Curatorial Directions

Paul Stephen Benjamin, God Bless America, 2016, 3 channel video. Image courtesy the artist.‌

This November will see the third iteration of the MAC’s curatorial development programme Curatorial Directions which will take place across Belfast, Philadelphia and New York.

Set within the context of On Refusal: Representation & Resistance in Contemporary American Art, curated by the MAC’s Assistant Curator Clare Gormley and featuring artists Paul Stephen Benjamin, Elliott Jerome Brown Jr, Aria Dean, Troy Michie, Arcmanoro Niles and Sable Elyse Smith, this year’s Curatorial Directions programme will draw upon the exhibition’s core themes of resistance, social change and the collective conception of radical futures.

The programme invites eight emerging, early-career curators/programmers to engage in an intensive schedule of lectures, discussions, workshops and excursions examining certain key issues and ideas regarding contemporary curatorial practice around the theme of Art Making and Curating in Times of Crisis.

The programme will address these issues in a participatory and collaborative manner, led by the MAC curatorial team and involving a dynamic roster of guest speakers and experts from various areas in the field of curating contemporary art and social activism.

The eight curators are:

• Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell
• Siobhán Kelly
• Alessia Cargnelli
• Camara Taylor
• Clarissa Aidar
• Bilal Akkouche
• Jane Morrow
• Caimin Walsh