For the first six weeks of the spring term, the University of Exeter’s MA Curation course was on residency at Camden Art Centre (CAC), London NW3. CAC provides a regular programme of artist residencies and learning activity but this was the first time they’d hosted MA students in this way. Based in the heart of the city for our Art Writing module, we had the chance to meet experts in the world of contemporary art – writers, editors, curators and artists. We spoke to leaders in the field and we learned about how to approach art writing and curating a show. We met Sally O’Reilly who taught us all about the style of free writing. We met Ben Eastham who is an art critic, editor-in-chief of art-agenda and co-founder of The White Review – it was very interesting to learn about how he approaches writing art reviews. We learned about preparing exhibition panels and interpretation with Camden Art Centre curator Kiera Blakey, and about writing catalogue essays with Melissa Gronlund. We also did presentations to the class about recent exhibitions and we looked into mission statements and project pitches.

Whilst we were studying at Camden Art Centre, there was a new exhibition taking place. We learned about the different gallery spaces that the Centre has. The first room was a big room with lots of light coming through the windows. French Caribbean artist Julien Creuzet’s work was on display. His work was interesting because his materials were varied, using floor space as well as dangling artefacts from the ceiling. There was also a mini screen on the wall that showed his work. This was interesting and we learned that there are lots of roles in a curatorial team when putting on a show. We learned that we have to give installation lots of time and planning before the show itself. We must self-evaluate all the time. Our programme at Camden Art Centre also showed us the importance of the press release and how we need to have photographs and text ready to send to the press months or years in advance of a show.

In the other gallery spaces, there was a show of work by Allison Katz. We were guided by Kiera Blakey who curated the show. This was an excellent insight into how the show was brought together and she knew lots about the artist. Kiera was able to describe everything about each individual piece and what each each piece brought to the show. Allison Katz’s posters were the most interesting part because the artist’s work really highlighted the need for marketing. At Camden Art Centre, we learned all about budgeting and fundraising and the importance of marketing for a target audience. Everyone was very friendly at Camden Art Centre and it was exciting to see behind the scenes at a leading art institution in London.

Now that we have studied at this Art Centre, we can be more familiar with such an institution and how it operates. Camden Art Centre has artist studios, a garden space, a shop and a lovely café too! The Centre offered us a classroom area where we could study and speak to the experts. In this environment, we were able to have conversations in an art space. Thanks to our time at Camden Art Centre, we are more prepared for when we pitch our project proposals before the final stage of our masters course!

Anni Cheng

Read the other articles in the MA Curation Internship Blog Series here.