Course summary

A distinctive route through fine art exploring art’s function. Study at the World's number one ranked art and design university.* Contemporary Art Practice (CAP) at the RCA is a cutting-edge MA programme in the School of Arts & Humanities that is driven by a post-medium, critical approach to the making and reception of art, where theory and practice come together to form new ways of responding to the contemporary world. The programme supports the development of your art practice within a responsive, dialogical and critical environment with an emphasis on wider political issues – critically interrogating art production in relation to urgent socio-political contexts as well as questioning and redefining practice. CAP supports ambitious, exploratory and research-driven artists, with programme specialisms in: critical, speculative and social art practices; moving image; performance; writing and techno-aesthetics. Our approach to Contemporary Art Practice is not determined by either technology or material, and CAP students create work using any media possible: from images, installations and moving image works, to publications and sonic art, participatory events, 3D modelling and VR, writing and performance. The MA in Contemporary Art Practice offers a discursive environment in which to discuss contemporary issues for thinking about, making and presenting contemporary art supported by individual tutorials, group critiques, lectures, seminars and workshops that take place across the year. Units are tailored to nurture the development of your art practice from the earliest manifestations of ideas through to platforms for exhibition and making-public, whilst also providing the skills required to be able to situate your practice within current dialogues and debates. Supported individual learning is complemented by generative workshops and collaborative events and exhibitions, with critical feedback offered throughout the degree from world-leading contemporary artists, writers and curators. About the RCA The Royal College of Art, is an internationally renowned art and design university, providing students with unrivalled opportunities to deliver art and design projects that transform the world. A small, specialist and research-intensive postgraduate university based in the heart of London, the RCA is a high performing institution, a radical traditionalist in a fast paced world. The RCA's approach is founded on the premise that art, design creative thinking, science, engineering and technology must all collaborate to solve today's global challenges. *The RCA was named the world’s leading art and design university for the seventh consecutive year (2015-2021) in the QS World University subject rankings.