معرفی
Tara McDowell is Professor and Director of Curatorial Practice at Monash University's Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Department of Fine Art, in Melbourne, Australia. She is a leading figure in contemporary curatorial studies, with a strong international profile in art theory, exhibition history, and feminist and queer practices.
Education:
- PhD in the History of Art, University of California, Berkeley
Her research centers on the social and institutional frameworks of art, including domesticity, labor, friendship, and climate change. She is particularly known for redefining curatorial practice as an ethical and caregiving act, especially in times of crisis. Her work explores feminist and queer modes of knowledge production, collective mothering, and the politics of care in artistic contexts.
McDowell’s recent publications and curation reflect a deep engagement with climate-aware creative practices, ethical curating, and the reimagining of artistic support structures. Her projects often bridge academia, public engagement, and artistic experimentation, emphasizing collaboration and interdisciplinary dialogue.
Scientific Awards:
- CAA Millard Meiss Publication Fund Award (2018)
- MADA Education Grant (2017)
- Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA) Publication Subsidy (2016)
- Monash Art, Design and Architecture (MADA) Publication Subsidy (2018)
- Monash Art Projects (MAP) (2015)
McDowell has held significant curatorial roles at CCA Wattis Institute, SFMOMA, and MASS MoCA, where she curated major exhibitions on Minimalism, Fluxus, and avant-garde cinema. She is a founding editor of The Exhibitionist, a journal dedicated to curatorial practice, and her writing appears in Artforum, Artlink, Mousse, and others. She currently leads the ARC-funded project Care and Repair: Rethinking Contemporary Curation for Conditions of Crisis and is writing The Mother Artist, supported by the Andy Warhol and Henry Moore Foundations.
She is a founding member of Climate Aware Creative Practices, an Australia-wide alliance promoting sustainability in arts education. Her curatorial projects such as Take Hold of the Clouds and Shapeshifters: New Forms of Curatorial Research demonstrate her commitment to experimental and socially engaged formats.
