PhD Position in Curatorial Research
Art Against the Grain of “Collective Sisyphus:” The Case of Allan Sekula’s Ship of Fools / The Dockers’ Museum (2010-2013)

The University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography) and Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (M HKA) search to employ a PhD-candidate (full time / 2 (+2) years appointment, 2015-2019). The research will be conducted under the supervision of Prof. dr. Hilde Van Gelder (KU Leuven), dr. Mieke Bleyen (KU Leuven), and dr. Edwin Carels (M HKA).

The position is available within the framework of a research project entitled ‘Art Against the Grain of “Collective Sisyphus:” The Case of Allan Sekula’s Ship of Fools / The Dockers’ Museum (2010-2013).’ Funded by KU Leuven and FWO (Research Foundation–Flanders), and hosted by KU Leuven and M HKA, it centers on a concrete case study: Ship of Fools / The Dockers’ Museum by the US artist, theoretician, critic, teacher and poet Allan Sekula (1951-2013). Sekula produced this unfinished, multifaceted and variably installable artwork, containing around two thousand objects, at the very end of his life. Its overarching theme is “dead labor.” With this notion, Sekula hints at collective efforts of human labor irretrievably lost in history. In his view, joint forces of past generations still have not sufficiently led to constructing real civil alliances among people, such as an international imposition of fair labor conditions. The project asks how Sekula’s last work, recently acquired by M HKA, aims to go “against the grain” of this “collective Sisyphus” by imagining possible forms of human solidarity in a globalized economy confronted to an ever-more critical extent with its own limitations. Interdisciplinarity is the project’s key asset: it aims at a cross-fertilization of theory and practice. Hence, this PhD-trajectory in Curatorial Research will be conducted in close interaction with a second PhD-student in Art History, who pursues research on Ship of Fools / The Dockers’ Museum from a theoretical perspective. Therefore, whereas the PhD-student in Curatorial Research will have her/his main office space at M HKA, where she/he will collaborate closely with M HKA’s research and collection team, a regular interaction will be built with members of the research team based at the Lieven Gevaert Centre in Leuven.

Job Description

The principal stake of the PhD-trajectory in Curatorial Research is articulating an adequate approach to define relevant ‘dispostifs’ for Ship of Fools / The Dockers’ Museum. The PhD will need to eloquently come to terms with the ways how Sekula integrated ‘curating’ into his own artistic production and in what sense such artistic activities may affect existing museum practices of collection conservation, disclosure and display.
The successful candidate is therefore expected to develop a research-based curatorial practice leading up towards a final PhD-result that consists of a newly conceived, major exhibition of Ship of Fools / The Dockers’ Museum, which will be accompanied by a written exegesis (exhibition catalogue). Both components need to be a doctoral-level contribution that has substantial cultural significance. The PhD-student is expected to build up towards this final outcome via intermediary outputs, which consist of both exhibitions and publications.
The PhD-student will furthermore contribute to the general activities of the research project (organization of workshops/conferences and of meetings of the project’s steering committee in curatorial research, and develop international contacts in the field of curatorial research). She/he will also be involved in teaching related to the research project and/or her/his curatorial research expertise.

Job Requirements

Applicants are required:
- to hold a Master’s degree in Art History or Curatorial Research, or are able to convincingly prove equivalent knowledge when they have a Master’s qualification in a relevant discipline;
- to demonstrate advanced knowledge of contemporary art, art history, arts institutions, and research-driven artistic practices;
-to possess relevant work experience with presentational platforms, at an international level;
-to provide evidence of their research excellence by means of a list of curated exhibitions and publications (catalogues, essays, papers, etc.);
-to have a high level of English and outstanding writing, research, and organisational skills.
Familiarity with the work of Allan Sekula will be taken into consideration as a plus.

Salary

This is a 100% PhD-bursary position, fully salaried and containing all social security advantages conform to Belgian labor legislation.

Application Procedure

Please send a motivated letter of application and an extensive CV (which may include selected illustrations of your previous projects) in pdf-format via e-mail to:

Mr. Dieter Vankeirsbilck
Managing Director
M HKA, Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen
dieter.vankeirsbilckmuhka.be

The closing date for applications is 30 June 2015. Selected candidates will be contacted for an interview by 20 July 2015. Candidates invited for this interview, which will be held on 4 September 2015 in Antwerp, will be asked to write a short research proposal (max. 750 words) by 15 August 2015. The successful candidate will engage to move to Belgium and is scheduled to start on 1 October 2015.

For more information, we kindly refer to the homepages of M HKA (http://www.muhka.be/) and the Lieven Gevaert Centre (www.lievengevaertcentre.be)