Venice Biennale talks to be stepping stone for aspiring curators

A series of talks on the Venice Biennale will be held in May ahead of the West Kowloon arts hub's international debut in the "art Olympics".

The four-part educational series, which is free and open to all, aims to give training opportunities to art students and aspiring curators who might otherwise not have the chance to gain hands-on experience in art biennials, which are growing in popularity worldwide.

Besides the talks, a biennale internship programme will also be held next month.

M+ received 700 applications competing for three technical and eight exhibition intern positions.

"There are few on-the-job training opportunities and little education [specifically for curators]," said Yung Ma, the Hong Kong pavilion curator and an assistant curator at M+.

"It's very hard to be a curator in Hong Kong, because there are so few places where you can build your experience."

Ma said the series was a structured talk on the Venice Biennale and that he hoped it would mark the beginning of more educational programmes for young, aspiring curators.