ARTH 649 Aspects of Curatorial Practice: International Indigenous Art, Theory and Praxis

• Tuesdays, 6:00-9:00 pm
• Course delivery TBA
• Dr. Heather Igloliorte

In this graduate seminar course students will study the history and theory of contemporary Indigenous art exhibitions and curatorial practice, focusing on emerging work produced in comparative settler colonial states such as Canada, the circumpolar Arctic (Inuit Nunangat and Sapmi), Australia, and New Zealand. This course will centre Indigenous scholarship and creative practice in the study of key texts, concepts, interventions and innovations in the display and dissemination of Indigenous art, by drawing on case studies from significant exhibitions, biennials, and public art events over the last thirty years. We will examine current issues, themes and frames such as Indigeneity, diaspora, sovereignty, self-determination, resistance, and resurgence. We will cultivate an understanding of the legacies and ongoing impacts of settler colonialism on Indigenous peoples and consider how this continues to influence gallery and museum practices, arts education, and public space and place in and between these nation states, with a focus on how Indigenous academics, curators and artists challenge, intervene, and disrupt these histories, institutions, sites, and the spaces between them. Students will gain an understanding of the Indigenous arts milieu through focused readings, (possibly virtual) museum and gallery tours, and by guest lecturers from across the fields and disciplines of contemporary Indigenous art and curatorial practice. Taking a hands-on approach, students will bring together theory and practice as they propose and plan an exhibition of Indigenous arts from concept, to proposal, to (imagined) installation and catalogue creation.