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The programme is designed for students who wish to take up the challenge of contemporary curating as an artistic, social and critical undertaking, and who wish to develop their professional practice in this area.
This two-part programme is designed to develop professional and academic excellence in the field of contemporary curatorial practice. It's aimed at curators and those with related academic and practical experience who wish to achieve professional excellence in their practice, to innovate in the expanding field of curatorial practice.
MFA Curating at Goldsmiths focuses in-depth on aesthetic, social, political and philosophical questions that are brought to bear in any place or at any event in which contemporary art is situated.
The programme is designed to provide a practice-led research context for students at any stage of their professional practice.
It also enables you to experiment and innovate in the expanded field of curatorial pedagogy, to collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis and extend your and other students' knowledge through this process.
Goldsmiths' MFA Curating programme is recognised worldwide for producing highly qualified curators and other arts professionals.
Our graduates find employment in top international museums, commercial galleries, auction houses, magazines, alternative spaces and not-for-profit organisations. Others choose employment as artist’s studio managers; arts education programmers; museum public talks and events organisers; gallery archivists and registrars.
The Tate Modern annually offers two hands-on internships to Goldsmiths MFA Curating students, who are given the opportunity to work directly on an exhibition matched to the students' interests. Accepted Goldsmiths curating students are given details on how to apply for a Tate Modern internship prior to starting the school year.
Other institutions with which the Goldsmiths MFA Curating programme has collaborated on real-life curatorial projects include 176/Zabludowicz Collection, London; Form/Content, London; ICA/Fourth Plinth Project, London, and more.
Each year, part 1 Goldsmiths curating students are invited to pitch an exhibition proposal to the Government Art Collection, using works from this important national collection as the basis for a contemporary art exhibition. The successful projects are realised during the final year.
In Year One, you're introduced to a series of curatorial concepts and practices through group analysis and guided research. There are also group seminars that look into significant ideas in philosophy and cultural theory to help you think broadly about your own practice
In Year Two, intensive workshops look in depth at a set of artistic and cultural themes chosen by the students. In Year Two you further develop independent curatorial research and practice, working either on your own ideas or with a London-based gallery or institution. The summer term of Year One acts as a transition to Year Two.
Government Art Collection
Each year, part 1 Goldsmiths curating students are invited to pitch an exhibition proposal to the Government Art Collection, using works from this important national collection as the basis for a contemporary art exhibition. The successful projects are realised during the final year.
Year one
Year two
Independent research and practice; public presentation; oral and written communication; project development; exhibition administration; concept development; collaboration; intellectual analysis; catalogue, essay and review writing; research organisation and presentation.
Graudates from the MFA in Curating go on to work in galleries and museums; as managers and directors in commercial galleries; independent curators; cultural policy makers, teachers and academics; writers and critics.
Established 25 years ago and led by Professor Victoria Walsh, the MA Curating Contemporary Art (CCA) programme is recognised both as an international leader in its field and for its commitment to collaborative group project-based work that integrates theory and practice throughout the two years of the curriculum. For 2017/18, we are introducing new areas of focus in response to the expanded field of curating and the widening professional opportunities for curatorial practice and research in a global context. These will include:
Exhibitions and Programming practice focusses on curating, commissioning and programming within the physical and defined setting of the gallery/museum space providing critical, theoretical and practical understanding of the histories and opportunities within this form of curatorial practice.
Urban practice focuses on curating and commissioning within the urban context of the global city, with particular emphasis on the expanded role curators play bringing together architects, designers, urbanists, and public and private organisations with communities and artist practitioners to create new spaces of creative opportunity, encounter and public value.
Digital practice focuses on the expanded field of artistic and curatorial practice that is rooted in and defined by digital media, online production and networked distribution. It will examine the differences and commonalities between digital and analogue forms of artistic production and curating; and experiment with new curatorial models that bridge on and offline networked cultures and audiences.
The CCA programme approaches the field critically, theoretically and through best practice in commissioning, curating, and programming with London-based and national arts organisations and spaces ensuring that the knowledge and understanding of these practices is grounded in the context of public audiences, urbanisation and the digital. In the increasingly complex cultural environment in which curating takes place, our research-led and practice-led teaching by staff and visiting tutors ensures the curatorial and artistic significance, intellectual value and critical vitality of the MA programme.
Curating Contemporary Art is a two-year, full-time 240-credit ‘enhanced’ RCA MA that runs from September 2017 – June 2019. From 2017, the programme is primarily located in the RCA's newest facilities in White City.
This vocational masters degree (new for 2018) has been developed in partnership with the Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove in response to current priorities within the museums and heritage sector.
Through wide-ranging module options, it caters both for candidates working in the museums and heritage industry wishing to progress their careers, as well as those wishing to move into the sector. Students already working in the sector can choose to take up to 60 credits of business modules and have that reflected in the award they graduate with, Curating Collections and Heritage with Management MA.
Modules cover themes crucial to building a successful career in curating collections and heritage and all feature practical learning and experience at their heart. This MA will appeal to those with a broad range of interests, from curating design, dress and screen to visual culture, heritage and exhibitions.
This new course is in the final stages of development and may change. Check back for the most up-to-date information, as we update the page.
Semester 1
In semester 1 you undertake a core module and choose one of three option modules.
Museums and Collections Knowledge Journey considers the critical questions of the museum and collections sector, exploring and debating the role and purpose of museums and collections, the ethical responsibilities involved, and key issues in learning, inclusivity and audience development. The module covers several of the key criteria which feature on the Museum Association's in-service professional qualification, Associateship of the Museums Associaton (AMA), supporting or preparing students in their careers.
Options
Semester 2
In semester 2 you undertake a core Research Methods module, a dissertation or research project, and choose two option modules. The major, 60-credit research project can take the form of a traditional dissertation or professional report related to a specific organisation's actual requirements in, for example, a collections management issue, a marketing concern, or educational provision.
Options
* Business modules can be taken by students who already have some experience working in a museum or heritage site. If you choose business modules amounting to 60 credits across both semesters, this will be reflected in the award you graduate with, Curating Collections and Heritage with Management.
This MA is designed to respond to current industry requirements. You will have unique access to museums and heritage professionals though behind-the-scenes working and guest lecturers.
Students choose option modules and develop areas of specialism but all leave with skills to begin or progress a career in the collections and heritage sector. A combination of practical work experience, industry connections and scholarly knowledge will provide an excellent springboard for working in roles such as traditional and digital curating, collections and business management, management, marketing, media and communication, partnerships and fundraising.
MA/MFA Contemporary Curating explores the notion of exhibition practice in contemporary culture and considers curatorial methods and strategies in the context of the gallery and museum, as well as in projects such as biennials, public art works and commissions. The course considers ways in which different kinds of art works and projects are mediated through the exhibition process.
The shifting relationship between artist-institution-curator-critic/writer forms a central element to the course. The course also explores the potential of seeing curating as something that can be applied to different forms of knowledge: publications, symposia, events and interventions.
-Opportunity to work on Holden Gallery exhibitions programme which generates four new shows a year, artists have included: John Baldessari, Sophie Calle, Liam Gillick, Jenny Holzer, Cornelia Parker, Roman Signer, Mark Wallinger
-Curator talks and seminars from a range of galleries and programmes,such as: Liverpool Biennial, Manchester Art Gallery, Open Eye, Tate Liverpool, Whitworth Art Gallery among others
-Partnership arrangements with Castlefield Gallery and Home for placements and work experience.
You will establish key theories and issues relating to Contemporary Curating and then develop these into more complex approaches.
You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.
Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – whatever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.
If you choose to progress to MFA Contemporary Curating award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.
This award is focused on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.
Curating Science will enable you to develop an independent academic and curatorial practice at the intersection of histories, philosophies and social studies of science, science communication and museum studies.
You will engage with current debates in science communication and interpretive practice in museums, including cutting-edge art-science practices that are reimagining ways of knowing and being in the 21st Century. Alongside this, you will be encouraged to develop innovative practices of dialogic and participative engagement, developing their own ways of convening public spaces for debate.
You will undertake a range of active learning activities from developing displays, programmes and events to developing digital content and designing their own research projects. You will be supported throughout by an interdisciplinary academic staff team drawn from museum and curatorial studies and the histories and philosophies of science, as well as professionals from our partner institutions.
Students can specialise in their own areas of interest, through choosing from an array of optional modules that explore contemporary curatorial strategies, technologies and media, cultural memory, histories of medicine, audiences, participation and engagement. You will have the option of undertaking a negotiated placement with a museum or heritage organisation.
All students on the MA in Curating Science will take three core modules.
The History and Theory of Modern Science Communication allows students to explore how science, technology and medicine have been communicated to a wider public in the past. Students will identify how the processes and purposes of science communication has changed over the last two centuries and debate the consequences for science communication of the introduction of new media, ranging from the radio to the internet. The module addresses these questions by surveying the development of science communication since 1750, and by examining the changing theoretical perspectives that have underpinned these developments. Students will learn to re-examine the processes of contemporary science communication in the light of a deeper understanding of this history.
Interpreting Cultures is underpinned by action learning and puts contemporary curation in an international context. From the outset, students work on an interpretation intervention with one of the archives and collections on campus (such as The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery; Special Collections; Treasures of the Brotherton; Marks and Spencer Company Archive; ULITA ― an Archive of International Textiles; Museum of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine). This intensive experience of project planning, management, collaboration and team working prepares students for the option of undertaking a negotiated work placement in the second semester or optional modules exploring audiences, participation or engagement.
Through our Advanced Research Skills modules, students are equipped to undertake assessments and ultimately develop their own research project. The modules build to a symposium in Semester 2 where students present initial research findings towards a dissertation on a research topic of interest.
In addition, students choose from a range of optional modules offered by the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies and the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science. These include the opportunity to complete a placement or consultancy project role in either curational approaches or engagement.
You will be taught by leading researchers and experienced practitioners in their fields, and you’ll benefit from a range of teaching and learning methods. They include lectures and seminars, gallery and museum visits, as well as hands-on experience of specific collections in library sessions.
We use a range of assessment methods including essays, presentations, assignments and literature reviews among others, depending on the modules you choose.
Through a combination of theory and practice, the programme produces graduates who are able to develop professional careers in the museums and heritage sector whilst retaining a critical and reflexive eye on their own practice and that of the institutions in which they work. It will equip you with a good understanding of the issues and approaches to science communication and curation, interpretation and engagement, as well as practical work experience ― a combination which is very valuable to employers.
To get a flavour of the kinds of career trajectories our graduates of allied MAs have taken see the ‘news’ section of the Centre for Critical Studies in Museums, Galleries and Heritage and the alumni pages of the School website.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.
In Semester 2 you will have the option to undertake a negotiated work placement to gain first-hand experience of curating science.
We have close links with many of the major cultural institutions and organisations in the region, meaning there are plenty of opportunities for you to explore. If you have a particular ambition in mind for your placement, we usually try to find a role that suits you.
Students on allied MAs have completed placements in organisations such as Leeds City Museum, Leeds Art Gallery, Harewood House, the Henry Moore Institute, National Science and Media Museum, York City Art Gallery, National Railway Museum, Impressions Gallery, The Tetley, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Lotherton Hall, Abbey House Museum and the Royal Armouries.
Are you fascinated by visual culture and exhibition practice?
Do you want to pursue a career in the gallery and arts sectors?
The MA in Art History and Curating is one of the few postgraduate programmes in the country that offers you the opportunity to work in a team with academic and museum professionals to curate an art exhibition in a public gallery. This will take place in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts on campus or at Grand Union in Birmingham city centre.
We are also delighted to announce a new partnership with Royal Collection Trust. Students co-curating the exhibition at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts will have the exceptional opportunity of working with objects from the Royal Collection.
Please note: Places on this programme are limited due to the placement and curatorial experience, so early applications are encouraged and deadlines apply. See 'How to apply' in course details for more information.
This unique programme enables you to develop the knowledge and skills to conduct original research into art objects, to understand at first hand the history, theory and contemporary practice of their curation, to co-curate a public art exhibition and complete a 15,000-word dissertation.
The core components of the programme include the double module ‘Curatorial Practices’ that provides you with a range of skills to curate an exhibition and the opportunity to put those skills into practice, and two single modules, 'Postgraduate Research Training and Methods,' which will help you to develop essential research skills, and 'Criticism and Methods in the History of Art and Visual Culture,' which provides a theoretical foundation for your studies.
The programme also offers you the flexibility to select a further two options from a range of complementary practical, theoretical and historical modules. These include: a placement with a local gallery or other arts organisation set up on your behalf; the history and theory of exhibitions; aesthetics and the philosophy of art. As a result, this unique programme will provide you with the knowledge, experience and employability skills invaluable to the museum, commercial and academic sectors whilst enabling you to establish professional networks in both.
Assessment
Your modules will be assessed by a range of written and oral assessments. You will also complete a 15,000-word dissertation, supported through one-to-one tutorials with your academic supervisor. Your dissertation topic is chosen by you, with close guidance from academic staff. Recent subjects have included topics relating to art history and/or gallery practices, such as: art forgery; art interpretation; art dealers; films and aesthetic theory; art historiography; artist and exhibition case studies; fashion plates and art journals.
The teaching on the MA programme mainly takes place in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, which houses the Barber Institute Gallery, and is used by members of staff on a regular basis as part of your learning.
The Gallery features an excellent and representative collection of post-medieval European art, including paintings, engravings and drawings by artists such as Rembrandt, Turner, Van Dyck, Veronese and Vigée-LeBrun, as well as a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century works by artists such as Degas, Gauguin, Käthe Kollwitz, George Grosz, Manet, Miró, Picasso and Whistler.
The Barber Institute is home to an on-site research library which, in conjunction with the holdings of the University Main Library and the Special Collections of the Cadbury Research Library, makes Birmingham one of the best resourced Departments of History of Art in Britain.
Support with academic writing
As a postgraduate student in the College of Arts and Law, you have access to the Academic Writing Advisory Service (AWAS) which aims to help your transition from undergraduate to taught Masters level, or back into academia after time away. The service offers guidance on writing assignments and dissertations for your MA/MSc programme with individual support from an academic writing advisor via tutorials, email and the provision of online materials.
International students can access support for English Language development and skills through the Birmingham International Academy (BIA).
Gain the skills to take part in the exciting world of museums, galleries and the cultural heritage sector.
On this MA, you’ll work with academics and museum professionals – these have previously included senior staff from the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, the V&A, the National Trust, the Science Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York – to explore the history, theory and politics of art institutions and to build a critical framework for the practice of curating.
You visit a number of museums in Sussex and in London, allowing you to learn first-hand about institutional histories, collections, permanent galleries and temporary exhibitions.
Choose to study this course full time or part time, to fit around your work and family life. Modules for the full-time course are listed below.
For details about the part-time course, contact course co-ordinator Sophie Heath at [email protected]
In the autumn and spring terms, you take museum skills modules at Sussex and visit local and national collections. With your tutors and classmates, you debate a range of ethical concerns facing museum curators. The summer term is taken up with a work placement.
This MA introduces you to:
Assessed work includes term papers, practical assignments, a learning journal (written during the placement as a reflection on that experience) and a 12,000-word dissertation.
In the summer term, you undertake a work placement in one of our partner museums or galleries, acquiring vocational skills and practical experience.
Our aim is to ensure that every student who wants to study with us is able to despite financial barriers, so that we continue to attract talented and unique individuals.
Our Careers and Employability Centre can help you find part-time work while you study. Find out more about career development and part-time work
You gain knowledge about objects and collections, and develop a critical awareness of museum practices.
You develop communication and project management skills. These skills provide the practical and theoretical foundation for careers in:
100% of students from the Department of Art History were in work or further study six months after graduating. Our students have gone on to roles including:
(EPI, Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey 2015 for postgraduates)
Taught Masters degrees in History, Art History, Philosophy and American Studies at Sussex, a top 20 University
Join one of our 16 International English-language Master’s programs at the University of Haifa
Edinburgh College of Art: Postgrad study in Art, Design, Architecture, Music, History of Art
