MA Fine Art

This module is concerned with the development of knowledge, understanding and experience of exhibiting. It provides a grounding in the skills necessary for exhibition, management and design. It encourages critical considerations of cultural conventions in the staging of exhibitions and introduces a variety of intellectual and practical approaches to when art becomes public.

Studio Work 1 aims to enable experimentation, exploration and expansion of practical skills, and to develop students’ understanding of ways to direct a self-determined Fine Art practice. Students are supported and encouraged to take risks, testing and exploring a range of practical, critical, and theoretical approaches, and to develop their own interests and enquiries. The module aims to draw on a diverse student cohort to establish engagement in interdisciplinary dialogue, peer-to peer-critique, and collective explorations. In conjunction with Exhibiting Art, the module aims to encourage practical production, collaboration, self-reflection and critical thinking and to foster awareness of a range of advanced skills, methods, and positions within wider contemporary fine art ecosystems. In short, the module aims to support all students to experiment with a wide range of practical and intellectual skills, providing the necessary foundations for an independent, self-driven Fine Art practice

Art Writing explores the expanded field of contemporary art writing and its relationship to contemporary art practice and art history. Spanning poetry, fiction, artists’ writings, oral histories, and exhibition reviews, the module engages and develops students’ understanding of their position as a writer in relation to the field of contemporary art practice, art writing, and criticism. The module develops a detailed knowledge of the landscape of contemporary art writing and art practice, specifically its representation through writing, considering how contemporary art writing builds on and diverges from art history. Through seminars, one-to-one tutorials with module teaching staff, exhibitions visits, and visits from those working in the contemporary art writing sphere, students explore key developments in the field of contemporary art writing and develop writing and close reading skills pertinent to contemporary art writing and contemporary art history. 

Studio Practice 2 enables students to focus and advance relevant practical skills and to develop an innovative and coherent body of work. The module supports the development of a self-determined and self-directed art practice underpinned and strengthened by contextual understanding and critical thinking skills. It provides a responsive learning environment grounded in practical knowledge and experiment, and encouraging research, critical reflection, and interdisciplinary dialogue. In conjunction with Art Writing, the module advances awareness of artists' contribution to contemporary culture and to develop research and reading skills, supporting students to identify and communicate a critical position in relation to practical production. In short, the module aims to advance the practical skills, theoretical and critical and the communication of critical position of Fine Art practice to allow students to work with increased rigour and greater independence.

Studio Residency and Exhibition enables the independent development and realisation of a coherent and distinctive body of work in a public exhibition of professional standard. Students are supported to consolidate their knowledge of fine art practice and contemporary art contexts and direct their own practical, critical, and theoretical approaches towards effective material and visual communication in public exhibition. Students structure their independent practical explorations and research towards a clear understanding and public communication of their own practice and creative identity, and to collaborate to realise its presentation in public exhibition. The module aims to encourage ambition, innovative problem solving, practical skills and production, critical thinking, self-reliance, collaboration, time management and organisation. In short, it develops the essential skills for the realisation of a professional standard exhibition and the ability to effectively communicate their practice to an audience