ART A6904: Curating Asian Art at City College

About this course

What does it mean to curate? What does it mean to curate Asian art? This graduate seminar examines curatorial practices, theoretical frameworks, and ethical questions involved in exhibiting Asian and Asian American art in museum and gallery contexts, with particular attention to New York City. The course interrogates how histories of colonialism, nationalism, diaspora, and globalization have shaped the collection, interpretation, and display of Asian and Asian American art, as well as how artists, curators, and alternative spaces have contested these frameworks. Focusing on case studies of modern and contemporary Asian/American art exhibitions, the seminar engages broader questions of representation, authorship, audience, and institutional power. Students will critically analyze how exhibitions construct meaning and produce knowledge, while also developing an understanding of curatorial methodologies. Assignments include exhibition reviews, collaborative projects, and the development of an original curatorial proposal. The course culminates in a sustained inquiry into curating identity, examining how categories such as race, ethnicity, nationality, and gender are negotiated through exhibitions, and how curatorial practice might intervene in dominant frameworks of representation.