Skip navigation
Contemporary Art Theory at The University of Edinburgh - UCAS

Course options

2025 - 2026
Apply

There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Open days

19Feb
The University of Edinburgh - Postgraduate Discovery Day
Postgraduate

Course summary

Established in 2001, the Masters of Contemporary Art Theory (MA CAT) is a post-studio programme that supports the research and practices of artists and aspiring art professionals. The MA CAT encourages practices that are speculative and reflective, developing artistic research on, and in, a range of media, sites and organisations. The programme supports an applied knowledge of art now, grounding schooling in the practices of art and contemporary art theory as well as extra-disciplinary and intermedial approaches. The taught curriculum consists of an innovative series of learning sprints designed to support the development of your artistic research and practice through:

  • workshops
  • practica
  • partnerships with art organisations
  • carefully scaffolded approaches to collaborative inquiry (‘problem-based learning’)
  • peer-production (‘paragogy’).
You will create art projects designed to engage and develop emerging hypereconomies of contemporary art and its variety of media, technologies, images, artefacts, tactics, texts, cultural contexts and professional practices. Our philosophy and values A defining aspect of our theory programme is the emphasis we place upon speculative scepticism – not starting from the position of knowing what post-studio practice is; rather, being motivated by speculation on what it might be. We generate a paragogic atmosphere that supports mutual cooperation; a dynamic, intellectually ambitious environment in which staff and students can learn together. You will generate and embody an assemblage of practices, combining process of production, translation and consumption. Our students make this happen; they often work on collaborative forms of practice and inquiry. The programme staff are therefore eager to support applicants based on their ability to work as part of a creative team as much as we are interested in their artistic and academic potential. The focus on building a supportive creative community through innovative forms of peer-generated knowledge (such as open learning and problem-based learning), on the rigorous and experimental combination of theory and practice and the international profile of the student body makes our master’s programme unique. The CAT faculty and our partnership organisations regularly identify and examine what are (currently) accepted notions of artistic production as a means of encouraging our students to develop a highly ambitious research-practice. To do this, academic staff aim to provide specialist support for students wishing to pursue research on and in established fields of contemporary art practices and theory, while fully engaging with the ever-changing context of emerging media and innovative forms of critical and organisational praxis. What and how you will study Artists think and act. Being contemporary means engaging with multiple perspectives and different ways of learning. Students of contemporary art theory conduct research in relation to a broad range of creative, cultural and historical contexts in ways that are speculative, writerly, philosophical, organisational, social and economic. The MA CAT is an integrated curriculum specifically crafted to develop an understanding of multiple perspectives in ways that open different possibilities for our graduates from those offered by cookie-cutter MFA studio and curatorial programmes. This means focusing not only on what we teach, but on how we learn, and on the many different environments we learn in. On the CAT programme, artistic learning and research is conducted in a wealth of settings: in galleries, biennale, residencies, art fairs, and - of course - through artistic and theoretical practice. Artistic learning and research are exploded networks; our students learn how to pool and share resources to cultivate a climate in which all communities flourish.

Modules

See the University of Edinburgh website for detailed programme information.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for individual programmes vary, so please check the details for the specific programme you wish to apply for on our website. You will also need to meet the University’s language requirements.

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

Tuition fees vary between degree programmes. Find the specific fees for your chosen programme on our website.
Contemporary Art Theory at The University of Edinburgh - UCAS