Exhibition Protocols

Exhibitions are an important part of the public profile of the Department and for students. They provide an essential part of the educational experience of an undergraduate degree. Every graduate will be required to know the protocols of exhibiting and to have some experience of preparing works for public presentation. Within the three years of your undergraduate degree and during your postgraduate studies you will have several opportunities to show your work in an exhibition and to develop the necessary skills associated with mounting a professional presentation of your work.

Principles

To ensure that you are given the opportunity to develop the range of skills involved in a professional presentation, the Department has identified the following principles for student exhibitions run as part of the Department's educational program.

Each proposal must have Department approval

If an exhibition is proposed within an area, by an individual or a group of student as part of a course unit, it is essential that the project has the approval of the full staff by being presented as a formal proposal for discussion at a Department of Art Staff Meeting. A recommended pro-forma would include:

Exhibition title and thesis (what is it about, what are its aims why you are doing it.)

• Venue, dates and who is involved and what are their roles (e.g. Curator, exhibitor, publicity officer, fund-raising manager, etc.)
• Number of works proposed.
• Any presentation or hanging requirements. (e.g. technology required, darkened space, display boxes, etc.)
• Opening function (personnel, costs etc.)
• Sponsorship proposal (who you intend to approach and why.)
• If any support is requested from the Department.
• The name of the staff member who has agreed to be a liaison person for the Department.
• Which students are seeking credit in respect of the project by enrolling in a Professional Practicum unit.

Professional Experience (linked to Professional Practicum units)

To ensure that this is a learning experience that has long term value and one that does not tax students unduly in terms of time and energy while studying full-time, it is a requirement that students enroll in a Professional Practicum unit. This must be organised as quickly as possible and before the cut-off dates for enrolment in a new unit in each semester.

Professional Presentation

It is essential that students understand the demands of appropriate professional presentation skills. To ensure this we recommend that students avail themselves of the considerable expertise to be found within the Department and the John Curtin Gallery. Staff from these areas in the University have many years of experience in organising exhibitions and their participation will greatly facilitate the planning and success of any exhibition.

Appropriate Media Coverage

There is no point in holding an exhibition that no one sees, therefore one of the essential skills is how to contact and convince the media that they should provide coverage of your exhibition. Staff within the Department have experience of working with the media and agencies on campus. For example, Public Affairs have a section that is devoted to generating stories about Curtin in the Media. There are also the University publicity organs such as The Voice and Grok newspapers, Enews and 6NR radio station. This should not be an after-thought but a key element in your planning and one of the participants should be given responsibility for managing the media campaign.

Cost & Time Efficiency

A key element in any successful exhibition is that it is time and cost effective. Make use of University facilities, such as Printing services to print invitations and catalogues, Public Affairs and on-campus forms of advertising such as Enews.

Preparing an exhibition is a very time consuming and potentially a very resource demanding activity. Planning with staff how to best tackle the mounting of an exhibition will ensure that you take optimum advantage of the resources and expertise at hand.

Graduate Exhibitions

Each year the Department will organise an exhibition of Honours and Postgraduate students in the John Curtin Gallery. This show will be selected and curated by staff from the John Curtin Gallery and the Department of Art and will be held in all the gallery spaces, including the concourse, during December. An exhibition of graduating Bachelor of Arts students will be held in the Department studios in tandem with this event. These exhibitions represent the official exhibiting focus of graduating students.

Exhibitions on Campus

During the year students may wish to hold exhibitions of their work within the Department. All such requests must be made in writing to the Department and the following guidelines must be adhered too. This includes the exhibition to be held at the end of the year in tandem with the Department's Graduate exhibition in the John Curtin Gallery.

Studio Show

If studio areas or groups of students wish to have an exhibition in any of the Department's studios they must be designed as a `Studio Show' which does not require dismantling the screens or layout of the studios. Art facilities can be booked for use under a `make-good' arrangement with the Department i.e. if a wall is painted or nails are used the wall must be repaired and re-painted to `as new' condition.

Using other gallery facilities

The University does have other exhibition facilities such as that in the Engineering & Architecture buildings. These can be booked through the Department of Art in negotiation with the Schools and Departments involved and the John Curtin Gallery.

Hanging Arrangements, booking spaces, lighting and 'making-good'

Any group of students wishing to hold an exhibition must enter into negotiations with the Department through a staff member to ensure that the arrangements for lighting, hanging etc. are acceptable to the Department and that an appropriate contract to `make good' those spaces is in place.

Using University services

Students are encouraged to use the University services such as Public Affairs, Printing Services, 6NR etc. to facilitate the efficient management of these events.

Opening Functions

Students must ensure that they have Department approval before any event such as an opening is planned to make sure that invitations, invitation list and press releases meet University and School requirements.

Exhibitions off Campus

The Department is keen to assist students if they wish to organise off-campus exhibitions, especially if they nominate in their advertising or publicity that they are Curtin events. All such requests must be made in writing to the Department and the following guidelines must be adhered too.

Self Funding

The event must be self-funding. The Department cannot support all the exhibitions that are proposed and so any exhibition run through any outside venue must have a budget attached. Students involved in exhibitions through PICA, the Fremantle Arts Centre, Craftwest etc. must generate independent funding.

Sponsorship guidelines

One way to generate funding is to work with the staff within the Department to identify possible sponsors. Your exhibition proposal must include a list of possible sponsors and these must be confirmed with the Department before any approach is made.

Professional Practicum Component

Students involved in these exhibitions must be enrolled in a Professional Practicum unit to ensure staff supervision and a monitor on work loads.

Sales and Catalogue Staff can assist with pricing, and where appropriate, in consultation with the venue assist in planning the publication of any catalogues.

University Equipment and resources

Refer to 'Borrowing equipment' section in the study guide.

For further advice on any of these matters explain your proposal to a staff member or make an appointment to see the Head of Department.