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Kingston University MA in Curating Contemporary Design (in partnership with The Design Museum)

Kingston University

MA in Curating Contemporary Design (in partnership with The Design Museum)

Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom

1 up to

2 years

English

Full time, Part time

Request application deadline *

Sep 2025

GBP 22,800 / per year **

On-Campus

* there is no application deadline for postgraduate courses

** for international full-time | international part-time: 12,540 GBP/year | home full-time: 13,500 GBP/year | home part-time: 7,425 GBP/year

Key Summary

    About : The MA in Curating Contemporary Design is offered in partnership with The Design Museum. This program focuses on the intersection of design, art, and culture, providing a comprehensive understanding of curatorial practices within contemporary design contexts. You'll engage with the latest trends and methodologies while working in a hands-on learning environment.
    Career Outcomes : Graduates can pursue careers as curators, exhibition designers, or cultural managers. Opportunities also exist in academic research, art institutions, and within the design industry, equipping you with the skills to thrive in diverse areas related to curating and design.

Introduction

Prepare for a career in gallery design and curation.

This degree is a collaboration between Kingston School of Art and The Design Museum. Since its inception, this MA degree has grown into one of the world's foremost programmes for design curators.

Taught by top curators and designers, the course blends critical thinking with creative practice to address today’s fast-changing world. You’ll curate live projects and build your professional profile through The Design Museum and partnerships with institutions like the British Council, Gallery Fumi and the Royal Academy of Arts.

The course develops skills in curating exhibitions, public programmes, and alternative formats. You’ll reflect critically on curatorial practice, collaborate across disciplines, and articulate your ideas on contemporary design.

Why choose this course?

You will develop creative and practical skills for curating design exhibitions, public programmes and alternative curatorial formats. You will learn to reflect critically on curatorial practice. Importantly, through discussion of geopolitical, social, and economic concerns, you’ll learn to speak and write about contemporary design and curatorial practice. We encourage students to work in a trans-disciplinary fashion, to develop responses to the complexity of the world today.

This course is delivered by Kingston School of Art's academics, visiting lecturers, guest speakers and through industry connections, allowing you:

  • The chance to engage with the most recent discourse in the field;
  • A possibility to share your work with eminent members of your profession;
  • Access to 'Live' projects, site visits and placements in prestigious institutions;
  • To explore project work and workshops with visiting lecturers and industry specialists.

Your course will focus on project work, with briefs set by leading curators, designers and critics. Your research will address real-world issues and ask for critical responses. In doing so, you’ll develop skills in research, analysis and experimentation.

Optional study visits throughout the year bring you in contact with design and curatorial studio practice. You will also visit museums, galleries and alternative curatorial spaces and formats in London. There is also the option for students to take an international study trip. Previous students have visited New York, Berlin, Lisbon and Amsterdam.

The Design Museum

The Curating Contemporary Design MA is run jointly with The Design Museum. Students have access to inspiring curators and experienced museum staff, as well as The Design Museum's collections, library, archives and a changing programme of exhibitions and events.

Read more on the institution's website

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