Exhibition: Selecting, Curating and Presenting Resolved Artworks
What the domain tests
This domain tests your ability to select, curate and present resolved artworks for an exhibition. SL candidates submit 4–7 resolved artworks. Selection is assessed alongside spatial presentation, viewer experience and the coherence of the exhibition as a whole.
Core rules and concepts
- Resolved means the work is finished and sustains your intention; it does not mean simply latest.
- Select for quality and coherence, not to fill space.
- Consider scale, sequence, sightlines, height, lighting, wall colour, sound bleed and circulation.
- Labels and exhibition text should support viewing without over-explaining.
- The SL curatorial rationale is capped at 400 words; artwork text is capped at 500 characters per work.
Worked example
A student has seven resolved works about borders: two large paintings, one video, two sculptures and two prints. They remove one print because it repeats the painting's image without adding a new idea. They keep five works and sequence them from intimate to public: a small print at eye level, a sculpture on a low plinth, the video in a darkened alcove, then the two large paintings facing each other. The low plinth forces viewers to look down; the facing paintings create a corridor effect. Lighting is adjusted so the video does not spill onto the paintings. The exhibition text names the border theme but leaves the final interpretation to the viewer.
Traps that cost marks
- Including unresolved or redundant works because they fit the theme.
- Overcrowding the space and blocking sightlines.
- Using labels to explain what the work fails to communicate.
- Ignoring lighting, sound or scale relationships.
- Writing a rationale that describes process rather than the exhibition.