This module focuses on art museums and galleries in Europe and North America. The first part takes a historical and theoretical view of galleries and museums, introducing students to a variety of permanent collections, exhibition spaces and concepts of display. Local collections as well as those associated with the canon of Art History will take prominence, providing not only a contextualisation of the specific collection on which the students concentrate in their assignment, but also introducing an approach to the art work as a displayed object.
The second part provides an insight into museum departments; those of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts will be taken as an example to explore curating, publicity and marketing, interpretation/education and finance. Workshops will help students apply gained knowledge to the various aspects involved in organising an exhibition. The module is largely based on group work, which is also dealt with as a topic in the module.