The New York University Curatorial Collaborative began in 2015, a student-led

initiative designed to bring graduate students in art history from the Institute of

Fine Arts into contact with undergraduate students in Steinhardt School’s

Department of Art and Art Professions. Now in its second year, it is hard to

imagine that this collaboration hasn’t always been in place. Last year’s initiative

produced a series of six terrific art exhibitions that reflected the partnership

between ten curators and twenty artists. What emerged was a laboratory that in

many ways reflects our contemporary cultural situation—art making, art criticism,

curating, and art history got were mobilized into new combinations.

All of this happened as it should, the students working it out by themselves while

the teachers and administrators played a secondary, supportive role. To make

work in this context rather than in the framework of a class is to assume a risk, a

liberating responsibility. Students become practitioners engaged in an adventure

of work and thought. I am full of expectation as to what this year’s collaboration

will bring. I am excited to hear talk about expanding the program in new

directions. Exploring new forms of knowledge and creativity is at the core of

NYU’s mission. Here is a model of how that can work.

Alexander Nagel
Deputy Director for Academic Affairs
Director of Graduate Studies
Professor of Fine Arts

Institute of Fine Arts
New York University