

Exit Art seeks an Associate Curator to partner with the Founding Directors and curatorial staff to formulate and implement a diverse array of programming. In 2007, Exit Art celebrates its 25th anniversary year as one of New York's leading multidisciplinary art centers and a catalyst of the experimental art scene. The organization will launch five new initiatives including S.E.A. (Social Environmental Aesthetics) focusing on artists who address contemporary environmental issues.

The Associate Curator position entails: conceptualizing, creating, and coordinating exhibitions; publicizing and promoting exhibitions and serving as a press liaison; and providing development assistance such as writing grant narratives.

The successful candidate will be engaged with the international contemporary art scene; must possess at least two years of prior curatorial experience; a deep commitment to contemporary art and artists; and the willingness to work for a fluid and dynamic arts organization. Strong writing skills are also necessary. Please send a resume, cover letter, and writing sample to jeanette @ exitart.org by Friday July 27, 2007.

The Korean art world is reeling from the news that of one of its up and coming curatorial stars has been exposed as having false credentials.

From the Independent:

Imagine an attractive and talented young woman who said she had an art history doctorate from Oxford. Vivacious and persuasive, she becomes the director of the Tate Gallery. Then, just after being hired to curate the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, she is exposed as a fake who failed to get a single A-level.

This scenario, reminiscent of a Patrica Highsmith novel with its hint of The Talented Mr Ripley, is precisely the scandal now rocking the Korean art world after one of its rising stars, Shin Jeong-ah, was unveiled as a fraud.

Until this week, Shin, 35, was at the top of her profession. Claiming to have a doctorate from Yale and a master's degree from Kansas University, she was the youngest professor at Seoul's prestigious Dongguk University and the head curator of the Sungkok Art Museum, home to some of Korea's most prestigious exhibitions and the recipient of millions of pounds in corporate sponsorship from the country's biggest conglomerates.

Fabricating details on one's curriculum vitae seems to be nothing new, as a quick browse of the web led me to another recent article detailing dozens of such scandals in the business world. One particularly audacious and amusing story:

Jeffrey Papows, the former president of IBM's Lotus unit, resigned in 2000 after The Wall Street Journal found that he had embellished details of his military and academic achievements in his CV and in speeches and statements. He also claimed to be an orphan although his parents were still alive. According to the paper, he claimed to have a PhD from Pepperdine University but had in fact only completed a correspondence course at an unaccredited college. In addition, military records showed he had never been a Marine Corp aviator and captain, as he claimed, but a military air-traffic controller who rose no higher than lieutenant.

Mr Papows, who was also the subject of a sexual harassment complaint, later admitted: "I, in some senses, am guilty of exaggerating and embellishing for a purpose from a business standpoint."

Back to Ms Shin, our curator in question who never attended Yale and didn't complete her degree at Kansas University. What makes this story particularly interesting are not the fabrications, which, as evinced in the Times Online article about lying businessmen, seem to crop up quite a bit. The point of interest is that most seems to agree that Ms Shin was a good curator. Despite her complete lack of training, she seems to have performed well enough to smoke by for a long time. "She was very talented at planning exhibitions," a leading Korean art critic told the Kyunghyang Daily News. "She was not much of an art historian or a theoretician but she put on some excellent shows which were very popular. That's why the museums loved her." There are so many classic tensions in this story that the mind boggles - populist vs. academic, raw talent vs. hard-won credentials, appearances vs. reality. One tends to feel pity for everyone involved in the debacle: the museum and biennale officials who were duped, and Ms Shin herself, who - though talented - because of her misrepresentations will never eat lunch in Seoul again.

Internationally renowned Turkish curator Fulya Erdemci joins New Zealand's Danae Mossman to form the curatorial partnership for Art & Industry's 5th SCAPE 2008 Biennial of Art in Public Space.

The Art & Industry Biennial Trust with Director Deborah McCormick are delighted to announce the pairing of Fulya Erdemci and Danae Mossman. Fulya Erdemci brings a wealth of international experience to this position and as Director of the International Istanbul Biennial for 7 years, (she directed the 4th, 5th, 6th and partly 7th Biennials) as well as curator of "Istanbul Pedestrian Exhibitions"� (Istanbul Yaya Sergileri) - "the first exhibition designed for pedestrians in public space in Turkey" - she has an impressive background in art in public space.

Local curator, Danae Mossman whose presence at Christchurch project space The Physics Room has been hugely influential, comes to SCAPE as one of New Zealand's most promising curators. As well as two international curatorial residencies (Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne and DAAD, Berlin) Danae recently co-curated TRANS VERSA, (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo / Matucana 100 / Galeria Metropolitana) in Santiago, Chile.

Like the last biennial in 2006, SCAPE 2008 will be developed in conjunction with Christchurch's major cultural stakeholders and will be located within the Cultural Precinct. The SCAPE 2008 Hub and Indoor Exhibition will once again feature at the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, as major partner of SCAPE it will become an important venue for symposia, discussion and lectures. With site-specific interventions by participating artists from around the world, SCAPE 2008 will propose "a new culture of space" to reinvent the democracy, equality and "publicness"� through the unique space, place and locality of Christchurch City. As well as visiting artists, SCAPE will attract speakers, arts professionals and new audiences to Christchurch, stimulating and questioning the way we experience and enjoy the pubic space.

This unique curatorial pairing is supported through funding from Creative New Zealand, the Arts Council of New Zealand. SCAPE 2008 will be the 5th biennial organised by the Art & Industry Biennial Trust, New Zealand's only international biennial dedicated to contemporary art in public space.

Welcome to the July edition of Pick 'N Mix, my monthly annotated list of bite-sized items that have caught my eye recently.

• 
  
• If you aren't already on the CC mailing list, perhaps you should join. "[CC] "circulating contexts--curating media/net/art" is a slightly moderated mailing list as part of a series of experimental long-term research projects hosted by the Vienna-based organisation CONT3XT.NET. From June 1st to August 31st, 2007 five common topics will be the starting point for discussions around current tendencies in the curation of (New) Media and Internet Art. Excerpts of the contributions to the mailinglist will be published in a catalogue, presented in October 2007." Recently, there was an interesting discussion on notions of how curatorial models might be democratised and how the term "curator" may be being stretched to its limit. Sign up to the list by going to the list info web page.
• 
  
• Blogumenta, unlike the art-world behemoth that is Documenta, is an un-curated, open exhibition space within Facebook, the online networking site that is taking the 18-29 demographic (and beyond) by storm. It raises questions about what the response to the "grand tour" could and should be - should the pendulum swing to the other extreme, in which no one claims a curatorial credit?
• 
  
• A new website in Canada aims to offer ways for emerging curators and administrators to connect with each other. The Emerging Arts Professional network has articles, interviews, and a podcast that touch upon a wide range of topics relevant to individuals in the field. The most recent interview, with Luminato festival director Janice Price, provides many quotable gems, including: "If we can’t have fun doing this, we should all go home."
• 
  

Working as part of the successful exhibitions team at Dundee Contemporary Arts, the Exhibitions Curator is responsible for the development and delivery of a programme of temporary exhibitions of contemporary art delivered as part of the programme of DCA.

For application packs, please contact Abileen Addison on 01382 909 224 or e-mail: abileen.addison at dca.org.uk.

Deadline for applications is 5pm, Monday 23 July 2007.

Dundee Contemporary Arts
152 Nethergate
Dundee, DD1 4DY
United Kingdom
www.dca.org.uk

DCA is supported by Dundee City Council and the Scottish Arts Council.
DCA aims to be an equal opportunities employer.