Contemporary & Historical Photography

Introduction:

Launched in September 2006 in response to the demand for postgraduate education in the history and theory of photography. While other colleges do offer modules in history and/or theory of photography, they generally do so as part of a broader degree in practical photography or art history.

The schools is renowned for its dual emphasis on ‘object-based learning’ and ‘professional practice’. In addition to honing their skills of academic research and writing, students also meet art world professionals (on specially-tailored visits), learn how to make oral presentations and collaborate on a major project in which they plan a hypothetical exhibition or museum display or new photography journal.

SEMESTER ONE: CANONISING PHOTOGRAPHY

Provides an historical and theoretical survey of major photographic images, practices and practitioners from 1839 to c.1970. Students learn about how these practices accrued significance and how other practices were marginalised by the creation of a canon for photography.

This is achieved through three units:

The Nineteenth Century: History and Theory (Dr Juliet Hacking)

The Twentieth Century: Photography and Modernism (Dr Lucy Soutter) and The Photographic Body: A Network for Photography (Dr Juliet Hacking).

The Nineteenth and Twentieth Century course units are based upon a series of lectures and seminars which consider not only ‘art photography’ but also practices such as commercial portraiture, police records and fashion imagery. Each core lecture is followed by a seminar in which students discuss key texts.

The Photographic Body unit has tutor lectures, student-led presentations and key text seminars that examine the establishment of a network for those interested in photography as a liberal pursuit.

Students chart the development from 1839 to the present day of the societies, journals, galleries, museums and collectors involved with photography and assess the role that they have played (and continue to play) in determining how certain practices accrue both symbolic and actual value.

In addition to the core unit lectures, there is an extensive programme of guest lectures and talks by distinguished specialists. In 0809 the students have heard from (among many others) Dr Nigel Warburton (on Bill Brandt), Professor Roger Taylor (W.H.F. Talbot), Liz Wells (photographic journals), Professor Mark Durden (John Szarkowski) and Michael Wilson (collecting contemporary photography).

The programme of guest lectures continues into Semester Two and includes talks by artists (artists to date include Martin Parr, Thomas Joshua Cooper, Liz Rideal, Anderson & Low and Richard Billingham).

There is also a full programme of visits to galleries, archives and collections designed to introduce the students to the extensive photographic resources in London and to object-based study. These visits support the lecture-based teaching.

The fourth unit in Semester One is Academic and Professional Practice, which runs through to the end of Semester Two. In Semester One, classes offer guidance on academic researching and writing and students are introduced to analysis of the market, both current and historical, through visits to galleries, auction previews, auctions and lectures.

There are two major study visits in Semester One. In addition to a two-day visit to the National Media Museum in Bradford, Yorkshire, the students also make a four-day visit Paris to attend Paris-Photo, the leading European photography fair, see major temporary exhibitions and enjoy specially-designed sessions in important photographic archives.

SEMESTER TWO: PHOTOGRAPHY BEYOND PHOTOGRAPHY

Semester Two is designed to familiarise the students with photographic practices since 1968 and to enhance the students’ skills of critical and theoretical analysis and of academic and professional practice.

The course unit Contemporary Photography since 1968 (Dr Lucy Soutter) examines photography’s place beyond the canon of so-called ‘Classic Photography’ (19th and 20th century masterworks). Beginning with the widespread use of the camera in conceptual art practices of the 1960s and 70s, the course examines both the various challenges to the modernist-derived idea of photography’s identity and the significant role that photography plays in postmodernist theory and practice. The lectures and seminars bring students up-to-date with practices and ideas that are emerging as significant within art discourse.

The unit Critical Approaches (Dr Bernard Vere) introduces the students to major theoretical movements and writings. Student-led seminars examine key critical and cultural theories for their impact on our understanding of visual culture and photography, and explore how theory can be applied to specific photographic practices.

The unit Global Photography: Photography and Difference (Mark Sealy) develops the students’ understanding of photography’s place in the politics of representation. The course is structured around the critical study of contemporary ‘global’ photographic practices and the key theoretical issues raised by the appropriation of ‘non-Western’ art by the internationalised art world.

Finally, the unit Academic and Professional Practice focuses on, on the one hand, the development of a major research topic (the MA dissertation or PG dip long essay) and, on the other, the skills and knowledge needed for working in the art world.

As regards Academic Practice, the process culminates in an oral presentation of the proposal to the tutors and students. As regards Professional Practice, students continue to meet with a range of art world professionals and the sessions explore issues arising from curation, preservation and conservation; running a gallery, archive or not-for-profit organisation.

Towards the end of Semester Two, students apply their skills of professional practice to The Project. Divided into small groups, students plan a hypothetical exhibition at a London venue, propose a re-hang of a museum gallery dedicated to photography or create a hypothetical photography journal. The students then ‘pitch’ these projects to a panel of tutors and students.

The study visit in Semester Two is to New York. The students attend sessions in major photographic archives such as those of MoMA and the Met, and are introduced to the network of photography galleries in Chelsea and Midtown. The focus of the visit is The Photography Show (AIPAD), the leading photography fair in North America.

Semesters One & Two: Assignments & Tutorials

All students (whether MA or PG dip) follow the same programme and are assessed on their coursework. Students have regular one-on-one tutorials that cover academic and professional development, essay and project preparation and feedback on graded assignments.

Semester Three: The Dissertation

For MA students only, begins in mid-June. There are no taught sessions; instead the students research and write a 12,500-15,000 word thesis. Students are supported in their studies by one-on-one tutorials with their dissertation supervisor.

The MA in Photography is validated, as are all MAs at SIAL, by the University of Manchester (one of the leading universities in the UK). There is no practical photography teaching on the course; students who are also practitioners make photographs in their own time.