"Don't Ask for the Mona Lisa": Exhibitions Collaborations between Academics
and Art Galleries

AAH Museums and Exhibitions Workshop
18th March 2010, University of Leeds

For full details and to book places, see
http://www.aah.org.uk/museums-and-exhibitions

Tickets are strictly limited, and early booking is recommended.
Tickets cost GPD 30 for non-members, GBP 18 for AAH members.

Funded by the Association of Art Historians and organised by the Museums and
Exhibitions Group of the AAH, the seminar will be in Leeds at Devonshire
Hall on March 18th 2010, and is entitled Don't Ask for the Mona Lisa:
Exhibition Collaborations between Academics and Art Galleries. The Group is
currently putting together a set of guidelines aimed at academics who wish
to collaborate with a museum or gallery in putting on an exhibition or
display but may not know how to go about it and it is hoped that the event
will feed into this publication.

The seminar will focus in the morning on three collaborative papers, where
curators and academics will reflect on their experience of working together
on exhibitions. The day will conclude with a round table discussion, with
curators, academics and representatives of the key funding councils
participating. Registration will begin at 10.30am and the day will conclude
at 4pm, and there is space for an audience of 40.

With the increase in funding initiatives aimed at encouraging knowledge
transfer and collaboration, the event is aimed at academic art historians
who have had little or no experience of organising exhibitions and is meant
to be practical above all. It aims to explore questions such as; Can
particular academic research projects influence exhibition planning? Who
contacts who; the researcher or the gallery and who has the initial concept?
Should the aim be to fit into a wider set of themes proposed by the Gallery
in its programme planning? How do you prepare the proposal; should it
consist of a written proposal or a formal presentation? Should you use
illustrations and suggestions for exhibits as part of your proposal? Does
the gallery and the researcher develop their own views of how the exhibition
might look, or is this the role of a designer at a later stage? Does the
proposal have to progress through several stages before it is finally
accepted? How long does this process take? How long does it take from having
the proposal to the opening of the exhibition? At what stage do you agree
the allocation of responsibilities between the curator and the researcher
for producing the exhibition? How much is the average overall budget for
producing an exhibition? What are the benefits/limitations/problems of
working in collaboration with researchers from outside of the gallery?

We are hoping to attract an audience of both curators and academics and the
afternoon session will aim to be as interactive as possible in order to
assist colleagues in exhibition planning, funding application preparation
and developing collaborative partnerships.

Speakers:

* Prof Catherine Karkov (University of Leeds) with Ellen Tait, Curatorial
Assistant-Exhibitions, Henry Moore Institute (now at National Railways
Museum) - Exhibition project: 'The Boat and the Cross: Church and State in
early Anglo-Saxon Coinage

* Prof David Jackson (University of Leeds) with Edwin Becker, Head of
Exhibitions, Van Gogh Museum - Exhibition project: ' Christen Kobke : Danish
Masters of Light

* Prof David Hill (University of Leeds) with Terry Suthers(TBC), (former)
Director, Harewood House - Exhibition project: 'Turner in the North'

Roundtable participants:
Dr. Christiana Payne, Oxford Brookes University
Dr. Gemma Blackshaw, University of Plymouth Corinne Miller, Head of Arts
and Museums, Wolverhampton Arts & Museums
* Dr. Patricia Allmer, Manchester Metropolitan University