Aesthetics and Art Theory MA

The course engages with some of the most influential texts in modern and contemporary art theory – from Kant and Schiller via Greenberg and Adorno to Rancière and Deleuze – framed in terms of fundamental conceptual problems inherited from the German Idealists.
It provides a clear overview of philosophical approaches to modern art, distinguishing between 'aesthetic', 'Romantic' and 'Modernist' problematics. Modules include the study of works by prominent contemporary authors such as Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Rancière, Jean-François Lyotard, Rosalind Krauss, Benjamin Buchloh and many others.
It is one of the largest and most successful MA courses of its kind in the UK.The course is particularly well-regarded in the art world internationally.
You benefit from the input of versatile and internationally-recognised teaching staff, with a wide range of interests, projects and publications.
It is based at the UK's leading Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP), together with four other postgraduate programmes and a large group of research students.
You can choose from a wide range of module options, balanced by a shared central core of texts, concepts and problems.
It offers a pathway to related doctoral research at the CRMEP or other institutions.
You will be based at a University which combines both an inclusive approach to education and ambitious investment in advanced-level humanities teaching and research.
You have easy access to London's research libraries and other research events, plus proximity to French, German and other European universities and libraries.

Michael Sperlinger has become assistant director of the arts agency Lux (London);
Marta Kuzma has become director of the Office of Contemporary Art Norway (Oslo);
Ruth Blacksell has become a lecturer and associate director of O-SB Design, University of Reading;
Louise Hanson has begun a PhD at Brasenose College, Oxford;
Dessislava Dimova is finishing a PhD at the Bulgarian Academy;
Anda Klavina is now a curator at the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (Riga), and
Kate Parker is director of City Projects (London).

Applicants should normally hold a good (upper-second [2:1] or first-class honours, or the equivalent) undergraduate degree in Philosophy or a related subject.

Applicants with other kinds of qualifications will be considered on an individual basis.

This MA is widely recognised as one of the most significant and innovative courses in its field: unlike most courses on art theory, this programme grounds its problems and concepts in the appropriate philosophical context. It will prepare you for a wide range of careers in the arts, education and public policy – it is particularly highly regarded in the art world. It also provides an ideal preparation for doctoral research across the humanities and social sciences.