/ecm Study Program in Exhibition Theory and Practice

The Vienna-based /ecm—Study Program in Exhibition Theory and Practice is welcoming applications for 2024–26. 

Engaged curatorial practice
How can museums change society? What consequences can curatorial actions have? Curators and educators, organizers and designers, artists and scholars today are looking for ways not only to critically analyse existing notions and narratives of exhibition-making but also to intervene in them and reformulate them through curatorial practices. The /ecm Study Program in Exhibition Theory and Practice at the University of Applied Arts Vienna is a two-year, postgraduate program that provides comprehensive knowledge and skills in the expanded field of museums and exhibitions. In collaborative processes, we experiment with different methods of curatorial research, theory and practice. This approach enables the emergence of discourses, caesuras and horizons that challenge the canon, occupy exhibition spaces and the public sphere, and seek not only to digitize museums and collections but above all to democratize them.

Contents
/educating stands for the reflective mediation of knowledge and an emancipatory understanding of education. /ecm is devoted to current approaches and experimental formats of art-and-culture education that turn exhibitions into spaces of action in museums and institutions, as well as in public spaces and on the web. 

/curating refers to the collection, selection and visualization of discourses, objects, art works, social issues and research processes. Based on a critical engagement with museology and cultural heritage, exhibition histories, collection policies, and cultures of digitality, it is about developing new forms of presenting and publicizing in analog and digital space.

/making means the contemporary organization of curatorial and educational projects. The focus is on a critical examination of institutional practices and the development of alternative structures and strategies.

Structure
We offer our program to a diverse group of max. 25 students. They may be anchored in institutions or freelancers in the art and culture sector; they deal with questions of display and presentation, education and communication, and have varied educational and professional backgrounds. 

Designed to be pursued alongside professional commitments, it takes place over four semesters and includes a total of 22 modules. The program offers two different paths:

(I) an associate Master’s degree program with a Master’s thesis, graduating with the academic title “Master of Arts (Continuing Education)”—abbreviated “MA (CE)”; (II) a university course with a practice-based research project, graduating with the academic title “Academic Curator”.

Admission requirements
German and English language skills in both written and spoken form; successful participation in the one-day admission seminar; mandatory enrollment for the entire course. Additionally: (I) the associate Master’s degree program requires a subject-related Bachelor’s degree with minimum 180 ECTS points and practical experience in the field; (II) the university course requires several years of relevant professional experience or a completed Bachelor’s degree.

Both options (I and II) are offered concurrently as a joint educational program. The distinctions lie in the admission requirements and the associated format of the graduation assignment.

Detailed information about the two paths here.

Directors team
Martina Griesser-Stermscheg, Head of the Research Institute at the Vienna Museum of Science and Technology / Christine Haupt-Stummer, section.a. Curatorial Collective / Renate Höllwart, Art and culture educator, Büro trafo.K / Beatrice Jaschke, purpurkultur—exhibiting, consulting, educating / Monika Sommer, Founding Director, House of Austrian History / Nora Sternfeld, Professor of Art Education at the HFBK Hamburg / Luisa Ziaja, Chief Curator, Belvedere Museum Vienna.

All team members are part of the association schnittpunkt. exhibition theory & practice. Further information here or via ecm [​at​] uni-ak.ac.at / T +43 699 106 95 175.