Curating

The student exhibition at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is co-curated with Barber staff and draws on the expertise of, and loans from, our exhibition partner, the Royal Collection Trust.

The Barber was founded in 1932 by Dame Martha Constance Hattie Barber in memory of her husband, Sir William Henry Barber. Housed in a Grade II listed Art Deco building designed by Robert Atkinson, it holds one of the most outstanding and internationally significant collections assembled in Britain during the 20th Century, including works by many of the greatest names in Western art, from Botticelli to Auerbach. As well as around 150 major paintings and some stunning pastels and watercolours, the Barber is also home to more than 800 drawings and prints, a fine collection of sculpture – including works by Degas and Roubiliac – decorative art and portrait miniatures. In addition, the Barber also has one of the finest collections of Roman, Byzantine and Medieval coins in the world. It holds an exciting programme of exhibitions, concerts, lectures, gallery talks, workshops and family activities.

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From 2018/19 onwards, the Barber exhibition is curated in collaboration with the Royal Collection Trust.

The exhibition is drawn entirely from the holdings of the Royal Collection, one of the largest art collections in the world and among the last great European royal collections to remain intact. The Royal Collection comprises almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts, and is spread among some 15 royal residences and former residences across the UK, including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace. In addition, some 15,500 works from the Collection are on long-term loan to over 150 institutions across the United Kingdom.

At The Queen's Galleries in London and Edinburgh, aspects of the Collection are displayed in a programme of temporary exhibitions. Short-term loans are frequently made to exhibitions around the world as part of a commitment to public access and to show the Collection in new contexts. The Royal Collection is held in trust by Her Majesty the Queen for her successors and the nation, and is not owned by The Queen as a private individual. The administration, care and presentation of the collection is undertaken by Royal Collection Trust without recourse to public funds.

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In 2016 the MA Art History and Curating programme began a new partnership, with Grand Union in Digbeth, Birmingham, which provides a contemporary art dimension to the programme. Students work in collaboration with Grand Union and contemporary artists to co-curate a contemporary art exhibition.

Grand Union supports and presents innovative artistic and curatorial practice. They believe that a strong artistic community is an essential part of an integrated city. They work with artists, curators and writers placing emphasis on commissioning new art, supporting career development and encouraging experimentation. Grand Union is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation.

Core to Grand Union’s mission is the talent development of artists, curators and audiences. It has supported artists including Laura Oldfield Ford, Mitra Saboury and Mat Parkin to create entirely new bodies of work for their exhibitions at Grand Union. It also provides visual artists in the city with affordable, purpose built studio space. Grand Union studio holders have exhibited their work prolifically throughout the UK including institutions such as Bluecoat, Spacex, Workplace, Spike Island, Tate St. Ives and The New Art Gallery Walsall. They have taken part in residencies with the University of Birmingham, Leamington Pump Rooms and The National Trust. Studio holders regularly work internationally, including Aarhus, Stockholm, Oslo, Bordeaux, Greece and Milan.

Grand Union is committed to developing curatorial talent through a programme of employment, mentoring and toolkits. It has nurtured the practices of emerging curators, providing a platform for the presentation of their work, or through learning and reflection on its innovative Curatorial Curriculum. Grand Union engages the public with this work through an ambitious programme of exhibitions, talks and events in its Gallery and elsewhere. Its programming team provide mentoring to graduates, nurturing them through the difficult transition between graduating and becoming an independent artist or curator.

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The National Portrait Gallery was the Barber's exhibition partner on the MA Art History and Curating from 2015 to 2017. The student exhibitions curated during this partnership are All the World's a Stage (2016) and More Real Than Life (2017).

Founded in 1856, the aim of the National Portrait Gallery, London is ‘to promote through the medium of portraits the appreciation and understanding of the men and women who have made and are making British history and culture, and ... to promote the appreciation and understanding of portraiture in all media’. The Gallery holds the most extensive collection of portraits in the world, with over 210,000 works from the 16th century to the present day.

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The Cadbury Research Library occasionally contributes to teaching on the programme, and to the exhibition through loans of its collection.

The Cadbury Research Library is the home of the University of Birmingham's extensive collections of rare books, manuscripts, archives, photographs and associated artefacts. It is the home for Special Collections and Archives of the University of Birmingham. The archive consists of approximately 200,000 rare books dating from 1471 and some 4 million manuscripts. Special Collections is responsible for directly supporting the University's research, learning and teaching agenda by collecting and making fully accessible all collections and seeking to acquire material which ties into this agenda. 

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Research and Cultural Collections occasionally contributes to teaching on the programme, and to the exhibition through loans of its collection.

Research and Cultural Collections cares for thousands of objects at the University of Birmingham, and organises regular activities, events and exhibitions for staff, students and the public throughout the year. Objects from the permanent collections are displayed throughout the campus. We work with colleagues from the University’s five Colleges in commissioning or investing in works of art to enhance their environment. There is a popular programme of temporary exhibitions which are held in the Rotunda of the Aston Webb building. These renew and refresh interest in the permanent collections, relate to different subject areas and introduce the work of contemporary artists to the campus. We also host events relating to the exhibitions such as guest lectures, poetry readings and art ‘happenings’.

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Grand Union, Digbeth First Friday, May 2025

Since 2016, Grand Union has collaborated with the Department of History, Curating and Visual Studies at the University of Birmingham to create opportunities for early career curators. Across the 2024-25, Grand Union has collaborated with a group of students on the MA Art History & Curating to produce a programme of work entitled ‘Comfort near me’.

‘Comfort near me’ explores personal practices of comfort within Grand Union’s community. By working with studio artists and the Minerva Group, the programme aims to encourage sharing comfort found not just in physical places but in intangible forms. The programme invited visitors to consider how and where comfort can exist further afield, explored through reflection and connection.

The project was comprised of a short film featuring Roo Dhissou, Sarah Taylor-Silverwood, and Nilupa Yasmin made by Robert Alexander Films, a publication designed by Sofia Niazi, and embroidery workshops run by Nilpa Yasmin for the Minerva Group. The film was presented within an installation in Grand Union’s Bothy (Alberta Whittle, 2022) as part of May’s Digbeth First Friday.

The student curators were Niamh Davies, Katie Lansbury, Prakasit Prasertsuk, Kate Roden, Firuza Rodrigues, Lottie Sowerby, Megan Tolputt, and Lulu Wright

View the Comfort Near Me exhibition web page

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts (online exhibition), June 2025

Fragments of Devotion invites you to explore the sensory and emotional dimensions of devotion from the medieval to early modern periods. Through illuminated manuscript cuttings and rare Books of Hours, this online exhibition reveals how people expressed their faith—not just through words, but through gesture, music, and intimate interaction with the page. You’ll encounter worn edges where saints’ images were kissed by generations of believers, and quiet notes scribbled in the margins of sacred songs. These small, powerful details offer a window into the lived experiences of devotion—how it was seen, felt, and heard. The exhibition will explore the later Victorian fascination with manuscript aesthetics, leading to the dissection and dissemination of these intricate illuminations, removed from context and forever fragmented.

Curated by MA Art History and Curating students at the University of Birmingham, the exhibition brings together exquisite manuscript cuttings from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s world-renowned collection, alongside rarely displayed intact Books of Hours from the Barber Institute of Fine Arts and the Cadbury Research Library. Each object has been carefully selected for its beauty, craftsmanship, and the sensory stories it tells.

This is the second exhibition in an annual partnership between the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, the V&A, and the University’s Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies. It reflects a shared commitment to making historic collections accessible, engaging, and relevant to new audiences.

The student curators were Charlotte Askew, Hazel Erwee, Ruby Graham, Philippa Harris, Lily Harrison, Kate Jenkins, Frank Ruobing Lyu, Ruth Warhurst, Madeleine Wick

View the Fragments of Devotion project page

Grand Union, Digbeth First Friday, June 2024

‘Unmasking || Remapping’ was a series of events designed and planned by students from the MA Art History and Curating at University of Birmingham. This programme responded to Grand Union’s exhibition, ‘Love is Real, and It’s Inside Of My Computer’ by Babeworld x utopian_realism, exploring themes of neurodiversity, inclusivity, and accessibility.

This programme saw many exciting events including a Masked Ball with performances from utopian_realism and Naoibh McNamee; workshops with Babeworld and Bunny Bissoux; an Emotional Mapping workshop with Lee Mackenzie; and a screening and Q&A with Babeworld and Anne Duffau in collaboration with Flatpack Film Festival. The students also commissioned a new publication, produced by The Holodeck, featuring writing by Roo Dhissou, Bunny Bissoux, and Naoibh McNamee.

The student curators were Rose Brennan, Lottie Gregory, Ruozhu Liu, Karolina Mickiewicz, Ella Satterthwaite, Jingnan Wang.

Visit the Unmasking || Remapping project webpage, then follow the links at the bottom of the page for more information on the Unmasking || Remapping events.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 22 June – 10 November 2024

There are almost 1,000 botanical illustrations in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection – ranging from scientific diagrams documenting medicinal plants to merchandising images that adorn seed packets. Many of these illustrations also exist as objects of beauty in their own right. They depict flowers and plants that have, over the centuries, had their own particular uses and values: the common-or-garden foxglove, harvested for centuries for its life-saving – although, also if taken in excess, lethal – sap; the flamboyant tulip, whose bulbs became tokens of trade and financial speculation, worth more than their weight in gold in the 17th-century Dutch Republic; and the sunflowers, grown to clear radiation at Chernobyl – among many other examples.

Some of these histories are well-known; others are now more obscure. The talented University of Birmingham MA Art History and Curating students developing this exhibition have selected some of the most intriguing and beautiful botanical illustrations from the V&A’s collection, – as well as items from the University of Birmingham’s Winterbourne House and Garden and Cadbury Research Library – to tell these stories. The images have been selected on the grounds of the beauty and biographies of the plants and offer valuable insights on the roles these alluring and complex living creatures played in medicine, commerce, gender roles and colonial histories. Their research is presented throughout the exhibition in conversation with contributions from gardeners and natural scientists, social scientists and curators, revealing the fascinating and often unexpected lives of plants – and the images that represent them.

This is the first project in a new annual exhibition partnership between the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, the V&A and the University’s Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies. The Hidden Lives of Plants was enhanced by a programme of engagement events for all ages, including a nature-themed family art festival in August and a series of gallery talks.

The student curators were Raveena Bansal, Yuening Chen, Alexander Clark-Michalek, Ilenia Favaretto, Yuhan Jiang, Chieh-Yu Kung, Charlotte Layfield, Smitakshi Naskar, Elizabeth Pardoe, Zhuoran Zhuang.

View The Hidden Lives of Plants project webpage

Grand Union, 9 to 24 June 2023

There Has to Be Somewhere is a group exhibition featuring artists Rachael House, Lucy Hutchinson, and Emelia Kerr Beale. It presents sculptural, textile, ceramic, and film work that explore themes of well-being, support, self-acceptance, and self-advocacy that spark conversations around disability, queer identity, and feminist issues.

The exhibition title is a hopeful yet urgent message towards somewhere we can take comfort and make our own; sanctuary is not primarily a place but something that can be lived. Actively seeking to share their personal experiences and collective histories, these individual works challenge societal norms of belonging. The project was co-curated by students on the MA Art History and Curating programme, in collaboration with our partner gallery, Grand Union.

The student curators were: Isabel Edmonds, Lucky Keller, Amy Vu and Wei-Chieh (Jack) Tsai.

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The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 17 June to 24 September 2023

Mastering the Market focuses on themes of patronage and collecting in the innovative 17th-century Dutch art market – from the unique character of artistic culture in the newly independent Dutch Republic, through art dealership and attribution, to the development of new genres. The show features one of the largest and most significant groups of Old Master paintings from the collection of the Dukes of Bedford to be exhibited in a public gallery since the 1950s, including works by Rembrandt van Rijn, Anthony van Dyck and Frans Hals.

The works are complemented by a small selection of paintings in the Barber’s own collections. The project was co-curated by students on the MA Art History and Curating programme, in collaboration with our partner gallery, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Woburn Abbey.

The student curators were: Eva Christoff, Ellie Clarke, Vincent Jordan, and Rebecca Moon.

• Exhibition website

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 17 June to 24 September 2022

Albrecht Dürer (1471 – 1528) combined an unparalleled virtuosity as painter and draftsman with an innovative approach to printmaking. He also possessed a shrewd entrepreneurial sense, and an ability to portray subjects and issues that appealed to the general public and the highest-ranking patrons alike – including the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I. These factors ensured his lasting reputation as the most important and influential artist of the Renaissance in northern Europe. This exhibition, exploring how Dürer made his name, features his finest works from the Royal Collection. It includes one of only two paintings by Dürer – and the sole portrait – in the UK, along with rare drawings and iconic prints. The exhibition is the fifth in an annual collaborative series with Royal Collection Trust and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, curated by students on the MA Art History and Curating programme.

The student curators were: Mariia Avramova, Hannah Bergstedt, Emily Beynon, Qingxuan (Alex) Chen, Matthew Dettman, Katie Price, Catalina Rivera and Harry Sharp.

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Grand Union, 2020

Borderlines of the Present, celebrates the recent works of two UK-based artists Farwa Moledina and Nick Jordan. They explore themes of resistance to binary perceptions by giving voice to communities – Muslim women and Tripolitan craftsmen – that exist in ‘in between’ spaces.

This project attempts to bridge the communication gap in art appreciation by subtly guiding the readers through the social, art historical and political contexts of the artworks. By launching Borderlines of the Present as a website and a print publication, it catered to people who enjoy the intimate act of reading whether online or in the feel of a book.

Borderlines of the Present was the fourth curatorial project in partnership between Grand Union and students on the MA Art History and Curating programme at the University of Birmingham.

• This free publication is available to order via Grand Union.

This exhibition was curated by: Lisa Abbott, Yumeng Gao, Hsiu-Wen Hsiao, Prachi Kapoor, Napatsorn Ngaosawangjit and Francesca Singleton.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 2020

Pyramids, temples, sphinxes and shrines: breathtaking images of these ancient and often iconic landmarks, captured by pioneering photographer Francis Bedford, provided new insights for Victorians into the historic and biblical sites of the eastern Mediterranean. Generously lent by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, these remarkable photographs from the Royal Collection featured in the first exclusively web-based exhibition curated at the Barber.

Bedford (1815- – 1894) accompanied Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), who in 1862 was dispatched by his mother, Queen Victoria, on a four-month journey through Egypt, the Holy Land and Greece. The odyssey was intended to introduce the prince to ancient and contemporary civilisations, cultures and political figures – contributing to his education as future king and ruler of the British Empire.

The first photographer ever to accompany a royal tour, Bedford exhibited these exquisite examples of early photography soon after his return, to great acclaim. They brought to life for the British public sites previously only encountered in prints and paintings, and the Barber’s display considers the perception of these cultures and of the concept of empire during the Victorian era. The photographs are complemented here by an extract from the prince’s own handwritten journal, contemporary commentary from illustrated newspapers and magazines, and drawings by Lawrence Alma-Tadema from the University’s Cadbury Research Library.

This was the third exhibition in an exciting annual collaboration between Royal Collection Trust, the Barber, and by the 2019/20 cohort of ten MA Art History and Curating students at the University of Birmingham.

This exhibition was curated by: Olivia Beebe, Andrea Brighenti, Madeleine Cater, Rowan Chapman, Elizabeth Lamle, Victoria Pap, Zuzanna Pela, Alexandra Sheen, Grace Trumbo and Francesca Vitale.

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The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 14 June - 1 September 2019

During the 17th century, Cassiano dal Pozzo and his younger brother, Carlo Antonio, embarked upon an epic attempt to document and record the major fields of knowledge of their day.

They assembled a 'Paper Museum’ consisting of over 10,000 watercolours, drawings and prints illustrating subjects as diverse as antiquities, architecture, zoology, botany and geology, social customs and ceremonies, costumes, portraits, topography and military maps. Their collection represents one of the most significant attempts before the age of photography to embrace human knowledge in visual form - in many respects, the brothers were proto Instagrammers, creating a visual record of the material world around them.

Most of the dal Pozzo collection was acquired by George III in 1762, and is still part of the Royal Collection today. This exhibition – the first in more than 20 years dedicated to Cassiano’s remarkable contribution to art and science – comes out of the second year of a collaboration between the Barber and Royal Collection Trust. The show includes more than 40 objects, including 17 ‘Paper Museum’ works lent by Her Majesty The Queen from the Royal Collection, some of which have never been publicly displayed before.

This exhibition – the second in an annual collaboration between the Barber and Royal Collection Trust – is co-curated by MA Art History and Curating students, and explores a selection of these works on paper. Generous loans by Her Majesty The Queen are enhanced by rare books and geological specimens from the University’s Cadbury Research Library and the Lapworth Museum respectively. The exhibition was accompanied by a booklet researched and written by the student co-curators; available at the Barber.

This exhibition was curated by: Beth Brankowski, Mimi Buchanan, Eden Challenger, Lily Cheetham, Poppy Hicklin and Sarah McDermott Brown.

The exhibition received excellent press coverage, including a 5 star review from Jonathan Jones in The Guardian; The Art Newspaper.

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Grand Union, 3-18 May 2019

On the Subject of Precarity was a group exhibition with artists Betsy Bradley, Gareth Proskourine-Barnett and Rafal Zajko. The term precarity – a state of perpetual instability – seems to be especially pertinent within the current moment. Informed by a widespread sense of collective societal anxiety, the exhibition explores the perception of precarity in the entanglement of past, present and imagined futures.

The three artists collectively engage with shifting architectures through a focus on materiality, the significance of the fragment, and a fluctuating relationship to place; the exhibition uses the tangible to make visible political and environmental concerns. Whilst considering precarity in a broader sense, the exhibition was also a reflection on its imminent locale. The impending arrival of HS2 will drastically alter Birmingham’s cityscape, and represents a significant threat to the existing artistic community within Digbeth. On the Subject of Precarity highlights the precarious position of art, and consequently artists, in a time of repeated cuts to artistic and cultural funding.

On the Subject of Precarity opened on Digbeth First Friday in May, where visitors were invited to watch the deconstruction of Rafal Zajko’s ice sculpture – a performance piece which explores ideas surrounding instability.

On the Subject of Precarity was curated by MA Art History and Curating students at the University of Birmingham, in association with Grand Union.

This exhibition was curated by Alexandrea Whitehouse, Laura Adcock, Sarah McDermott Brown, Harriet Moore, Rafailia Thiraiou, Katie Hodson, Shan-Chu Yang, Bethany Williams and Jessica Eburne.

Events

Digbeth First Friday: opening night
Friday 3 May 18:00 - 20:00

For the opening of On the Subject of Precarity as part of Digbeth First Friday, there was a performative element to Rafal Zajko’s melting ice sculpture.

Performance lecture: Fractured Perspectives
Saturday 18 May 15:00-16:30

Using the old Birmingham Central Library as a point of reference, Gareth Proskourine-Barnett explored the iconic emblem of brutalism through the lens of psychogeography.

Centrala Art Gallery, 1-10 June 2018

Three Models for Change featured new commissions and existing works by the artists Chris Alton, Ian Giles and Greta Hauer. It asserted the importance of historical awareness in establishing future potentials of communities.

The works fluctuated between three actual and staged narratives: the formation of a fictional Quaker-punk band; the staging of cross-generational Queer histories; and the uncertainty surrounding a newly formed volcanic island and its territorial disputes. Ian Giles also developed a new performance project on queer spaces for the exhibition.

This exhibition was curated by: Ryan Kearney, Alice O’Rourke, and Ariadne Tzika.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 15 June-23 September 2018

This first exhibition in an exciting new partnership with the Royal Collection Trust explores the use of drawings – as preparatory sketches and studies for paintings and frescoes, tapestries, sculpture or architecture, and as detailed working designs that allow an artist to explore the subject or trial compositional ideas. It included a wealth of exquisite works on paper by outstanding Renaissance and Baroque Masters, including Bernini, Carracci, Claude and Poussin.

The artists featured used a great variety of techniques and media, and their work thus provides a rich introduction to the practical skills of drawing.

The exhibition has been curated by students on MA Art History and Curating under the guidance of staff at Royal Collection Trust and the Barber. Generous loans by Her Majesty The Queen were supplemented by items from the Barber’s collection. The exhibition was accompanied by a booklet researched and written by the student co-curators; available at the Barber.

This exhibition was curated by: Ruth Léger, Aikaterini Nakatsiadi, Chris-Ann Panther, Risa Teshirogi, and India Wilson.

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Centrala Art Gallery, 2-10 June 2017

FLUX explored the connections between the coming together of different multidisciplinary artworks and the visitor’s cohabitation of the gallery space. It invited the viewer to question the norms and perceptions of different artistic disciplines by inviting them to move amongst artworks that challenge those boundaries, and encouraged them to reflect upon how the artwork either challenges or adapts to its surroundings.

FLUX featured work by established and emerging artists from across the Midlands region: Mark Houghton, James Lomax, Anna Parker and Zoe Robertson. The artists made new artwork for the show, responding to the gallery space.

The students also established themselves as a new curatorial collective, Room7. They hosted a symposium, and successfully crowd funded to publish a reflective publication on the exhibition.

This exhibition was curated by: Laura Bishop, Aelita Galevska, Stephen Kirk, Katrine Mortensen, Olivia Myatt, Jessica Pollington, and Bethany Williams.

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 9 June-24 September 2017

The dawn of photography in the mid-19th century made portraiture accessible to a much wider public. This exhibition explored early photographic studio portraiture, including the popular carte-de-visite format.

It examined how photographic techniques, backdrops, props, costumes and poses enabled public figures – ranging from Oscar Wilde through Ellen Terry to Queen Victoria – to fashion and promote their own identities. It also suggested how studio photography contributed to the modern idea of celebrity.

Curated in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, it also featured loans from the University’s Cadbury Research Library and Research and Cultural Collections.

This exhibition was curated by: Alice Benbow, Joy Corcec, Catrin (Megan) Evans, Xiyao Ma, Emma Marley, Laura Segal, Roseanna Smith, Anita Ubertone, Ainsley Vinall, and John Walker.

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The exhibition had an excellent reception, with visitor comments including:

‘Always worth a visit to the Barber. Another really interesting exhibition.’

‘Fascinating insight into a different form of portraiture. Very informative and enjoyable.’

‘Most illuminating and beautifully curated.’

‘Most interesting and well put together exhibition.’

‘Great exhibition! I really enjoy learning about old style photography.’

‘Fascinating exploration of the development of portrait photography.’

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, 10 June – 25 September 2016

Marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, this exhibition, the Barber’s first ever exploring Elizabethan and Jacobean art, focused on the Bard’s chief patrons at court, and on other leading writers – rivals and associates.

Organised in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery, London, it featured major paintings, sculpture, miniatures and prints from the period 1590-1620, including outstanding portraits of Anne of Denmark, the Earls of Essex and Derby, Ben Jonson, John Fletcher and others, as well as iconic images of Shakespeare himself. A rare first Folio and other richly ornamented books of the time was lent by the University of Birmingham’s Cadbury Research Library.

The show explored how artists construct character through portraiture, while delving into the lively world of the court during a golden age of British cultural history.

This exhibition was curated by: Charlotte Bagwell, Samantha Barillaro, Anna Franck, Jennifer Gleadell, Anna Jankowiak, Cassandra Killow, Sophia Szynaka, Sarah Theobald, and Chloe Walker.

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