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Art and Visual Culture at University of Westminster, London - UCAS

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Course summary

The Art and Visual Culture MA is part of the Cultural and Literary Studies Suite, a cluster of four MAs that bring together academics, curators and practitioners who share a commitment to investigating modern and contemporary culture from aesthetic, critical, literary, and experiential perspectives. You'll share classes with students from the Cultural and Critical Studies MA, the English Literature: Modern and Contemporary Fictions MA, and the Museum, Galleries and Contemporary Culture MA, joining a fruitful and intellectually-rigorous environment designed to facilitate the sprouting of interdisciplinary thinking. As part of our Suite, you may also choose an option module from the other three MA programmes (what is referred to as an ‘elective’ module), a fantastic opportunity to explore a facet of culture outside of your chosen MA programme. The Art and Visual Culture MA is an interdisciplinary, visual theory-based course established around the belief that visual literacy and the impact of visual forms of thinking and working play significant roles in our society. On the course, we interrogate visual perception and representation in high and popular culture, explore how these produce meanings, and how such meanings shape societies and individuals. The course introduces you to a wide range of historical and contemporary debates that inform the theories and practices of visual culture, and supports you in developing a conceptual framework within which to evaluate the role of the visual arts, and other forms of visual production, in contemporary society and culture. The course gives you a solid grounding for careers in the art and cultural sectors as well as academia, and it is also suitable for practising artists wishing to further their research. This MA balances historical and theoretical debates in the field of visual culture studies with a rigorous interrogation of cultural practices across a range of topics, including: contemporary visual arts; the visual and material culture of the city; modernism in art and architecture; popular and avant-garde cultures; fin de siècle visual culture; digital culture and new media technologies; migration, identity and gender as represented in cultural practices; activism and popular politics; theory and practice of archive research; and critical theories of modern and contemporary culture. Many of our modules include class visits to leading museums, galleries and archives in London: this provides a fantastic opportunity to engage directly with the city’s cultural institutions and intellectual resources, in doing so providing you with sophisticated critical thinking skills as well as practical knowledge of how the cultural sector operates. Westminster is a leading provider in this academic discipline and is ranked first in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2022 for Research Quality in Art and Design.


Entry requirements

Applicants should have a minimum of an lower second class honours degree (2:2) in relevant discipline including arts and humanities, fine art and performing arts, as well as some social science subjects. Relevant work experience might also be taken into consideration, especially in the case of applicants who don’t meet the standard entry criteria. Applicants may be asked to respond to a specific article. If your first language is not English you should have an IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.5 in writing. One academic reference is required.


Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

No additional fees or cost information has been supplied for this course, please contact the provider directly.

Sponsorship information

Please visit our website to read about funding options: https://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/funding/postgraduate-student-funding If you are an international applicant, please visit this page to see scholarships available: https://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/funding/international-student-funding

Art and Visual Culture at University of Westminster, London - UCAS