Contemporary Issues: Art And Design

Contemporary Issues: Art and Design allows you to develop your research and enquiry into the contemporary domain of current discourse in art and design in general, and your chosen field of practice specifically.

This unit provides an opportunity to:

• Develop ideas and issues identified through independent research and guided learning
• Equip you with the critical tools and intellectual confidence to engage with contemporary cultural and political debates relevant to your practice and broader concern
• Encourage a productive and positive approach to theory and practice at an advanced level of professional engagement.

Studio Practice And Research

This unit provides a continuous and sustained period of creative production and will draw together strategies of research and  help you develop professional levels of practice and critical awareness to facilitate realise a studio project or body of work. You will be required to develop a professional attitude in the planning and production of work, demonstrating a range of practical, logistical and creative skills. The work produced will reflect the development of theoretically informed practice.

The work developed in this unit will be guided by your research. The direction of the work may change from that described in the initial proposal, provided it makes sense in terms of the development of the work.

You will be expected to focus your research and to accumulate and analyse critical ideas and information in your field. You will develop a level of critical self-evaluation and evaluative research that will enable you to establish effectively the ideas that emerge from your practice-based research.

Historical Contexts: Art And Design

 This unit provides historical and theoretical contexts to your practice. The units are based on the assumption that as artists and designers, not only do our diverse practices emerge from the cultural context in which we operate, but also historical and theoretical events and thinking influence art and design discourse. This is a dynamic model of the interaction between the art and design work and its context as well as the relationship between theory and practice.

The seminars will emphasise the unstable, constantly shifting relationship between a culture and its artefacts and that a contemporary context is by definition always undergoing changes with which we are involved. These units do not take the view that we can step outside of our context and reflect upon it objectively but that as practitioners we should knowingly engage with it through our individual and collective approaches to our creative practice.

The seminars in these units will therefore mainly take a broad, thematic approach based on examples of visual cultural artefacts and relevant texts in which important contemporary theoretical fields are engaged with.

Studio And Professional Practice

This practice-based unit is primarily concerned with establishing you within the 'studio' with an effective working practice, specific to your chosen discipline. You will be helped to define your field of enquiry and find an appropriate approach to developing a research-led practice.

Art And Design Major Project

This final unit is oriented around the production and presentation of a body of creative work in your chosen discipline. You will develop an independent project that builds on your experience and knowledge to synthesise research and production through to realisation. You will bring together strategies of research and critical thinking to facilitate an advanced theoretical and professional understanding of independent practice. You will be supported in the planning and management of your research enquiry towards a realised outcome. You will investigate materials, methods and processes and evaluate relevant approaches to your field of enquiry.