Media plays a major role in everyday life, from cinema and television to surveillance and the Internet. Our Media Arts collection reflects how artists have used various technologies in their work since the 1960s. The collection encompasses a diverse range of time-based media artworks, including video, film, slide, sound, computer-based, and online projects as well as live performances.

Reflecting the Bay Area’s tradition of technological innovation and forward thinking, SFMOMA is a leader in the presentation, collection, and preservation of time-based media works. Our Department of Media Arts, established in 1987, was among the first of its kind in the United States.

Media Arts is spearheading the development of a richly-illustrated digital publication that considers the role of participation in contemporary art, with specific attention to SFMOMA’s collection, exhibition and public program history. It will bring together new and existing content, from essays and conservation case studies to artist interviews and conversations, to advance the scholarship of this subject.

In dialogue with the assistant curators of media arts, the Media Arts Curatorial Intern will conduct in-depth online and archival research on related images, multimedia, and written material. This may include documentation of performances, talks, symposia, onsite and offsite SFMOMA commissions. With an emphasis on time-based media art and performance, the publication will consider a wide spectrum of genres and mediums including take-away print pieces, artist-designed walks, sound-based sculptures, browsable photography projects, and video installations culminating from community collaborations.

SFMOMA aims to launch this online resource in Spring 2021 on the occasion of the SFMOMA presentation of Nam June Paik. The Intern will support the assistant curators of media arts in researching and identifying related content options for both a thematic digital publication and the Nam June Paik SFMOMA exhibition web page.

The scope of artistic approaches to participation by the Intern will be determined in conversation with Media Arts curatorial staff and in part defined by the Intern’s interests and findings. Avenues of approach may include: preparing a summary of collection works across curatorial areas that require participation; preparing a selected overview and analysis of relevant commissions and performances led by Media Arts and Education and by Community Engagement; research and report on digital publication initiatives by other arts organizations.

SFMOMA is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity.

Learn more about the expectations and qualifications for this internship in the attached description. Applications without appropriate materials will not be considered. Please see full internship description below.

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