ARTH 649 Curatorial Studies: Theory and Practice

• Instructor: Dr. Alice Jim

How are major perennial art exhibitions responding to the age of increased global migration, mobility, and refugeeism of which the primary drivers are major armed conflicts, civil wars, and forced displacement, as well as global warming? What are current strategies in critical and curatorial practices addressing the shifting terrains of contemporary art from the older centre-periphery model to the representation of various art worlds, each with its own processes of self-constitution, geopolitics, and demands of the art market? This seminar examines broad critical, cultural and socio-political issues and tensions that concern international exhibitions of art presented in museums, art galleries and other sites of public display. Key issues and methodologies to be explored include biennialism, mobile cultures, cultural tourism, the museumification of cities, global art histories, migration studies, travelling concepts in the humanities, crisis frames, and the capitalist economy of knowledge. As a core case study in real-time, the seminar will reflect on Manif d’art 12—The Quebec City Biennial 2026, curated by Didier Morelli, on the theme “Briser la glace / Splitting ice,” February 28 to April 19, 2026.