CURATION AND CONTEXT.

I had to educate myself on what “curating” is in the art industry. I watched the following videos on YouTube: “What is ‘Curating’ in Art”, Contemporary Art Issue, CAI, YouTube, 2023 [accessed on June 23, 2025] online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baDGE4oIpbg

This is a concise yet helpful video that effectively conveys the main points about the curator’s work. I also watched the video I found about the challenges of doing your own exhibition, which was very helpful as well by a visual artist and art educator, curator Moriah Alise “Overcoming Exhibition Planning Challenges: 5 Essential Steps for a Successful Self-Hosted Art Show”, Dear Glory with Moriah Alisee, YouTube, September 2024, online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP3x9iu_QSI [accessed June 23, 2025];

I place some notes for myself below. According to Moriah Alise, there are five key points every visual artist must think about while planning self hosting exhibition:

1. Define the “cohesive theme and concept”; “What kind of thoughts, ideas and emotions do you want to evoke in your audience? What are the central ideas and messages in your work that you present to the public? What is the narrative of each piece that contributes to the whole? Consider how the viewer may interact with your work. Create a seamless experience for the viewer;
2. Define your exhibition goals and project planning. There are three types of goals: artistic, professional and personal.
3. Find the right venue. Questions to ask myself: Does this venue align with my exhibition goals? Does this venue enhance my theme and concept? Will this venue attract the audience I want to reach?
4. Make a detailed exhibition plan. Establish a timeline and a budget.
5. Marketing & Promotion: Create engaging content and leverage your social media. Invite art collectors, gallery pwners and art critics, art advisors.

I also watched the video “Watch This Before Your First Art Show! Webinar: How To Organize A Successful Art Exhibition” online on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i76UJO85iI YouTube, Contemporary Art Issue (CAI), may 2024; [accessed on June 20th 2025];

Selecting venue:

I found the following three venues that I considered suitable for my first exhibition. I reflected on my artistic and professional goals, which determined my venue decision.

I will be showcasing my original paintings and metal prints, which are part of my “Riviera Garden” project, which I created. I think the name of the series I exhibit will be in French, ‘Les Legends de Mon Jardin’ (The Legends of My Garden) or ‘Les Legends de Côte d’Azur’. I plan to showcase 4-5 paintings and 6 prints. So it will be 10-11 pieces to display. My primary personal goal is to obtain my degree diploma, so I would like to avoid postponing my submission. Another of my personal and professional goals is to launch my professional career as a visual artist and present myself as an artist capable of producing high-quality, original works of art. My artistic goal is to showcase my interpretation of the Côte d’Azur floral theme, which I created using mixed media on wooden boards. I have a goal that is personal, artistic, and professional at the same time: I want to showcase my work so that people can hang it on their walls in their home or a professional environment.

Gallery for rising artists “Espace XX”.

This gallery specialises in working with rising artists. Below is my correspondence with them and some photo and video material about the space.

Initially, I believed that this gallery would be a good starting point due to its reasonable pricing policy, friendly approach to emerging artists, and overall flexibility. They would give me two weeks to showcase my work at the offered price, and I could choose as much or as little space as I needed. However, after I visited the space, I realised that there were some downsides which would hinder my overall satisfaction with the event. The problem is their remote location, which would not be impressive to the audience I plan to reach. Additionally, the overall appearance of the building and the street surrounding it does not support the impression that I am confident in what I am doing, creating an impression of a timid rising artist who found a low-budget space. That was not in my personal and professional goals list.
Additionally, I didn’t like the idea of showcasing my art alongside many other artists. When I visited this gallery, it was filled with the works of various artists, and there was a strong sense of patchwork. The gallery simply rents the space to each artist; there is no intention to curate an exhibition with a specific aesthetic or narrative, so everyone displays what they have, which creates a sense of chaos and visual noise, evoking a “bazar” feeling which heavily interferes with the feelings coming from the viweing the paintings, being a sort of distracting noise. I didn’t want to start from the point when I have so little control over how viewers perceive my event and works.

KL Gallery.

This gallery is well-located and very accessible for my potential clients and the audience. It is not super posh, but prestigious and active. I checked their Instagram account and liked the fact that they are actively promoting themselves in the market. Over the last three years, I have encountered many galleries where employees barely say hello and don’t engage in conversation, or simply state that they are not currently accepting submissions. I sent them an email about this gallery and approached one of their employees during my visit. They seemed friendly and open to looking at my work. Their exhibiting space is professional and well managed. However, I decided to postpone my collaboration with them for the fall because I wanted to wait until I received a sufficient amount of my work on Dibond (please see my post for further details below).

Salon “Gardin d’Hiver” in Hotel H.

I decided to showcase my works at the space the Hotel H. rents for corporate events. It is reasonably priced and located at a five-star hotel, which is always full of people, has a great and warm ambience, and is easily accessible for the audience I want to reach. The space measures approximately 80 square meters, which is ideal for displaying 6-10 artworks. The hotel also has the black narrow stands- consoles ( on the photos below), which I can use to exhibit my works, so I don’t have to deal with hooks and wall mounting systems. It also has ample daylight and remains well-lit in the evening. Another good reason for me to choose this place is that the interiors are compatible with my artworks, so my viewers will have a positive impression of my work in an elegant and visually appealing atmosphere. The hotel said they will remove the mirrors and paintings to give me the wall space I need for my artworks. I booked it for 3 days and plan to work from 11 am to 7 pm every day on July 30, 31st and August 1st. I will make a meeting plan for each of the three days.

Marketing materials. I need the following marketing materials:

• Exhibition Invitation. I decided to go with a virtual invitation instead of a printed brochure. Creating a virtual invitation is easy and gives me a lot of independence, allowing me to change the hours or some details of my event as needed. I can do it on my own, and it aligns with my aspirations for sustainable living. I generated a QR code for my page on the Behance platform, which I will use as a temporary website while I work on either the Squarespace or WordPress platform to build a proper website. I will do this invitation with the InShot application I use.
• My Business Card viewers can take a look at the exhibition, which has my contact details and a QR code to view my artworks. Today, I visited a printing house, “Les Arts Graphiques,” where I selected a paper and established contacts, so I plan to design and order.
• Certificates of Authenticity. I need the certificates for the Dibond prints of my artworks, which I will also showcase. They look professional and original. The prints will be limited edition, so I need certificates to indicate the number of each print. Ideally, these certificates can be printed as stickers, which I can place at the back of each print.

Timeline:

Book the venue – Booked;

Prepare ( name of the event, finalise the texts for all materials) and produce all marketing materials by July 10th- in process.

Finalise the invitation list by July 10th.

Send out the invitation from July 12th to July 15th.

Upgrade the content of my profile on the Bēhance platform, which is my current platform: 1) add artworks; 2) add artist statement; – by July 15th;

Order Dibond Prints of selected artworks by July 10th, so they have time to arrive.

Finish the touch-ups on the selected artworks and refine the edges by July 25th.

Packing the selected artworks for moving them to the venue JUly 26-July 28.