Module Information

The module represents the pinnacle of student achievement over three years of study. Within the context of an exhibition, the module allows you to demonstrate the maturation of both their prescribed and self-directed. The expectation, therefore, is that the works will represent your best and most decisive effort. The module concludes and the programme of self-originated projects developed in Semester 1 of Level 3, and consolidates its skill-, subject-, and conceptual-bases. Thus, the work produced for exhibition ought to reflect a high degree of technical resolution, material soundness, and fitness for purpose. Likewise, the subject matter and conception of the work should be not only appropriately reconciled with the technical and material aspect, but also provide evidence of a single-minded commitment to a field of study. Further to this, evidence of a personal statement will be looked for, being the ability to mould technique and subject matter according to a individual expressive vision. You are required to produce a continuity of works of this character designed to fit a given space and to form a public exhibition. In this respect, you are challenged to consider ways in which the works might communicate meaning and significance within the public domain. You are also asked to objectify and articulate the criterion by which the works have been selected for exhibition. Within the context of the tutorials, you are further encouraged to consider your own position in relation to contemporary culture and to the historical and contemporary art practice. This is with a view to cultivating a sense of the works' relevance to a sphere outside the immediate and personal experience of the student. However, it is not presumed that the works will necessarily be pertinent to anyone other than yourself. Likewise, you should feel no compunction to associate with contemporary art. Nevertheless, you are required to understand and justify why you have chosen to remain outside this sphere.

Accompanying the Graduate Show is a catalogue of student work. As part of this module you will be asked to design your page of the catalogue. (The content can be adapted from the statement produced for Research and Process in Practice.) This entails determining an image and text for reproduction and fitting both within a prescribed format. You will also be required to produce captions and labels for the show to a professional standard (The format for all accessory components will be communicated to you during Semester 2).

The module should enable you to:

A. Inculate an awareness of criteria determining a coherent body of exhibitable work
B. Engage in the professional preparation and installation of the exhibitable work
C. Develop a personal, individual, and imaginative response to subject matter
D. Acquire and refine appropriate technical dexterity and stylistic concerns
E. Produce a body or work that demonstrates conceptual and technical coherence, and the ability to sustain a commitment to subject over a period.
F. Possess a developed awareness of past and contemporary art relevant to their work
G. Possess a productive response to work
H. Challenge and go beyond the bounds of the module/course's expectations
I. Acquire knowledge of issues, theory and ideas pertaining to their work
J. Articulate verbally the criteria by which the body of work is made and should be judged.
K. Develop analytical and diagnostic prowess
L. Take risks and risk failure
M. Define a field of action

While this is a thin module, the main body of the exhibition need not be begun within the 11 teaching weeks of Semester 1. During this semester you will be developing subject matter, ideas, skills, and techniques in the context of the Portfolio module and, possibly, the Professional Practice 2 and Research and Process in Practice modules. In delaying the final execution of exhibitable works to the period beginning the Christmas vacation, they will stand to benefit more from the experiment-, research-, and process-based operations in Semester 1. This is only a suggestion. You should view the possibility within the context of the whole range of modules, which you are pursuing, and in consultation with your tutor.

In Semester 1 all students should become familiar with the context of the exhibition (in terms of size and space), the technique of hanging (and its implications for the construction and presentation of works), and lighting. Some of these issues will have already been addressed in Professional Practice 1. The aim is to design an exhibition appropriate to the exhibiting context. During this semester, you should also work on preparatory studies (where appropriate) for the finished work.

The syllabus represents a suggested programme of work. It is given as a general guide for student and tutor. It need not be maintained rigidly; indeed, it may be superseded by a very different programme agreed between the two parties. What is important is that some form of schedule is developed so that a body of work that fulfils the aims and Outcomes of the module is produced within the allotted time.