BA (Hons) Curating
Goldsmiths, University of London
Key Information
Campus location
London, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
3 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
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Application deadline
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Earliest start date
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Introduction
BA (Hons) Curating
Curating refers to a wide range of activities including the care of collections and the development of exhibitions, festivals, screenings, digital platforms and more. Curators engage with historical knowledge and respond to urgent social issues, staging culture as a way of bringing together multiple publics.
Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths has been at the forefront of curatorial research for well over a decade, helping to redefine the profession. Drawing from this research, taught by leading curators and researchers, BA Curating combines a strong grounding in art history and contemporary cultural theory with the development of practical know-how and industry experience. To find out more about BA Curating watch Dr. Janna Graham, programme leader talk about this programme.
Alongside compulsory modules on the history, theory and practice of curating, you will be able to choose additional modules in art history, fashion, technology and performance, allowing you to focus your interests and get the most out of your degree. You will gain a good understanding of both the history of art and the history of exhibitions, learning how curatorial work shapes our understanding of visual culture.
The course will support you in developing a wide set of curatorial skills. Over three years you will work on a variety of assignments closely mentored by course staff and practising curators. This will allow you to become a more critical thinker and confident researcher, able to shape your curatorial projects successfully and communicate your work to a wide variety of audiences.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Several scholarship options are available. Please check the university website for more information.
Curriculum
Year 1
You take the following compulsory modules:
Year 1 compulsory modules
- Modernities
- Curating and the Public Sphere
- Art, Artifacts and Archives
- You also choose one option module from the following list:
- Year 1 option modules
- Seeing and Showing
- Space and Time
- Beyond Boundaries
Year 2
In your second year, you will study the following compulsory modules:
Year 2 compulsory modules
- Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions: Unpacking the Field I
- Museums, Galleries, Exhibitions: Unpacking the Field II
- Curating, Education, and Research
- You will also choose 30 credits of modules offered by the Department of Visual Cultures.
Year 3
In Year 3 you will complete a dissertation and study the following compulsory module:
Curating the Contemporary
You will also choose 60 credits worth of special subjects. Options include:
Module title
- The Truth in Painting
- Sexual Poetics
- Philosophy and...
- Film Fables
- Archive and Spectacle
- Animating Architecture
- Patterns of Perception: Part 1
- Ornamentation 15
- Fashion as a Dialectical Image
- The Fact of Blackness I
- Beckett & Aesthetics: Bodies and Identity
- Counter Forensics
- Research Architecture
- Visual Cultures as Public Practice
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
BA Curating graduates gain a good knowledge of contemporary art and culture as well as strong research skills and the ability to think critically. Through practical assignments and industry experience, they also develop a number of attributes and skills that equip them to work in the cultural sector and beyond.
Graduates are proactive and agile, learning to get new projects off the ground and making things happen with others, often under tight deadlines and small budgets. Through the course, students use curatorial work as a mode of storytelling and learn the value of communicating one’s work through presentations, digital platforms and others. As a result, our graduates are able to showcase their abilities successfully and confidently. By remaining attentive to the different audiences their work seeks to address, graduates learn to foster new connections between people and create new opportunities for collaboration. A critical understanding of the opportunities and challenges of cultural sector work in today’s economic climate makes our graduates more resilient and resourceful.
BA Curating is a great platform from which to launch a career in the cultural sector and it provides a solid foundation should you wish to progress on to further study in the humanities, including in Art History, Curating, Museum Studies or Cultural Management.
English Language Requirements
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