Pieter Broucke

Curatorial Practicum: Piranesi as Archaeologist, Architect, and Artist
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (Italian,1720-1778) was a visionary archaeologist, architect, and artist active in eighteenth-century Rome. His work continues to captivate contemporary audiences with his grandiose and often imaginary depictions of architecture old and new, ranging from Classical Antiquity to his own Age of the Enlightenment, and anticipating Romanticism and even a distopian future. In this curatorial practicum/seminar, we will study Piranesi’s momentous output in drawings, prints, and sculpture, investigate his quixotic artistic persona, and assess his relevance today. We will curate an online and/or museum exhibition on the artist’s artistic and intellectual output and will conceptualize its organization and layout, generate contextual and object labels, and prepare educational materials.(HARC 0100, HARC 0259, or prior permission.)

Supervised Independent Work in Museum Studies
This practicum builds upon the Museum Assistants Program (MAP), the hands-on museum education program at the Middlebury College Museum of Art. In MAP, the Curator of Education trains students to conduct tours of the Museum’s permanent collection and of special exhibitions for audiences of peers, school groups, and the general public. Combining service learning with the opportunity to both support and learn more about the arts, students gain expertise in public speaking, art history, and public programming. HARC 0540 should be taken concurrently with the second semester of MAP. The class will culminate with a public presentation on a museum-related topic evaluated by a faculty member of the Department of History of Art & Architecture. (Approval required)