Art, Philosophy and Cultural Institutions MA

The module introduces central themes in aesthetic theory, artistic and institutional practice, as considered by current staff actively researching them. This research-led module serves both to introduce students with no previous detailed knowledge of the areas studied to such issues, and to show how active researchers approach them while actively engaging students themselves in research methodology and practices. The module thus functions both as a research-preparation module and a module for consolidating knowledge in these areas of philosophy. Students have the opportunity to consider aspects of the theoretical/historical background of the study of contemporary aesthetics and concentrate on the exploration of key concepts in modern and postmodern aesthetics and cultural practice.

​Students will write a dissertation (15,000 words, maximum) on a topic that they have researched in depth, under the guidance of their supervisors. There will also be two seminar sessions focusing on the development of dissertation preparation and writing skills.

The module gives students the opportunity to experience practical experience of work in a cultural institution.

The module intends to facilitate in-depth understanding of central themes of aesthetics and art theory, especially questions about aesthetic judgement, aesthetic experience and aesthetic value. Students will be able to further their knowledge of the history of philosophy as well as the connection between theory and artistic practice. The module is taught by seminar 1 hour per week; students are also advised to attend the PHIL 306 Aesthetics lecture 1 hour per week. Assessment is via a 3,000 essay. Students also take it in turns to give one 10-15 minute presentation in class, formative assessment.

This module aims to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge about the urban and architectural forms across a vast geographical region, the Islamic world. Examples from both ‘high’ and ‘peripheral’ Islamic traditions are presented in lectures and interactive seminars and workshops, aiming at providing a thorough understanding of both the distinctiveness and diversity of cultures and their established architectural practices. Examples and cases of integrated restoration and rehabilitation within historical contexts, which bring together preservation and developmental approaches, as well as addressing community engagement, are embraced in this module. This module aims to provide opportunities for the development of presentation, academic writing, and time management skills via variable and flexible activities throughout the semester.

The module provides an introduction to key architectural concepts, themes and theories that have been influential in the field of architecture globally from 1900 onwards. It also introduces a framework for the understanding of the ongoing discourses in the field. It engages with a wide range of written texts on architectural theory – whether these originate from within architecture or from other disciplines – as well as architectural designs that have been informed by those ideas.

The module provides a theoretical understanding of the discipline of archives and records management. Students will have the opportunity to explore and discuss record-keeping theory and principles, and to consider their relevance in terms of practice. The assignment essay will examine archival theory and the role of archives and record-keeping in relevant contexts.

The module will provide a survey of some of the most significant debates in contemporary philosophy of mind; the topics of consciousness, perception and artificial intelligence will be examined in detail.

To understand contemporary media and its place in social and cultural life we need to understand past media, not only as historical origins or predecessors of the new, but in order to understand how change is produced, experienced and negotiated. This module will consider processes of ‘remediation’, ‘transmediality’ ‘intermediality’ , as well as the recurrence of past ideas, forms and sensibilities in the present; arguments about planned obsolescence, newness and innovation; critiques of progress and theories of technological and media change; ideas of maintenance, residual and emergent media. The module will introduce you to key theoretical and historiographic approaches, from German media theory and ‘media archaeology,’ to Benjaminian, phenomenological and everyday life approaches. ‘Media’ includes both communication and storage media and as extending beyond the practices and technologies we might normally consider (computer based media, film, television, radio, photography, video games and so on) to include neglected and ‘grey’ media associated with everyday experience (databases, telephony, fax, photocopying, photobooths, etc). The module is both concept and topic-driven with lectures and seminars focussing on key theoretical texts, and testing out concepts on a range of different media examples.

This module encourages students to engage with literary modernism in a range of contexts, from the cities in which it was made to the periodicals in which it was published and the theories that contributed to its development. As well as analysing the formal innovations of modernist literature, students will explore connections between writers, texts, works of visual art, geographic locations and mass culture, to understand modernism as a global network of people, objects, places and ideas. Conceptions of modernity will be studied, including approaches to the past and tradition, and ideas around novelty and fashion. Authors may include: T.S. Eliot, Hope Mirrlees, Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys, Mina Loy, Djuna Barnes, Jean Toomer and Nancy Cunard.

This module introduces students to the theories, processes and practical conditions which result in exhibitions of art within cultural institutions. The relationship between the artist, art, curator and institution will be addressed. The module includes issues of curation, as well as the broader functions of the cultural institution, such as collecting, education, and marketing. The place of cultural institutions in broader cultural and social structures within society will also be considered by students. Students attend a 2-day curating skills workshop at Victoria Gallery and Museum and further two workshops at local cultural institutions. They also receive study support sessions. Assessment is by a 15-minute group oral presentation, and a 4,500 word essay.

The module gives students the opportunity to experience practical experience of work in a cultural institution.

​Students will write a dissertation (15,000 words, maximum) on a topic that they have researched in depth, under the guidance of their supervisors. There will also be two seminar sessions focusing on the development of dissertation preparation and writing skills.

This module considers what it is to think philosophically about the nature of film. It critically discusses philosophical approaches to the medium. It examines the thinking of philosophers, critics and filmmakers on vital issues encountered when discussing film as art. It considers the importance of film and its relation to other art forms. It familiarises students with works by key filmmakers, and encourages students to engage with these works. The module will enhance students’ abilities to think critically about fundamental issues surrounding film, and about what philosophers, critics and filmmakers have said about the medium. It is taught through weekly seminars (1 hour per week) and film screenings. Assessment is by one 3,000 word essay.

This module aims to introduce students to historical and contemporary media practices and approaches within visual culture, including museum exhibitions, cultural interpretations, institutional policies and artistic interventions in the city. The module will examine a broad range of modes and methods to investigate the promotion and representation of culture and national heritage, the transformations of these activities over the years, and their analysis within media studies and cultural theory. Students will read and discuss past and present activities of cultural institutions and artistic activists, as well as theorisations of art and anthropology museums, World’s Fair exhibitions, cultural programmes and other visual and cultural media. Students will examine different conceptions of museums, sites of memory, and cultural events as potential arenas of public transformation, de-colonisation, community activity and public fora. The module will more broadly address social and ethical questions; concepts and practices of cultural appropriation and representation; ideas of power relations and self-reflexivity; and definitions and conversations around ‘otherness’ within and beyond contemporary cultural institutions.

The module provides students with knowledge of conventional and innovative ways of recording, digitizing, visually presenting and virtually experiencing different heritage assets. These come in different forms and shapes from architectural to archaeological sites and artefacts, and from movable heritage to oral history. Students will produce a fieldwork report, including images and text, or portfolio of digital heritage records, including images and metadata. Therefore, along with digitisation and IT skills specific to heritage contexts, students will acquire heritage drawing, communication and teamwork skills. Hands-on workshops with heritage experts will enhance students’ experience and employability skills. Assessment is based on a coursework assignment consisting of fieldwork report, or portfolio of digital heritage records, and an oral presentation of the findings.

This module will familiarise students with the various traditions of belief and practice associated with ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Buddhism’. It will help students to understand the ways in which Indian philosophers have considered topics that are also discussed in the Western traditions and provided distinctive approaches to them. There will be one seminar per week. Students are also encouraged to attend the undergraduate lectures on Indian Philosophy. Assessment is by one 3,000 word essay.

This module takes as its central starting point the idea of media as forms of social and cultural practice. That is, it is concerned with the way media forms and digital (and non-digital) media technologies shape our everyday experiences of the world, whether in terms of our sense of self and identity, the everyday rhythms that structure our lives, the way we move through or apprehend the everyday spaces we variously inhabit, or the sensory, affective and material impacts of media on our embodied sense of being-in-the-world. By placing its focus on media practices and the everyday, the module draws from recent debates in so-called ‘non-media-centric media studies’ and related perspectives from anthropology, cultural studies and cultural geography which examine not so much the meaning invested in the content of media texts as the performative question of what it is we do with media, and what it, correspondingly, does with us. In a contemporary world where the mediatisation of everyday life seemingly extends to every sphere of routine activity (such that at times we hardly recognise its presence at all), the project of scrutinising and critically reflecting on the relationship between media practices and everyday life has never been more urgent.

This module will examine digital media from the audience’s perspective. It will consider contemporary debates on the changing audience’s practices and the attention economy. Students will be introduced to the notions of the audience as a user and as a producer of media in the digital age. The module will focus on digital news audiences as well as the audience of entertainment platforms (like Netflix and Spotify). Different audience research methods like tracking data, surveys and focus groups will also be discussed.

This module asks students to consider the question ‘What is the Contemporary?’. How can literature help us to understand our sense of ‘the now’ and locate us in the present? And what does it have to tell us about our past and our future? These enquiries take in a series of literary and critical positions on matters of ‘the present’ and ‘contemporariness’ as explored through literature and theory. Over a series of seminars, students will be required to conceptualise and understand the different ways that we can understand the idea of the contemporary, contemporaneousness as a historical term and as a term of theoretical discourse.

This module focuses on theories of the body in contemporary critical thought and in modern and contemporary literature using relevant theory to support readings of a range of literary texts. We will study politically informed theories such as critical race studies, feminist, queer and disability studies and topics such as the maternal body, the body in pain and the ageing body. In all these cases the body emerges as a concept marked by internal division in terms of sex, gender, age, size, and race. We will study bodies as organisms and bodies as social phenomena, exploring the tension between the body’s material manifestations and its sites of immateriality such as the mind, spirit, psyche and affect.

This module introduces students to the literature, art and architecture of the middle ages and renaissance. It will present some of the themes and issues in the study of texts, artworks, artefacts and buildings of those periods. Through small-group discussion, involving the scrutiny of primary sources, and with a field trip to a major monument, students will be encouraged to develop an essay exploring a particular theme, text or architectural feature.

​Students will write a dissertation (15,000 words, maximum) on a topic that they have researched in depth, under the guidance of their supervisors. There will also be two seminar sessions focusing on the development of dissertation preparation and writing skills.