The 2021 edition of the IMPAKT Full Spectrum Curatorship Programme has just come to an end. For this second edition, over the course of 3 months, 12 selected participants developed their own curatorial project, guided by international curators Paulien Dresscher, Katerina Gregos, Doreen Ríos, Angelique Spaninks, Florian Wüst, and Wade Wallerstein, who gave lectures presenting their practice and views on curating. Below we highlight the projects and experiences of some of the participants of this 2021 edition. 

The Full Spectrum Curatorship Programme is IMPAKT’s curatorial programme especially designed emerging and aspiring curators with a specific interest in media art and its relationship to technology and society. The programme aims to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and the practical and substantive aspects of curation in the field of media art and contemporary arts dealing with digital technologies and online environments.

Interested in the Full Spectrum Curatorship programme?
In 2022 we will start a new edition of the Full Spectrum Curatorship Programme.
More information and open call for participants will follow soon.
You can also sign up here and we can contact you as soon as the open call is online.

Open Call 2022

Katažyna Jankovska

The project Aletheiagoria/An Aquatic Tale of Future Ecologies delves into the complexity of decaying marine ecosystems and looks into mythological narratives and tales as a potential generative power for alternate worlds and interspecies futures. Drawing inspiration from Aby Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas the project traces back the multiple historic and visual references of (sea) creatures that take ever-new forms in today’s technology-driven world and appear as a promise of a foreseeable post-human world.

Katažyna is a media researcher currently based in Rotterdam. She graduated from Vilnius Academy of Arts with a BA degree in Arts History and Theory and has recently completed her Master of Arts and Culture Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her scholarly and curatorial interests include critical post-humanism with a specific focus on new media, digital technologies and world-building practices.

“Today, with the emergence of a variety of new curatorial practices, this virtual residency offered a space to reflect and exchange insights on traditional and alternative curatorial approaches in both the physical and the virtual worlds. While providing an opportunity to hear about challenges and tips from experienced curators, each meeting inspired me to think differently about every detail of my initial proposal”.

Kate Benedict

Inside the Outside World is a speculative digital metaverse and a growing, mutating hydro-organism. The project derives from the writings of feminist philosophers Astrida Neimanis and Luce Irigaray, who consider water as a site of commons and a force of differentiation. Through a hydrofeminist lens, Inside the Outside World reimagines ways of aqueously extending through time and space in a context of deep ecological, technological, and social mutation.

Kat(e) Benedict is a queer, non-binary artist, cyber-witch, writer and organizer. Their research focuses on gender, performance, new media ritual and social remapping within queer ecologies. With this research, they explore the intersection of futurisms, technologies and the radical possibilities of queer bodies, whether in physical, digital or linguistic spheres. They founded the virtual-first platform <CTRL + SHIFT> and are the former curator of the Toronto-based project space, Bunker 2. They received their MA from the School of Visual Arts.

“The IMPAKT residency was an intimate forum to further develop my practice under other art practitioners working with a media-specific analysis. I enjoyed the programme’s interdisciplinary approach, which fluidly mixes practice, research and theory to emphasise the deeply entwined nature of education and professional engagement. Thank you!”

Caroline Fucci

Rethinking the Hyperlink @BR – Art ‘post-internet’? is an online exhibition which aims to rethink the hyperlink within contemporary art produced in a post-internet context in Brazil. The project proposal brings together video works made in 2020 and 21 by Brazilian artists who explore digital identities, iconographies, resources and media while paying attention to the current moment of crisis. The selected works respond to the critical political situation in Brazil and to the hyperlinked virtual structure in which we live.

Caroline Fucci is a researcher and curator based in Rio de Janeiro. She holds an MSc in Modern and Contemporary Art: History, Curating and Criticism from the University of Edinburgh, where she pursued her studies as a Chevening Scholar. Her research interests lie in the areas of contemporary art and globalisation, curatorial practices from/of the Global South, and the relationship between new media and identity politics. She currently collaborates with @zait_art, an online platform dedicated to the study of contemporary art theory and practice.

“The two-pronged approach of the programme, which combines theory with practice, has contributed greatly to my professional development as a curator. I had the opportunity to deepen my theoretical knowledge on contemporary art and digital media, and to develop new skills related to the practicalities involved in the organisation of exhibitions and cultural projects. I’ve really appreciated the inspiring and enriching sessions with the coaches and fellow participants.”

Barbara Seyerl

Seyerl’s initial proposal for the IMPAKT Curatorship Programme featured a list of contemporary artists working in digital media. She was thinking of creating a theoretical framework for their work which in turn would provide the basis for an exhibition. During the programme, which was held on Zoom due to Covid travel restrictions, she quickly noticed that she was more interested in the actual setting, and in creating content for this specific situation. Inspired by the artist Marcos Lutyens, she wrote an audio piece which allowed the participants of the programme to experience the digital artwork – in this case we made a visit to the studio of avatar artist LaTurbo Avedon – not via their devices and interfaces, but through the power of imagination.

Barbara Seyerl has a background in Architecture, Art History, Asian Studies and Art. Her research interests include post-humanism and trans-humanism, cyborg art, science fiction, AI and the politics of the Internet. She is currently working as a curatorial and research assistant to the steirischerherbst contemporary arts festival in Graz, Austria. Her texts have been featured in German language exhibition catalogues and Springerin magazine. Lastly, she is interested in telling stories and building settings – both mentally and physically – in which people can experience their surroundings in novel ways.

“I really enjoyed IMPAKT’s Full Spectrum Curatorship Programme. The bi-weekly meetings quickly became a source of joy and inspiration. I particularly enjoyed the participants-only tutorials and the one-on-one with my coach, who provided great input and really helped me move on with my proposal. I loved that I was able to be flexible with my proposal and experiment, through which I got to know my own practice better.”

Marjolein van der Loo

The exhibition Sleeping under the Banyan Tree looks at plants as agents and witnesses in the Western European colonial project and asks how we can collaborate and learn from (and with) plants in decentring the human and exercising decolonial thinking? Next to wonder and appreciation for vegetal beauty, brilliant design and generous forms of existence, the artworks, objects and exercises in the exhibition touch upon modes of coexistence, reciprocity, embodied knowledge, sensory learning, storytelling and imagination.

Marjolein van der Loo is a curator, art educator and artist from the Netherlands. She recently curated the Student Day programme for Kiasma museum in Helsinki, and the storytelling festival Once Upon a Town, initiated by Bureau Europa in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Marjolein has bachelor’s degrees in art history from Utrecht University and art education from Zuyd University, with honours. She is currently completing her MA in visual cultures, curating and contemporary art at Aalto University in Finland and lecturing at Maastricht Institute of Arts.

“I would describe the programme as versatile, inspiring, and supportive. The variety of people, approaches and subjects that are part of the programme create an all-around perspective on curatorship and add valuable reflections useful for my own practice. Conversing with peers and supporting each other in developing projects is invaluable and essential for in(ter)dependent curators. Working with Katerina Gregos as my mentor was such a boon; she had many practical tips and useful advice on the text and conceptual approaches.”

Nicky Ni 

“One Thousand Years: An Archive-Exhibition of Long Projects” collects and delves into a selection of artworks whose proclaimed durations of unfolding significantly surpass the average lifespan of a human being. Monumentally long projects prompt us to reconfigure ourselves in an ever-changing landscape constantly altered by technological inscriptions and threatened by climate change. This research-based, online archive-exhibition aims to critically discuss these artworks in relation to subjects such as deep time, planned obsolescence, and slowness.

Nicky Ni is a Chinese curator and writer living in Chicago. She is co-founder of TNL @theneulithium, an online editorial and curatorial platform for time-based and media art. Her curatorial projects have appeared at Conversations at the Edge, Mana Contemporary, Museum of Contemporary Photography, among others. Her writing can be found on Newcity, Chicago Artist Writers and Sixty Inches from Center. Nicky graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MA) and Northwestern University (BS).

“The Full Spectrum Curatorship Program lives up to its title: full spectrum! From ways to launch oneself as a curator to the nitty-gritty of creating a budget, the program was informative, hands-on, and a great opportunity to make friends and connections. I feel incredibly honored to have worked under the mentorship of Florian Wüst and together with an international cohort of like-minded emerging curators. Thank you IMPAKT!”

Stéphane Kabila

Stéphane Kabila’s ongoing project ‘Geometry of Desire, Ar(t)cheology of Knowledge’ offers an alternative way of producing knowledge and rethinking our experiences with words. This project is a series of performative discussions in different cities to situate (multi-)media art practices in particular contexts in the current health crisis. How can we have a critical and creative vision on culture? It has been presented as a participatory performance at Waza art center in 2019 and at the Livingstone Office for Contemporary Art in March 2020. This project is inspired by the French’s philosopher René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire; the notion of the colonial library coined by the Congolese philosopher Mudimbe Valentin, the alphabet book (Abécédaire) by Gilles Deleuze, and the knowledge of Donna Haraway.

Kabila is a curator and researcher based in D.R.Congo. He is an exhibition coordinator at the Livingstone office for Contemporary Art, a member of the Lubumbashi working group Another Roadmap of Arts Education Africa Cluster, and involved at Waza Art Center through exhibition curating, talks, and critical writing. Kabila is a student of the MA Curatorial Practice at the University of Bergen (KMD) in Norway. Starting from philosophical theories, Kabila works at the intersection of artistic and curatorial practices, resulting in dialogues and exhibition productions. He is interested in how the mobility of knowledge – including the movement of people, ideas, objects, and trade – affects our everyday lives. 

“The Full Spectrum Curatorship program has taught me how to move from a face-to-face curatorial project to a hybrid digital practice. Another thing I took from the program are the discussions with the coach and colleagues about possible collaborations. The quality of the speakers and exchanges allowed me to improve the project and to be able to realize it in the near future. The topic of searching for funding came up in most of the discussions with the mentors and facilitators. The Full Spectrum Curatorship program is a good opportunity to learn about curating and to meet other experienced curators working in the arts”.