IN SESSION: Writing for Whom? The Publics of Curating

This IN:SESSION discussion brought together Jeremy Millar, Head of Programme for MA Writing at the RCA, and Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery in London about writing, curating and contemporary art, and the ways in which these practices address different publics. The conversation was chaired by Dr Rosie Ram, Associate Lecturer in Curating Contemporary Art and Course Leader of the Curating Contemporary Art and Design short courses at the RCA.

Speakers

Ralph Rugoff

Director of the Hayward Gallery, London

Ralph Rugoff is Director of the Hayward Gallery in London. He was Guest Curator of the 2015 Lyon Biennale and served as Artistic Director of the 2019 Venice Biennale. He began his career as a writer and critic, and has contributed essays to catalogues and books on numerous contemporary artists.

Jeremy Millar

Head of Programme, Writing MA, RCA

Jeremy is an artist, and over the past thirty years has curated exhibitions of, and written widely on, many aspects of contemporary art and culture. Jeremy joined the RCA to help develop and launch the MA in Critical Writing in Art and Design, and has taught on the programme — now called MA Writing — ever since. In 2019 he was made Acting Head of Programme, and Head of Programme in 2021. In 2016 Jeremy joined the newly-established MA Contemporary Art Practice as Pathway Leader for Critical Practice. He has successfully supervised PhD students to completion, and has contributed to numerous PGR study groups and workshops. He is also a member of the RCA’s Learning and Teaching Committee, the Taught Student Ethics Committee, and the School of Arts and Humanities’ Research Development Group, and Learning and Teaching Development Group.

Dr Rosie Ram

Associate Lecturer, Curating Contemporary Art MA | Course Leader Curating Contemporary Art and Design, RCA

Specialising in modern and contemporary art and visual culture, Rosie is a curator and researcher whose interests include artistic research methodologies, photographic images, and the archive. Rosie is Associate Lecturer in MA Curating Contemporary Art and Course Leader of the Curating Contemporary Art and Design short course programmes. She is also a tutor on the College-wide unit, AcrossRCA. Rosie is a specialist in modern and contemporary art, visual culture and curating. Her research has been published across print, film and online formats. She has curated displays, taught, and programmed events at Tate Britain, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), Central Saint Martins, and Chelsea College of Arts. Most recently, Rosie co-curated Vital Fragments: Nigel Henderson and the Art of Collage at Tate Britain (2019-20) and co-convened the international conference and workshop programme Cutting Edge: Collage in Britain, 1945 to Now (2021). In 2021, she completed her AHRC-funded PhD at the RCA, Image as Method: Nigel Henderson and the Art of Research. This was supported by an AHRC International Placement Scheme fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art (2018). Prior to her doctorate, Rosie worked at Chisenhale Gallery in East London.

Useful resources discussed in the IN SESSION talk

Museum of Jurassic Technology

MY FRIENDS by Emmanuel Bove

Jim Shaw works

Writin' is Fightin': Thirty-Seven Years of Boxing

Dave Hickey

'How Jeremy Millar Anticipated the Uncertainty of the Digital Age' on Freeze