Curating Contemporary Design MA (in partnership with the Design Museum)

Why choose this course?

This collaborative degree, between Kingston School of Art and The Design Museum, has grown into one of the world's foremost programmes for design curators.

Taught by leading curators and designers, the course engages critically and creatively with our fast-changing, complex world. You will have the opportunity to curate live projects and build your own professional profile, through The Design Museum and with institutions such as the Architectural Association, British Council, Gallery Fumi and the Royal Academy of Arts. Led by both research and practice, this course has taught aspiring curators for more than 15 years.

You will develop creative and practical skills for curating design exhibitions, public programmes and alternative curatorial formats. You will learn to critically reflect on curatorial practice, work trans-disciplinary and speak and write about contemporary design and curatorial practice.

The course offers visits to studios, exhibitions, galleries and independent creatives. There is also an optional international study trip.* Past destinations have included New York, Berlin and Amsterdam. Through a dissertation and/or project, you will showcase your originality and creativity in design curation.

The Kingston School of Art environment, which includes the Stanley Picker Gallery, Dorich House Museum and outstanding workshop facilities, encourages creativity and experimentation as responses to interrogations of contemporary conditions. To actively consider geopolitical, social and economic concerns, Curating Contemporary Design is taught within a transdisciplinary framework that allows students to develop responses to the complexity of the world today.

Teaching and assessment

You'll be assessed through curatorial project briefs, critical reviews, seminar presentations, essays, and a dissertation.

Students need to have a good BA (Hons) degree or equivalent qualification in an academic subject or creative practice field. We welcome applicants with relevant work experience, such as practitioners, museum staff and designers looking to extend their professional experience. You should be able to demonstrate an ability to work creatively and within a team.