Areas of Competence

The Postgraduate Program in Curating offers three study opportunities:
The postgraduate certificate (CAS) is a one-year, part-time course providing participants with key qualifications in all areas of curatorial practice: research, conception, organization and communication as well as basic theoretical knowledge.

The Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) is a two-year, part-time study program culminating in an advanced qualification. It guides participants in an in-depth enquiry into the key areas of curatorial practice and relevant theory. Students have the opportunity to develop and situate their own curatorial projects and access cultural networks. The Program concludes with a major project and written dissertation.

The MAS degree in curating can be attained through the development of a dissertation project rather than a curatorial project. We accompany the development of a dissertation project as far as the exposé (subject and relevance, hypothesis, state of research, methods, outline) and even the writing of the first chapters. If you are planning to write a disserta­tion on issues of exhibition production, mediation or a related topic of contemporary design and art and their connections with society, please contact the director of the study program. The counselling is carried out by the director of the MAS program (D. Richter) in coordination with Prof. Dr. Sigrid Schade (director of ICS and initial reviewer). Since ZHdK itself is not authorized to award PhD degrees, a doctorate can be earned only in cooperation with an art academy or university located abroad. The Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts has a number cooperation contacts at its disposal.

Target Group

The program is designed for persons working in art, culture and the media, graduates of art academies and universities of applied sciences in the disciplines of art, architecture, interior architecture, photography, interior decoration, installation, design, theatre, scenography, and music, as well as university graduates in the fields of art history, cultural studies, literary studies.
The program is also suitable for candidates who have acquired certain curatorial skills through practical experience.

Admissions Requirements

a) University degree from a university of applied sciences, general university, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology or a profes­sional school
b) or a comparable degree and corresponding profes­sional experience
c) and determination of aptitude by the program director