Exhibition work
The room we are in is softly lit. Soft voices are reflected off the high walls and spread throughout the room. The tastefully dressed guests take a close look at the variously arranged modern paintings. While she talks to the artist, a figure in the middle of the room swirls her champagne glass. Their profound conversation about compositions, colors and social criticism is accompanied by soft classical music from the background. With a relieved laugh and raised eyebrows, she toasts a small group of passing guests, who also raise their glasses, nodding appreciatively.
This, or at least something similar, is how we imagine professions in the exhibition sector. The above image is a prosaic and striking description of the event character of an exhibition opening in upscale social circles. The short story reveals how important the contact between gallery owners, artists and buyers can be for a successful business in the exhibition sector. However, exactly how the career path to successfully founding your own gallery is structured seems to be a mystery: there is no training that would explicitly name such a degree and yet there is a small exhibition in every second side street in Berlin Mitte. This is due to the fact that galleries function in a similar way to retail businesses and are therefore subject to classic foundation rules and are usually set up as a GmbH, GbR or sole proprietorship. If you want to set up your own gallery, it makes sense to get an overview of your vision and the associated costs. This can be done by drawing up a business plan in which your own start-up ideas can be formulated and presented in an appealing way. The advantage of this is that clear ideas and information also make it easier to get sponsors and financial backers interested in your project.
Although opening your own gallery is a “permit-free foundation” (Genehmigungsfreie Gründung) that does not necessarily require any specialization, contacts in the artistic field are essential in order to be able to reach an interested audience with your own gallery. In order to be able to make a competent impression when selecting art/artists and in expert discussions with potential customers, it is therefore advantageous to have some knowledge of the works, eras and materials available. For this reason, a previous degree in art studies or art history (to name just two examples) is a good preparation for artistic selection processes and necessary technical discussions.
Above all these content-oriented activities, however, there is usually one fundamental quality that gallery owners should always have. It is even more important than the requirements set out in the job description in terms of very good general knowledge, a strong organizational talent and excellent communication skills. Basically, gallery owners need one thing above all else: A sense of business! As a gallery owner, you not only act as an expert point of contact for the artists, or are busy planning an exhibition in your own premises, placing works and skillfully staging them, but also act as an interface between artists and customers. Gallerists generally work on the basis of a performance-related fee (commission) agreed with the artists, which is based on the placement of the artworks. Gallery owners bear the costs of this brokerage themselves and use it to pay for the promotion of the exhibition, the gallery's operating costs and the exhibition furniture, among other things.
As the resulting salary is always based on the order situation and customers, it is subject to some fluctuations and can sometimes be very low and sometimes very high. Gallerists are therefore largely responsible for marketing and selling the works. A degree in economics can be used positively for a successful start-up as well as for later contract negotiations, business planning and cost/benefit considerations.
As has already been made clear above, gallery owners are traditionally self-employed with their own gallery. However, if you would like to establish contacts in the exhibition sector, it is worthwhile taking up employment with a gallery owner beforehand, even if you do not have any start-up aspirations. This not only gives you an insight into the day-to-day work of gallery owners, but also provides you with the vitamin B you need to give your own career in the exhibition sector a little boost. Such job advertisements for employment in galleries can be found under the keywords: “gallery staff/ store manager/ customer service in gallery/ junior gallery owner/ sales director/ artist support or art support”. With regard to the desired fields of study, the motto here is: lateral entry allowed!
Previous knowledge is not always required here - however, as with self-employed gallery owners in general, it makes sense to have completed a degree in art studies, come from the field of economics or have other relevant qualifications, such as training in the artistic field. Depending on the job description or type of exhibition, IT or marketing skills may also be required.
Similar to gallery owners, curators also provide visitors with information on works of art and cultural assets in an exhibition. True to the motto: “You can't get in here!”, they navigate in bouncer fashion who is allowed to enter the “club” and who unfortunately has to stay outside. Ultimately, they are the ones who choose which works of art appropriately reflect the exhibition's thematic focus or whether the exhibits correspond to upcoming events. The bouncer analogy also illustrates the difference between gallery owners and curators particularly well: Because of the thematic focus of an exhibition, curators are more likely to select only a few works for their exhibition from a large number of artworks. The variety of themes and occasions within which curators design exhibitions is particularly large. Generally speaking, they work wherever art, culture, history, education or the social and healthcare sectors are addressed.
As curators can use their specialist knowledge to make successful assessments of historical artefacts and works of art depending on the subject, they can also be found in museums, public collections and historical exhibitions in addition to galleries. When they are not negotiating with artists and collection owners, they take care of the design and inventory of exhibitions or museum departments, maintain and expand collections of exhibits and carry out reciprocal loans. As a curator, you are therefore also involved in the procurement of exhibits from archives, institutions or private individuals. Similar to collection managers, they are responsible for coordinating the conservation of exhibits and monitoring the storage and care of museum and artistic objects. Like gallery owners, they are in close contact with artists during art exhibitions and establish them through the implementation of jointly developed ideas and concepts. In order to maintain an overview of the current market, new discoveries and fresh artists given the multitude of artistic influences, curators are required to constantly inform themselves about trends in specialist journals and magazines.
Working as a curator is a freelance profession and, like the field of activity of a gallery owner, does not require a pre-defined educational qualification. Nevertheless, it makes sense to have specialist knowledge of the art market, art and cultural eras, provenance research, individual artifacts and history, depending on the subject area, in order to be able to make successful selections with the help of a broad pool of knowledge. For this reason, applicants for employment (in a museum, for example) are often expected to have a degree in the fields of: Art History, Museology and Exhibitions or Museum Education. In addition, specialist skills in exhibition design, budgeting, finance and even controlling, inventory management, storage, archiving, documentation, public relations, cataloging, inventory indexing, art management and administration and, extremely rarely, alarm and security technology, are also required in the job advertisements. A doctorate can also be an advantage. In addition, a previous traineeship/internship in an exhibition, gallery or museum is considered a major plus when applying or is even advertised as a prerequisite for the position. The expected salary of curators depends on the current order situation and the chosen place of employment.