Skip to content
Arnolfini - est 1961


This two-day curatorial intensive will dynamically traverse the field of artists’ film and video exploring it both as a gallery-based installation and as a live event. Through screening and discussion, we will address the theory and practice of curating moving images.

The curatorial intensive is designed to combine an overview of the exhibition histories of artists’ film and video with screening and discussion providing an important opportunity to discuss the opportunities and challenges offered. Conversation with invited guests and curated screenings are at the centre of our programme. The intensive is divided into four sessions across two days that focus on working with moving images in relation to different sites of display from the auditorium to the gallery and beyond. In addition, we will consider different uses of film and video from screen-based presentation to its activation in sculpture and performance.

The curatorial intensive is led by Bridget Crone, with input from Al Cameron (Arnolfini) and invited guests. Bridget is a curator and writer who teaches curating at Goldsmiths, The University of London and The University of Essex. Bridget has 15 years of experience of curating in a wide variety of contexts including the Melbourne International Biennial (1999), The Showroom (2003-6) and was most recently the artistic director of Media Art Bath (2006-11), Bridget has a particular interest in curating moving image and performance-based practice, and has published a book on the subject – The Sensible Stage: Staging and the Moving Image (Picture This / Cornerhouse, 2012). She established the Film Exercise programme in 2009, which she curates with Al Cameron.

Based on the successful methodology of Film Exercise, the workshop will be based on screening and discussion with special invited guests and course attendees alike. We will exercise ideas in relation to artists’ film and video providing a forum to share our ideas, experience and practices. This is a rare opportunity to discuss the challenges and delights of curating moving images with a particular focus on artists’ film and video.

The course will be suitable for artists, curators, artist-curators, students and early-mid career professionals with an interest in artists’ film and video and moving image practice.

Download the programme outline here.

CURATING THE MOVING IMAGE: SESSION LEADER BIOS

Bridget Crone (course leader) is a curator and writer who teaches curating at Goldsmiths, The University of London and The University of Essex. Bridget was most recently the artistic director of Media Art Bath (2006-11), and has experience of curating in a wide variety of contexts including the Melbourne International Biennial (1999), The Showroom (2003-6). Bridget has published extensively and recently edited The Sensible Stage: Staging and the Moving Image (Picture This / Cornerhouse, 2012). She established the Film Exercise programme in 2009, which she curates with Al Cameron at the Arnolfini.

William Fowler is Curator of Artists’ Moving Image at the BFI National Archive where he undertakes film restoration projects and co-programmes the BFI Southbank cinema strands: Essential Experiments and The Flipside. He presents films internationally and has written for amongst others the Guardian, Frieze, Sight and Sound and Framework.  Previous projects have included GAZWRX: the films of Jeff Keen, Here’s a Health to the Barley Mow, The Lacey Rituals: Films by Bruce Lacey (and Friends) (which included a new film by Nick Abrahams and Jeremy Deller), and Queer Pagan Punk: Derek Jarman the largest of season of Jarman’s work ever mounted in the UK.

Dan Kidner is a curator and writer. He was previously director of Picture This, Bristol (2011 – 2013) and co-director of City Projects, London (2004 – 2011). Over the past 10 years he has produced many artists’ films including Fulll Firearms by Emily Wardill (2011), Abyss by Knut Åsdam and The Empty Plan by Anja Kirschner and David Panos (both 2010). He has edited several books including most recently Working Together: British Film Collectives in the 1970s

Maeve Connolly is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Film, Art & Creative Technologies at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dublin. Her publications include The Place of Artists’ Cinema: Space, Site and Screen (Bristol and Chicago: Intellect and University of Chicago Press, 2009), recent contributions to journals such as Afterall, Frieze, Journal of Curatorial Studies, Millennium Film Journal, MIRAJ, and The Velvet Light Trap, and catalogue essays on the work of various artists, including Phil Collins, Alex Martinis Roe and Bea McMahon. Her new book, TV Museum: Contemporary Art and the Age of Television, will be published by Intellect in March 2014.

How to apply, costs & information

The course costs £65 in advance or £50 at a concessionary rate to students. The course will run from 10am-5.30pm on Friday 21 March, and 11am-5pm on Saturday 22 March. Basic refreshments will be provided but participants will be expected to make their own travel, accommodation and meal arrangements. 

Due to the limited capacity and social nature of the course we ask that those interested in taking part apply in writing to courses@arnolfini.org.uk stating in no more than 250 words your reasons for wanting to participate. Please include any relevant career information and date of birth. No former experience of curating is required but some evidence of knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject is essential. Proficiency in English is also necessary. Please email courses@arnolfini.org.uk if you require further information about the course or course content.

Deadline for applications is end of day Friday 28 February 2014. Please be ready to pay the course fee on notification of acceptance via Arnolfini’s box office.