Creative Curating

Create your own Collection and Exhibition – an Art Start Activity

Project objective: to develop an understanding of concepts and processes involved in curating collections and exhibitions.

Teacher Notes

The collection and exhibition aspect of this project could be done digitally and presented as a PowerPoint, or using postcards or other printed images arranged on a poster. Students could consider using artworks from the <NGV Art Start image bank> or <NGV Collection>.
 Please ensure students follow <copyright guidelines>.

Classroom Project

Create a collection of at least 20 artworks that interest you. Decide on the criteria for your collection – does it focus on the art of a particular culture, time or a specific art form?

Identify an interesting idea or sub-theme that links at least 5-6 artworks in the collection.

Curate a small display of these 5-6 artworks related to this sub-theme or story. Consider how you will arrange and present the artworks to help an audience understand the idea or theme behind your exhibition, and to create a visually interesting display.

Think of a title for your exhibition.

Create a catalogue for your exhibition that includes:

• several paragraphs introducing the main idea or theme of your exhibition
• a checklist of all the artworks with information about each artwork presented in a consistent format. Look at the type of information that a gallery presents with artworks to help you decide what information should be presented about each artwork.
• a short paragraph about each artwork linking it to the main idea or theme of the exhibition.