Contemporary Art Practice - MFA/MA

Our studio programme encourages practices that are speculative and reflective, encouraging work in a range of media. It is concerned with ways of learning that are experiential – embodied through and understood by the acquisition of a practice.

Students produce artworks and projects in a family of media, adapting approaches drawn from an increasingly wide array of subject disciplines. The programme also involves the theoretical study of this family of media and approaches, drawing on related fields and methods.

Media-related disciplines supported by the programme include sculpture, painting and printmaking, photography, a/v and new media. The programme also encompasses approaches to practice that are non media-specific, including intermedia, time-based arts, performance, installation, social-practice, education and artwriting.

The programme is aimed at professional artists who want to develop a more ambitious artistic practice by extending their practical, theoretical, organisational and economic knowledge. It develops from a broad to a specialist understanding of the technical resources and validating contexts in which artists work today, drawing inspiration and nourishment from the experience of our international student cohort.

A defining aspect of our studio programme is the emphasis it places upon speculative scepticism - not proceeding from the position of knowing what art is; rather, being motivated by speculation on what it might be. We generate an atmosphere that supports mutual co-operation, a dynamic, intellectually ambitious environment in which staff and students can learn together.

Our students often work collaboratively, therefore we are very eager to select applicants based on their ability to work well as part of a creative team as much as we are interested in their artistic and academic potential. We attract students from all over the world with very different backgrounds and experiences. The focus on building a supportive creative community, on the rigorous and experimental combination of theory and practice and the international profile of the student body makes our Masters programme unique.