Call for nomadic curator 2024–2025

Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art presents experimental contemporary art. With our program, we want to surprise and encourage reflection amongst the widest possible audience—local and international. At Vleeshal, promising artists can broaden and deepen their practice by developing new works, in dialogue with the specific context in which they are shown. Under the current director Roos Gortzak, artists such as Cally Spooner, Ola Vasiljeva, Simone Forti, Andrea Éva Györi, Matthew Lutz-Kinoy and Paul Maheke took on this challenge.

Especially in our current world, dominated by fast-paced consumer capitalism and a culture of experience, we believe that it is of increasing importance to build and nurture spaces for radical experiment. Spaces where there is time to slow down, try out, make mistakes, and learn from that process. Imposing proportions, a Gothic vaulted ceiling and a tiled chessboard floor make our unique exhibition space in Middelburg (a former meat market) the perfect venue for such experimentation. It is a welcome but demanding alternative to the common white cube. Since 2015, Vleeshal has expanded its aim to provide space for experimentation beyond the walls of our Middelburg home base. In that year, we kicked off our nomadic program, to further research what it means to present artworks in unconventional places and unusual contexts, for the artists, the curators as well as the audience. We have since organized performances, exhibitions, and other programs all over the world. 

In 2020, just before the coronavirus started changing the world we live in, Vleeshal was awarded a structural, four-year governmental subsidy by the Dutch Ministry of Culture (BIS) to execute a program centered around the notion “Rituals of Care” in the period 2021–2024. The newly attained BIS subsidy also allowed Vleeshal to expand the nomadic program, and we wanted to use this opportunity to broaden our own institutional horizon, welcome perspectives that are embedded in different geographical and/or cultural contexts, and develop new audiences. So we put out an open call for a new, external nomadic curator, which lead to the appointment of duo Nomaduma Rosa Masilela and Thiago de Paula Souza for the years 2022–2023. As their tenure comes to an end this year, we are seeking (a) new nomadic curator(s) for the years 2024–2025.

As our new curator, you are able to give shape to the nomadic program according to your artistic vision. We ask you to not only reflect on the notion “Rituals of Care,” but also its newfound meanings in light of the pandemic. We are interested in a nomadic program that shows awareness of the manifold ways in which this pandemic changed the mechanisms of the (art) world. A nomadic program that critically engages with the notion of internationalism, and explores the very concept of nomadity in relation to locality and context.

About the position
The position of curator of the nomadic program is a 0,5 fte position, in other words: 18 hours per week. These hours can be independently distributed, according to the needs (and flow) of the project. The position starts at the beginning of 2024. The curator of the nomadic program can operate from their own local context and develop a program remotely, in dialogue with Vleeshal. We are looking for a candidate who has affinity with our mission and program, is both a critical and a practical thinker, and capable of working independently while also being an integral part of the Vleeshal team.

Candidates should have a relevant degree or equivalent professional experience. A minimum of two years of experience in curating is required, as well as an extensive professional network. Most importantly, however, our new nomadic curator should have a unique curatorial vision.

Candidates do not need to be based in the Netherlands to apply, nor does the chosen candidate need to relocate to the Netherlands.

Job description
As curator of the nomadic program you would:
–Coordinate and execute the different projects (performances, exhibitions, publications, events…) that together constitute Vleeshal’s nomadic program, in dialogue with the director. This includes research, conceptualisation, planning, production, administative and archival tasks.
–Hold a bimonthly (zoom) meeting with Vleeshal's director and curatorial assistants to maintain an inspiring level of exchange and feedback.
–Track and report on program expenditures and budget; you are in charge of additional funding applications that are specific to your projects
–Provide content for and oversee press and communication. This includes writing press releases, reaching out to appropriate media channels for coverage with the Vleeshal team, writing/proofreading the promotional material, newsletter, label copy, etc.
–Maintain a broad and current knowledge of activities in contemporary art and related fields on a global level; as well as an extensive global professional network.

Salary
Following the Fair Practice Code and based on the Dutch Museum CAO, the salary will be between 3,400 and 4,200 EUR depending on your experience.

Procedure
Interested candidates should submit a motivation letter, describing how they aim to give shape to Vleeshal’s nomadic program 2024–2025, including at least one short description of a potential project; a curriculum vitae; and the name and contact details of two references, by September 1, 2023.

Applications from candidates from all over the world are welcomed and encouraged. The curator nomadic program will be selected by an international committee and interviews will be scheduled online.

Please submit your application to office@vleeshal.nl with the subject line: application curator nomadic program + your name.