PinchukArtCentre offers with its curatorial platform a new chance for a new generation of Ukraine giving access to develop their competence on a high international professional level growing into a museum professional in the field of contemporary art related to program and exhibition. 

On October 12, 2011 PinchukArtCentre has opened an application call for the new Curatorial Platform – a two year full time program combining a theoretical and practical training. The programme is open for all Ukrainians up to 30 and will give them access to develop their competence on a high international professional level to become an expert in the curatorial work, exhibition, communication, publication, education, technique in the context of contemporary art museum.

Curatorial Platform is a training centre of the PinchukArtCentre based on it’s high institutional competence as well as the experience of its team of professionals offering access to the best practice and knowledge. All participants will be introduced to the different fields of exhibitions curating practices while working on national and international projects. They will be offered lectures, workshops and discussions by leading international experts all over the world.

The program has being developed and will be given by Dr. Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen, former Head of the Academy of Fine art in Vienna (2002-2011), in collaboration with by Christine Haupt-Stummer, M.A. and in close cooperation with Eckhard Schneider, General Director of the PinchukArtCentre as well as Björn Geldhof, artistic manager of the PinchukArtCentre.

Eckhard Schneider, General Director of the PinchukArtCentre: “The curatorial platform is a new important step in our ongoing commitment in UA art, artists and emerging UA generation as part of the education offensive of the PinchukArtCentre”.

Up to 5 applicants will be selected to follow the first course of the program during one year. All applicants will have a 3 months probation period. After that only 3 trainees will be selected to complete the second year course. The best students will have the chance to prolong the participation in the program for an extra year. All selected trainees will receive a minimal expenses reimbursement for the all duration of their studies.

The first year of the programme is devoted to developing a basic artistic understanding in form of generic skills of communications and teamwork, self-management, psychological understanding, critical awareness and historical consciousness. A theoretical training in different workshops will be given by leading international experts. The practical program will include a step by step experience imbedded into the structure of PinchukArtCentre.

The course will be focusing on the one field of the trainee’s specialisation such as:

• Curating;
• Exhibition Management;
• Communication;
• Education;
• Publication;
• Marketing;
• Technique;
• Sponsoring.

Requirements to the applicants:

All applicants should send a Cover Letter delivering applicants’ motivation as well as a CV (both in English) to: tykhonova@pinchukfund.org 

Applicants should:

• have a commitment to develop themselves professionally in the field of contemporary art;
• speak and write fluently English;
• to be up to 30 years old;
• have a higher education;
• background in arts and/or communication is an advantage.

An application deadline is October 31, 2011.

Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen studied linguistics, philosophy and communcationdesign in Cologne, Constanz and Wuppertal. In the eighties he worked as an art critique in Cologne and started to teach and do exhibitions. In the nineties he was the director of the Kunstverein in Hamburg, where he experimented with new forms of exhibition design (‚backstage’, ‚fast forward’) and showed a lot of today’s well known artist in an early stage of their career Schmidt-Wulffen was the head of the Academy of Fine art in Vienna between 2002 and 2011 and is now rector of the New Design University St.Pölten. He taught at Kunsthochschule Hamburg, Columbia University, Bard College among others and was advisor to museums (mesée d’art moderne, Luxembourg) as well as to universities (Kadir Has University, Istanbul, Free University Bozen, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen). Since 2008 Schmidt-Wulffen is also the co-editor of ‘Exhibition Histories’ a book series on the history of exhibitions in 20^th century done by Afterall, London.

Christine Haupt-Stummer studied art history at Vienna University and at the Freie Universität Berlin. Between 1996 and 2001 she organized seminars, workshops and excursions for the Viennese Institut für Kulturwissenschaften and its curatorial study program. During this time she was also working for the bogner.cultural consulting doing projects in museum development in Austria and abroad. In 2001 Haupt-Stummer founded ‘section.a’, an art and design consulting office doing exhibitions and artistic projects for public and private institutions. Haupt-Stummer teaches since 2002 for instance at the University of Klagenfurt or the Wiener Kunstschule. Since 2006 she is a member of the faculty of the curatorial study program ‚ecm/educating, curating, managing’ of the  University of Applied Art, Vienna.&