Exhibition

An exhibition of works celebrating the opening of the new MA Curatorial Practice space. Curated by department chair Steven Henry Madoff and deputy chair Jovana Stokic, "Knowing Space" explores the relationship between architecture and pedagogy, and the intersection of space and knowledge. Participating artists include Dénes Farkas, Jesper Just, Ligorano/Reese, Sarah Oppenheimer, Kate Shepherd, and Lebbeus Woods. Presented by MA Curatorial Practice.

Madoff and Stokic explain:

“This exhibition considers the relationship between architecture and pedagogy, which can be thought of as an examination of the spatialization of knowledge. The artists in this exhibition represent the intersection, fusion and interrogation of the ways space and knowledge production manifest themselves. How does space embody knowledge and its making? How is space filled with meaning, and what are the spaces within knowledge? Art historian and cultural theorist Aby Warburg spoke about the ‘interval,’ the space between the viewer and the work of art. He called it a space of ‘suffering excitement,’ in which the emotional and sensual reaction to the work and the rational assimilation of the work in thought are brought together in space.

“The curating embodied in ‘Knowing Space’ is an expression of spatial meaning-making. This knowledgization of space overflows with transfers, delays, intersections, interpretations, meditations and mediations. Shaped space, designed space, built space, imagined space, teaching space and space for teaching, physical and ethereal, are outlines in the air, passageways through which meanings are carried, dispensed, and distributed. Architecture and teaching, and curating, too, are means of stepping forward and stepping back, to be in—to be in knowing, to go through.”

SVA MA Curatorial Practice is a two-year, 50-credit professional training program that addresses the exponential growth of curatorial venues worldwide and the ongoing establishment of curatorial practice as a discipline. The program emphasizes hands-on training with working professionals, a thorough grounding in history and theory, and attention to curatorial work across the visual arts, design, film, new media, performance and research-based cultural production.