Contemporary Fine Art Practice

The M.A. Contemporary Fine Art Practice has developed from a well-established postgraduate provision in art and design located within The Leeds School of Contemporary Art & Graphic Design. The new award links practical and theoretical approaches to aspects of fine art and offers students flexibility in their mode of study and interpretation of the curriculum in order to support research in practice, theory or the application of these to professional contexts such as curatorship or public art.The approach of the award is intended to reflect the emerging fluidity and inter-disciplinary nature of fine art and visual culture. The curriculum is centred on contemporary debates, current discourses and practices and involves the participation of academic staff who are practitioners, researchers and curators in the field of contemporary art and visual culture.

The School is very well supported with studio and workshop accommodation, technical support and learning resources such as new library facilities and on-line research facilities. Links have been made with local cultural organisations, galleries and museums and the context of fine art practice is a key aspect of the curriculum at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. There is a growing number of higher research students and fellows in aspects of fine art and visual culture located in the School supporting a critical and innovative context for the study of fine art.

We welcome applications from those who have a critical interest and understanding of fine art practices and their contexts, this may include artists, theorists, writers, curators or arts professionals and those practitioners whose work crosses the borders of disciplines.

The award has been planned to place theoretical and practical debates and discourses within the contexts of contemporary culture, thus there is an emphasis on student presentations, exhibitions, writing for different contexts, curating and developing different research methodologies. The students pursue their studies on the M.A. programme through the research and development of an identified and negotiated project. The project needs to be located within the field of contemporary fine art practice and may utilise a range of practices and disciplines, both practical and textual. The project needs to be viable and achievable within the structure of the M.A. and sustainable for presentation for assessment over the timescale of the study.