Course Calendar

“I have wanted for so long to own and maintain even a few huge, interlocking thoughts that, having exhausted more legitimate methods, I have recently resorted to theoretical speculation.”
— Nicholson Baker, The Size of Thoughts, 1983

Criticism & Curatorial Practice offers a cross-disciplinary program intended for students interested in pursuing a career that includes the fields of curating, writing, exhibition production and art practice. Linking Art and Liberal Arts & Sciences, Criticism & Curatorial Practice provides an environment that extends into a wide range of disciplines, from philosophy and art history to current practices and theories of contemporary art and design.

The curriculum draws on the richly varied resources available across OCAD University, and through required courses helps students develop methods to define their own practice. To assist in this, the core faculty includes curators, writers, academics and artists respected in their fields for their teaching and supervisory skills.

Students have an ongoing opportunity to apply their skills through field-study arrangements with Toronto galleries, museums, alternative spaces and publications. Graduates are uniquely positioned to develop and define their own roles in the art and design world, both in Canada and internationally. A contemporary arts environment in which critically informed collaborations occur between artists, curators, writers and designers has become a hallmark of engaged practice. It is an environment that offers students of the program an exciting and fulfilling future at the centre of today’s visual culture.

Thesis and Directed Studies Option

At the 400 level, students must choose between the Thesis and the Directed Studies option.

Thesis Option

The Thesis Research and Presentation option offers Criticism & Curatorial Practice majors the opportunity to undertake an in-depth curatorial or criticism project. It is expected that students undertaking a curatorial project will produce a catalogue (either print or web-based) in conjunction with their exhibition. Students who elect to focus on criticism are expected to produce a major piece of writing on an aspect of contemporary art and/or theory. The expected length of the written document for students focusing on criticism is in the range of 25 to 40 pages. Students considering the Thesis option are advised to begin formulating their project in the summer preceding their Thesis year.

Direct Studies Option

Criticism & Curatorial Practice majors can elect to take Directed Studies in their fourth year instead of Thesis Research and Presentation. Directed Studies provides a concentrated area of study of modern and contemporary art and is recommended for students whose primary focus is critical writing and/or who wish to pursue graduate studies in Art History, Cultural Studies or a related field. Students take 2.0 credits in 300 or 400 level liberal Visual Culture (VISA/VISC/VISD/VISM) and Humanities (HUMN) courses that address modern and contemporary visual culture.

All students who elect the Directed Studies option are strongly encouraged to meet with the Chair of Cross-Disciplinary Art Practices to discuss the courses they have chosen.

Minors

It is strongly recommended that students consider pairing their Criticism & Curatorial Practice major with a minor. Students should keep in mind that courses required for their major cannot be counted towards their minor. There is also a limit to how many elective courses can be shared between a major and minor as outlined in the Policy for Minors. As the required courses for a Criticism & Curatorial Practice major include a large number of History and Theory of Visual Culture courses, Criticism & Curatorial Practice majors may not pursue an Art History minor.