Making the World More Than Less Real: Intersectional Feminisms in Curatorial Education and Criticism.

Making the World More Than Less Real
Intersectional Feminisms in Curatorial Education and Criticism
A two-day assembly featuring lectures, workshops, and screenings.

Speakers: Marwa Arsanios, Rebecca Jane Arthur, Barbara Debeuckelaere, Annie Jael Kwan, Autocoscienza Writing Group (Alessia Arcuri, Lucia Farinati, Sara Paiola, and Sara Ortolani), Laura Huertas Millán, Nuraini Juliastuti, Benny Nemer, Laura Palau, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez, Matylda Taszycka (AWARE), Lola Olufemi, and more.

Organising Committee: Sonia D'Alto, Jana J. Haeckel, Laura Herman, Isabel Van Bos
in collaboration with the Archival Sensations Research Cluster

Location

Zwarte Zaal, Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK), School of Arts of University College Ghent, Louis Pasteurlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium

Kunsthal Gent, Lange Steenstraat 14, 9000 Ghent

schoolofartsgent.be
curatorialstudies.be

About

The convergence of feminism and curatorial practice is rooted in a history sparked by the exclusion of women artists from exhibitions, collections, and art education. Over time, this movement has grown, embracing a spectrum of feminist perspectives that build and unravel archives, challenge narratives, create new ways of seeing and interpretative frameworks, and expose structural inequalities within the art world. In recent years, curating has increasingly explored evolving notions of citizenship, politics, and public participation, particularly in the context of social justice and activism. This shift has been informed by a wide range of feminist viewpoints, including Black feminism, decolonial feminism, ecofeminism, hydrofeminism, crip feminism, and transfeminism. These theories have introduced crucial tools and concepts such as care, intersectionality, and situatedness, offering a critical examination of power dynamics and revealing the intertwined layers of domination and marginalisation. Today, intersectional feminist thought drives movements toward equality, freedom, and care, questioning rigid gender lines and reshaping how we understand power. This spirit of transformation flows through the art world, influencing curatorial practice. Yet, while artistic innovation often guides curatorial shifts, it doesn't always reach the deeper layers of educational methods.

With this in mind, Curatorial Studies asks: How do we weave intersectional feminist perspectives into the fabric of curatorial education, in step with an ever-shifting cultural landscape? Feminist pedagogy, grounded in feminist and critical theory, emphasises shared power in learning environments. It recognises that knowledge is socially produced through collaboration and addresses power dynamics within the classroom. It asks us to see traditional structures anew, through a feminist lens, and create spaces where marginalised voices resonate and rise. Here, participants don’t just absorb the programme’s content—they shape it—urging us to face the uneven terrain of knowledge itself. What if we turn towards curation that feels, that embraces the body, experience, and fluidity—an interdisciplinary and affective practice? And what of the connections between (un)learning, care, and the labour of parenthood? These, too, ask for our attention. As bell hooks reminds us in Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope, education should reach beyond theory, engaging with real-world complexities, advocating for education that goes beyond theory to address lived realities.

The conference will feature panel presentations, keynote speakers, breakout sessions, and open discussions centred on pivotal questions: How can intersectional feminist curating inform pedagogical strategies in curatorial education? How can we hold space to teach concepts of care, situatedness, collective action, and responsibility in curatorial practice? Additionally, we will explore the current landscape of intersectional feminist art criticism and writing, focusing not just on representing female artists or critiquing art history, but on the practice of feminist writing as a form of wor(l)d-building.

The four breakout sessions will invite students, curators, artists, researchers, and the wider public into intimate, closed workshops, each aligned with the key themes and presentations of the conference. These sessions will serve as spaces for reflection on feminist strategies, exploring new pedagogical approaches and working together to craft a Code of Practice—a set of actionable ideas to reshape structures and curricula in art schools and cultural institutions. Each group will be guided by KASK researchers—Barbara Debeuckelaere, Benny Nemer, Laura Palau, and Rebecca Jane Arthur—who will share their research, steer discussions, and support the collaborative development of this transformative code.