First-year Master student Sarika Kumari, from Jamalpur, Bihar, India, recently participated in the exhibition of the final year MA students of the Department of Art History at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, which revolved around the significance of curation and collaboration.

“Curation As Praxis: Dialogues, Identities and Movements” is an exhibition of researched materials, archival data and visual references inspired by the dissertation topics of the final year Masters students of the Art History Department. The exhibition explores a variety of topics, addressing issues of traditional Indian art and ancient architecture as well as contemporary art and art practices.

At the culmination of a two-week intensive workshop, after two semesters of study, this exhibition was a collaborative curation effort between first and second year students in the MA program. Rahul Bhattacharya, the leader of the class and workshop, mentored the students on the theoretical and practical aspects of art curating.

“The first module focused on exploring the tentative dissertation topics of the second year Masters students, which became the foundation of their curatorial proposals. The emphasis was on generating a body of curatorial texts, which would become the frameworks for the final exhibition. Simultaneously, the students were introduced to the theoretical aspects of curation, the various types of curation and their relevant methodologies.
“The second module … focused on the practical aspects of curation. The students engaged in designing and building a display for the culminating group show. At the commencement of the second module, the students exchanged their curatorial materials [with different groups] with the notion that the display would benefit from a fresh and objective pair of eyes. Each curator brought their own approach to dealing with the research material and curatorial obstacles, to create a visual representation of the idea.” (from the “Curation as Praxis” blog, http://curationaspraxis.blogspot.in)

Eleven curatorial projects in total were researched and presented in the exhibition. Here are some of their titles: ‘Reconstructing the Baroda sculptures with new form and material’, ‘Unfinished pre-imperial Rashtrakuta structures’, ‘Materiality and everydayness in the works of Partha Pratim Deb’, ‘Arts and Crafts movement’, ‘Enquiries into the shifting paradigms of Chahar-Bagh’.

To read more about them click here: http://curationaspraxis.blogspot.in

The exhibition was held at the Faculty of Fine Arts Exhibition Hall, Maharaja Sayajirao University, on the 20th and 21st of February, 2017.

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