This 7-week workshop focuses on exhibitions and institutions to build the capacity of artists, curators, and writers. Participants will gain practical insight into the complexities of curatorial practice, different types of art institutions, curator-artist relationships, and art writing including curatorial texts, essays and art criticism.
Led by Heather Canlas-Rigg, the cohort will workshop content in real time by: visiting exhibitions throughout the city and discussing their responses; reading and analyzing essays, reviews, and curatorial texts; hearing from local curators and artists; and reflecting on their own practices. Working between micro-studies of individual exhibitions and macro-studies of institutions at large, the course will critically and intersectionally examine curating, institutional contexts, and inherent politics.
We will learn to think about and approach exhibitions critically and intersectionally. Foregrounding criticality and intersectionality will allow participants to consider how they approach exhibitions, whether they are curating them, or being included in them, writing about them, or simply visiting them. We will consider the differing types of institutions that exhibitions are shown within (for example a Museum vs an artist-run-centre vs a biennial), how that affects the curator-artist relationship, and how the factors of race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, and religion factor into, and affect, curatorial processes and institutional accessibility.
On the micro level we will focus on exhibitions, and the core of curatorial practice: working with artists, and placing objects together in a space to create a dialogue. This will include considerations such as conceptual narrative through hanging and adjacency - what dialogue can be created from placing artworks next to one another, and how do their material and conceptual concerns speak to, compliment or complicate one another? We will also go over curatorial “basics” such as working with artists on a solo versus a group exhibition, curating public art, and the aesthetics of physical context (a white cube vs a laundromat vs a billboard, for example). And, how are curatorial decisions made: how and why are artists selected over others? The important publication: Accessibility Toolkit: A Guide to Making Art Spaces Accessible, created by Tangled Arts + Disability and Humber College will also be shared and discussed. Artist talks will function as “studio visits” - a fun and integral aspect of curatorial research.
For the macro we will zoom out to focus on art institutions at large, asking what the different kinds of art institutions are that curators work with, how they are funded, and how their differences affect curatorial practices and curator-artist relationships today. We will also probe issues such as why museums are protested, and the role of biennials (and triennials etc.) both globally and locally. Critical art writing and the role of critics will be discussed, with an emphasis on exhibition reviews because they most often cover both the macro (the institution and its mandate), and the micro (the materiality of the artworks on view and how they are displayed).
In addition to this, time will be made to discuss a project each participant shares and works on throughout the program. These projects will be done outside of the gatherings, but shared for feedback as they evolve throughout the 7 weeks. A project could be: a group exhibition a curator is considering putting together, an upcoming exhibition an artist is working on, a critical text or exhibition review a writing is thinking through.
This workshop is ideal for: artists at any stage of their career, emerging curators, and emerging arts writers. It will provide an opportunity for the cohort to deepen their understanding of exhibitions, curating, arts institutions and the Toronto arts-ecosystem, while sharing and expanding their practice and the ability to make connections and strengthen community. Exhibition and publishing experience is not necessary.
This workshop is limited to 12 participants. Selected participants will be required to pay a $25 admin fee upon registration. The workshop will take place on consecutive Saturdays from October 25 to December 6, 2025, with each gathering lasting four hours.
This program is funded by the Toronto Arts Council.
Applications are due on September 14 at midnight.
