Call for applications: “WHAT COULD/SHOULD CURATING DO?” curatorial course 2019

We are pleased to announce the second edition of the curatorial program, What Could/Should Curating Do?, hosted in the city of Belgrade.

August 26–November 26, 2019 
Application deadline: March 18 

What Could/Should Curating Do?
Belgrade, Serbia 

WCSCD was launched in 2018 as an international curatorial course situated in a specific, local context framed by its Post-Yugoslav identity, the Balkans.

After the inaugural pilot year program, we continue to contribute to the thinking and doing around the curatorial field with an intense, three-month long program that draws upon the unique local and regional context as a critical source of knowledge. Simultaneously, this program also intends to provide insights into the wider international framework related to exhibition-making practices on both a theoretical and practical level.

The curriculum for the course includes weekly writing assignments, presentations, studio visits, institutional visits, lectures, and mentoring sessions with local and international practitioners. As part of the program for 2019 a research visit to a different part of the Balkan region is also being planned.

During the course, participants will develop and propose a collective exhibition project that will be presented the last month of the program—or later—depending on the nature of the project.

The course offers participants the opportunity to meet and learn from many leading professionals in the field of contemporary curating. The primary mentors for the course include Luca Lo Pinto (Kunshtalle Wien, Vienna); Charles Esche (Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven); Zdenka Badovinac (Moderna Galerija, Ljubljana); Nikita Yingqian Cai (Times Museum, Guangzhou); Ares Shporta (Lumbardhi Foundation, Prizren); Dan Cameron (New York); Matt Packer (EVA International, Limerick); Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (Castello di Rivoli, Turin); and others.

Patrick D. Flores, Artistic Director of the 2019 Singapore Biennial will give a kick-off lecture in May of 2019, titled Singapore Biennial 2019: Some Political Inspirations. The presentation speaks to the method and conceptual impulse to convene a biennial in Singapore, noting the lively milieu of contemporary art in Southeast Asia and the ethical demands involved in evoking this liveliness.

Application requirements:
 Applicants must be 35 years of age or younger
 No prior degrees in art or art history are required
 The course fee is 350 EUR. The fee does not include accommodations or
travel costs.
 International participants will be assisted with finding accommodations in Belgrade—accommodations are approximately 180 EUR per month. The standard course fee also does not cover travel and accommodations on research trips. Successful applicants should prepare an allowance of approximately 300 EUR to cover these additional costs.

How to apply:
Applications should include the following items as a single Word or PDF document, sent by email to what.could.curating.do@gmail.com with the subject line: Curatorial-Course-Belgrade by March 18, 2019:

– CV/Portfolio
– Letter of Interest (500 words maximum, explaining your interest in curatorial practices)
– Project Description (300 words maximum, an urgent project you would like to develop)

Based on the quality of the submitted documents, 15 participants will be selected to attend the course. Selected applicants should plan to arrive in Belgrade no later than August 25, 2019.

The final list of participants will be announced in May 2019. The final curriculum of the program will be confirmed in June 2019 and shared with the attending curators at that time.


The WCSCD curatorial course is a long term project initiated by Biljana Ćirić, with the support and collaboration of the following partner institutions: The Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade; EVA International—Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art; and Zepter Museum, among others. The project is supported by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Belgrado; the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Belgrade; the Austrian Cultural Forum; Heinrich Boell Stiftung; and Hestia Art Residency & Exhibitions Bureau among others.

Project contacts:
what.could.curating.do@gmail.com
Tjaša Pogačar (tutor of WCSCD 2019): pogacartjasa.contact@gmail.com
Ana Anakijev (coordinator): anaanakijev@gmail.com

Visual identity by Saša Tkačenko