Peer Review Completed: Thursday, April 16th.

Intro

Your blog successfully demonstrates how your project has developed throughout the semester, reflecting the influence of independent research, course materials, and the collective on your ISCP. While your engagement with public space and the site of your project is particularly strong, your blog would benefit from clearer structure and a more rigorous incorporation of research.

Design

Section headers and more images throughout your blog would provide greater legibility and clarity, as most blogs are solid chunks of text without context. In Weeks 1 & 2, images successfully show independent research into exhibitions and curatorial methods, and your use of charts in Week 5 & the Curatorial Pitch are particularly strong. In later blogs devoid of images (Weeks 7,9,12), images of projects and exhibitions mentioned would support your research and provide clarity.

Collective Work

Your discussion of collective work throughout the blog provides a clear narrative of collective growth and its impact on your ISCP. You show how the Collective exhibition influenced your approach to spatial structure and responsibility in Week 11, critically reflecting on how the experience shifted your approach to public engagement and promotion in Week 12.

Project Development

Throughout the blog, it is evident how course research and practice influence your project; Week 9 being a highlight as site visits and independent research (Le Lieu & theory of the dérive) both shifted your project’s development. Though a key gap throughout is your discussion of artists: there is no mention of your choice of artists following your curatorial pitch, nor discussion of specific works and how they will be presented. While you clearly articulate how these artists’ practices align with your project themes, elaborating on how you select and install specific works would evidence deeper critical engagement. Ultimately, this would bolster your in-depth research into the sites and publics of your project (Week 10’s discussion of ethics and care related to local communities and transport networks being a highlight).

Evidencing Research

Overall, your blog evidences you are thinking critically about public space, but would be supported by more consistent incorporation and application of independent research. References are often listed in footnotes without being discussed in the text, leaving it unclear as to how you are applying this research. You do this successfully in Weeks 2 & 12, clearly explaining how Counterspace and Nina Simon, respectively, shifted your project’s conception. Ultimately, your blog could be supported by more research into artworks and exhibitions; Portobello-based Art Walk Projects’ socially-engaged programme and art walks could support how your project engages with local communities, and Janet Cardiff’s Night Walk for Edinburgh is a highly relevant artwork that also uses AR. Jürgen Habermas’ theory of the public sphere and Michael Warner’s Publics and Counterpublics (2002) both could support how your project negotiates the relationship between the social sphere and public space.

Ultimately, your blog showcases your deep engagement with your curatorial project, and with more incorporation of independent research and design elements, would very successfully demonstrate your project’s development and growth.

Summative Peer Review of Hazel Ren / Preston Taylor / Curating (2025-2026)[SEM2] by is licensed under a