Art, Society & Publics MFA

• DJ51033 - Art, Society & Publics 1
• DJ51034 - Artistic Research & Writing
• DJ52034 - Art, Society & Publics 2
• DJ52037 - Artistic Research & Writing 2
• DJ53011 - Masters Art, Society & Publics 3

Develop an ambitious, informed art practice by engaging in studio-based practice and research-based work. Take part in seminars with visiting artists, curators, writers and speakers. You'll get opportunities and take modules that focus on making, engagement and building professional relationships. This will develop your production, presenting, communicating and debating skills for practical and/or theoretical work.

Our course includes a combination of teaching situations:

• one-to-one
• group critique
• seminar
• exhibition
• performance
• conference
• workshop
• salon
• study trip

This will let you investigate accepted modes of practice and production in contemporary art. You will consider a range of art practices, presentation modes, artistic strategies, technologies and social, cultural and critical contexts.

A high level of staff contact will help you develop a diverse range of individual practices and projects. We will mentor you in how to present at and take part in projects. This includes public art, seminars and conferences. You'll collaborate on curated public presentations and events. And you can elect to devise and lead projects with undergraduate students.

Students participate in staff practice and research activities and lead their own personal projects with partners that include:

• Nederlands Fotomuseum
• Scottish National Portrait Gallery
• National Health Service
• StAnza International Poetry Festival
• Discovery Point
• The Maria Gugging Clinic & The Maria Gugging Museum, Vienna
• Summerhall, Edinburgh
• Deveron Projects
• Museum Services, University of Dundee
• Artists’ Book Collection Dundee
• Taigh Chearsabhagh Museum & Arts Centre
• Dighty Connect, Douglas Community Centre, Dundee
• University of Lille, France
• artconnexion, France
• Chabot Museum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
• TENT, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
• The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum

The course is led by the artist and Professor Tracy Mackenna in close working with Edwin Janssen (artists who share an expanded collaborative art practice). Module content is delivered and projects are led by staff including (artist; research and non-medium-specific practice focuses on ‘cultural formers’); Ellie Harrison (artist; investigating, exposing and challenging the capitalist system and the impact free-market forces have on our society and day-to-day lives); Dr Sarah Cook (curator of contemporary art, writer, new media art historian); Scott Myles (artist); Professor Murdo Macdonald (Chair of History of Scottish Art); Bob and Roberta Smith (artist, educator; proposes and tests approaches to artist as a public space); Jonn Herschend (interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, co-editor THE THING Quarterly); John Dummett (artist; practice-led PhD student researching ‘visual, textual and verbal representations of ‘the public’’); Joanna Foster (artist and musician; practice-led PhD student researching ‘walking practice and oral narrative in site-responsive practice’); Jonathan Baxter (Dundee Urban Orchard) and many others

Students are assessed on studio work, evidence of inquiry, written work and verbal presentation. At the end of the course a body of work is presented at the public DJCAD ‘Masters Show’. Presentation on platforms such as online, publication, off-site etc are strongly supported.

Assessment for each module is conducted by module tutors. The assessors employ a variety of styles specific to the module. The programme has developed a unique and highly praised ‘verbal presentation’ form of assessment where students present to peers and staff. This highly effective method makes a learning experience of the assessment process and is another way in which students’ presentation, communication, analytical and discursive skills are developed. Written components take many forms including reflective reports, artist’s statements, study reports and essays. Students are strongly encouraged to experiment with the inter-relationship of practical art components and textual/written work, particularly through the Artistic Research & Writing modules.