Programme Specifications

N/A

Art and Design

History of Art, Architecture and Design

September 2023

• September 2023

The new joint honours BA Photography offers a study of the practice and language of photography combined with a cognate subject. It considers photography both as art form and as document. The scheme provides for imaginative, creative endeavour in a wide range of photographic practices, offers contextual and historical study, and fosters independent research as well as the analysis and interpretation of photographic images.

Students will engage in a critical and creative dialogue with the work of their peers and gain an understanding of historic and contemporary visual cultures. They will study the artistic, intellectual, social and professional contexts that shape creative practice in photography (within the contexts of the visual arts more generally) and learn how to best communicate this knowledge in a range of written, oral, visual and practical forms.

Vocation-oriented modules prepare students for careers involving photographic practices – whether commercial, gallery or editorially focussed.

• To develop interpretative, critical and creative skills relevant to the analysis and appreciation of audiovisual media

• To provide opportunities for students to acquire a wide range of academic, communicative and creative skills relevant to the above

• To give students an opportunity to combine academic study and understanding of Film and Television considered both as product and productive process, along with a developed appreciation of these media as modes of perceiving and representing the world.

• To enable students to acquire theoretical and practical experience and understanding of audiovisual cultural forms through a variety of methods, including individually designed research and practical exploration (singly and in small groups).

• To equip students with a range of graduate skills which will enhance their employability;

• To enable students to proceed to more advanced modes of study or production.

The BA Photography half of the joint honours scheme aims to:

1. encourage creativity;

2. support a variety of individual creative, contemporary practices;

3. explore the interdisciplinarity of contemporary artistic practices;

4. encourage a range of visual research methodologies;

5. ensure students are alert to the photo-historical and contemporary practices/contexts within which they work;

6. provide a supportive studio environment;

7. involve students in the dialectical nature of artistic production;

8. draw on staff research interests and expertise, ensuring that teaching is relevant and up to date;

9. introduce the fundamentals of research, analysis and argumentation.

A1 Knowledge of a clear and defined relationship between personal practice and contemporary cultural production.

A2 Detailed appreciation of contemporary and historic photographic practices.

A3 Recognition of the transdisciplinarity of contemporary photographic practices and the ability to go beyond common medium boundaries.

A4 Awareness of the international context of contemporary visual production.

A5 Focussed use of materials/medium/strategies in relation to individual practice.

A6 Apply critical visual analyses to key examples of historical and contemporary photographic practices.

A7 Employ critical thinking with regard to the presentation and installation of individual practice.

A8 Critical, self-reflective awareness of the appropriate use of methods/materials/strategies within personal photographic practice.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, workshops, practicals, demonstrations, lectures, tutorials and group crits, field trips and creative and written projects.

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Portfolio presentations, essays, presentations, exhibitions, photographic projects, notebooks, and critical portfolio evaluations.

• Key concepts and theories involved in the analysis and academic study of the product of the film and television industries

• Understanding of the structures and processes involved in the manufacture of the product of those industries and in their reception and consumption

• Awareness of the history of film and television in the 20th century, with particular focus on Britain and America, along with opportunities for comparison with other traditions

• A wide range of styles, genres, practices and codes involved in construction and consumption of cultural media, including fiction and non-fiction and other related modes

• Explicit and implicit modes of discourse sustained and developed, consciously and unconsciously, in audiovisual culture

• Problems and processes involved in creative practice relevant to film and television, individually and in groups

10.2.1 Intellectual Skills

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

B1 Significant responsibility to provide a critical basis for meaningful and enduring praxis.

B2 Resourcefulness and creativity in working processes from conception to execution.

B3 A developed personal practice viewed in relation to their national culture and with an understanding of international culture.

B4 A sophisticated understanding of creative photographic practices from an aesthetic, institutional, and social standpoint.

B5 A critical engagement with creative photographic practices from a range of art historical perspectives.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, practical workshops, lectures, masterclasses with visiting photographers, tutorials and group tutorials.

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Essays, presentations, exhibitions, practical projects, notebooks, critical evaluations.

10.2.2 Professional practical skills / Discipline Specific Skills

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

C1 An ability to critically evaluate working processes from idea through to execution.

C2 A capacity to present and contextualise work to an informed audience.

C3 The facility to identify and develop appropriate methods for presenting personal practice.

C4 An appropriate and coherent dossier of research.

C5 Significant engagement in photographic portfolio production and art historical critical analysis.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, practical workshops, lectures, masterclasses with visiting photographers, tutorials and group tutorials.

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Essays, presentations, practical projects, sketchbooks, critical evaluations.

• The ability to examine critically a range of film and televisual situations and forms, exploring their meanings and implications

• Critical awareness of the status and provenance of meaning in audiovisual culture, fictional and non-fictional

• The ability to locate and to draw upon a wide range of sources to support analysis, investigation and argument

• The ability to apply course-derived understandings to debates about the significance of film and television in contemporary culture

• The ability to work effectively and imaginatively, individually and in teams in a variety of aspects of film, television and media production.

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

D1 An ability to organise and manage workload according to deadlines, both individually and as part of a team.

D2 Highly developed problem-solving skills related to both concept and practice.

D3 An ability to structure and communicate ideas effectively using a variety of means.

D4 Ability to quantify materials and costings for professional projects.

D5 Power to utilise the most appropriate technologies that effectively communicate working methods and ideas at an advanced level.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, lectures, tutorials, workshops, practical projects, field trips

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Essays, presentations, practical projects, notebooks, critical evaluations.

• The ability to structure and communicate ideas effectively in a variety of situations, and for a variety of potential users

• The ability to pose and solve intellectual and practical problems

• The ability to listen and make critical use of advice

• The ability to make effective use of available (including on-line) resources

• The ability to manage time effectively , both independently and under supervision

• The ability to work creatively

• The ability to utilise problem-solving skills in a variety of situations

• The ability to work independently, and in groups

• The ability to use a range of information technology skills and resources, appropriate to tasks.