Erik Kessels On Cultivating New Curatorial Voices

From the exhibition The Many Lives of Erik Kessels © Erik Kessels From the exhibition The Many Lives of Erik Kessels © Erik Kessels Screenshot from a Seminar by Erik Kessels, CURAE 2024/25 View all images ↓
View all images ↓

Erik Kessels returns as head professor of CURAE, PhMuseum's Online Masterclass on Curatorial Practice, encouraging participants to cultivate their curatorial voices through vulnerability, mistakes and self-belief.

Applications are now open for the next edition of CURAE 2025/26, for the third time led by the Dutch artist, curator, and designer.

Through a combination of theoretical seminars, practical sessions, and individual and group meetings, Kessels will inspire and challenge emerging practitioners on how to edit, present, and communicate photography, with the practical aim to curate and design one exhibition of their own, or somebody else's, work.

Ciao Erik, thanks again for joining our Masterclass Program for the third consecutive year. How has your experience been so far? 

It has been an intense course where I work with many artists and curators from different parts of the world and collaborate closely.

Your program has indeed seen an interesting mix of artists and curators coming together. What is their interaction bringing to the table?

This crossover and the mix of several different disciplines within the world of visual arts makes it very exciting for the participants. We learn a lot from each other by having many different sessions together.

Could you share any comments regarding what you learned from this experience?

In this years CURAE masterclass, the diverse works and backgrounds of the participants have turned out into something very exciting. The process with people from many different cultures and visual interests, a soup with a lot of ingredients that is cooking up into something very nice.

What do you think of the more and more blurred relationship between being an artist and being a curator?

I’m not saying that every curator needs to be some kind of an artist, but for sure, I believe that every artist has to have some kind of a curator in him or herself. Learning how to edit/show/communicate and sell your work is important and can never harm your practice.

Have you developed a methodology in conceiving and designing installations in your own work, or is it more an instinctive approach based on ideas and experience?

The challenge is to try to do something that confronts and communicates. Art should create a friction in your head and an extreme emotion in your belly. The only rule to achieve this, is that there is no rule. When you surprise yourself with your own ideas, you know you’re in a good place.

How do you encourage students to develop their own unique curatorial voices and perspectives and what can they expect from working with you?

You develop your own curatorial voice by learning to accept and embrace vulnerability/mistakes/courage. But most important is to start to believe in yourself and in what you can bring to the table in the art world. Things start to work if you really know what your voice is.

Do you have any advice to share with prospect applicants?

There’s only two ways to play this: 1. You’re not signing up and you will not get my advice, simple! 2. You’re signing up for this and you will soon get so much advice that it will drive you crazy! Up to you…

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CURAE Online Masterclass On Curatorial Practice is part of PhMuseum's educational program, comprising five different masterclasses that will all share a single intake period running until 5 June, with classes beginning in October 2025. Each course is tailored to meet the needs of emerging photographers, artists, curators, and contemporary storytellers looking to bring their methods to the next level. Check out which program suits you best at phmuseum.com/education

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Application key dates, scholarships and participation fee

Before 8 May – If you apply by this date, you are eligible for the full scholarship. In your motivational letter, explain why you’d be a strong candidate, and how you would benefit from this support.

Before 8 May – If you apply by this date, you can save €350. All applications submitted for the scholarship will be automatically eligible for the Early Bird Fee of €1,850.

Before 5 June – If you apply by this date, you can join the program by paying the Regular Fee of €2,200. Since applications will be reviewed on a continuous basis, early submissions receive priority for seat allocation.

If you are offered a place, PhMuseum is happy to write you a supporting letter when you try to secure any external funding opportunities. In previous editions of our masterclasses program, the candidates' fees were covered thanks to the generous contribution of the IWMF Howard G. Buffett Fund for Women Journalists, Mondriaan Fonds, Arts Council Malta, and other programs. Read our guide to 2025 Education Funding for Visual Artists about opportunities that can help you secure funding.