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    KEY FACTS

    • Title
      MA Contemporary Art Practice
    • Award
      Master of Arts - MA
    • Study mode
      Part-time
    • Duration
      1 year
    • Start date
       September 2012
    • Fees
       See fees information above
Skip Navigation LinksPlymouth University > courses > postgraduate > MA Contemporary Art Practice

​MA Contemporary Art Practice

​Creating - Experimenting – Innovating - Challenging
​Megan Calver

​Vision

MA Contemporary Art Practice supports developing artists to realise their practice to the fullest possible extent, allowing the opportunity to explore and create in a supportive, challenging environment.
We look for highly motivated, creative and critically aware individuals who wish to develop innovative ideas and practices within the field of contemporary art. The course provides a dynamic and stimulating forum to engage in critical dialogue with staff and other students.
MA Contemporary Art Practice started in 2011, and the course builds upon the previous success and experience of our MA Fine Art programme. A belief in the value of Contemporary Art as a mode of enquiry underpins the 2 year programme of study (30 weeks per year), and as such requires students to develop criticality, and to engage in the interrogation of orthodoxies and traditions. It offers an open framework for diverse creative practices including interactive and digital technologies, film and video, sound, painting, printmaking, photography, drawing and sculpture.  Students are expected to hold risk-taking and experimentation as integral to their practice and their critical position. We offer exit award titles in:
  • MA Contemporary Art Practice
  • MA Contemporary Art Practice (Photography)
  • MA Contemporary Art Practice (Sound)
  • MA Contemporary Art Practice (Digital Media)
  • MA Contemporary Art Practice (Curating)
  • MA Contemporary Art Practice (Critical Writing)

Contemporary Art Practice involves a range of methodologies and approaches. For example students can develop their practice through art projects that are relational/socially engaged, collaborative, process-led, context-responsive, curatorial. The course draws together expertise across diverse areas of practice to create new synergies and to reflect the discursive nature of the contemporary arts field.

Contemporary Art Practice is inextricably linked to international cultural and artistic contexts as well as related fields of theory and philosophy. This is reflected through the seminar content, students’ own research themes, staff research activities, and optional study visits to international arts events and exhibitions. Digital networks also enable linkages with international contexts through online collaboration, project dissemination, curatorial projects and interactions.

​Highlights

Megan Calver

  • Choice of single, multi- or inter-disciplinary study
  • Students’ own research interests are emphasised from the outset, through independent study module proposals in year one and
  • substantial MA Project in year 2
  • Well-equipped workshops (including digital, sound recording and editing, film, video, ceramics, print)
  • Links to research centres and research sub groups extend student learning, and provide examples of cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary research through seminars and symposia
  • Students are able to negotiate the inclusion of external projects and commissions as part of their MA course.
  • Professional practice is embedded into the academic framework of the course
  • Part-time study is available to allow greater flexibility for some students
  • Students negotiate an award title
  • MA Contemporary Art Practice students are invited to participate in an excellent range of Faculty and School research seminars with staff and invited artists and cultural theorists.

Meet the staff

All tutors are artists/researchers and their extensive expertise and knowledge is complimented by visiting artists and curators who are directly involved in the arts and engaged in relevant cultural debates. To read more about the staff who teach on this MA programme visit the webpage.

​Graduate wins Arts Award from the Wellcome Trust for her MA project
Amy Shelton

Amy Shelton has won an Arts Award from the Wellcome Trust for her project Honeyscribe, a research project which grew out of her masters studies at Plymouth University. “If I had not done the MA I would not have been able to get the award. It totally made me step up to the rigours of how you have to talk about your work, as well as giving me the tools to write a proposal and contextualise work. As you know, I thought the MA Fine Art was exceptionally good”  Read more...
 

​Part-time route

MA Contemporary Art Practice is delivered across 2 years, each of 30 weeks. 

Fees and funding

Please follow the link below for details on the fees for this course.
​

​Entry requirements

Practitioners submit a portfolio of work, documented in an appropriate form, and proposal for study for discussion at interview.
For entry to postgraduate level, applicants should normally possess:
  • a first or upper second (2:1) degree with honours or professional qualification, recognised as being equivalent to degree standard; or
  • an ordinary degree, foundation degree, higher national diploma, or university diploma, accompanied by substantial experience in an appropriate field.
  • Applicants with overseas qualifications can check their comparibility with the UK equivalent through NARIC, who provide an advisory service.
    •  

English language requirement

If your first language is not English then evidence of English proficiency is required. The level of proficiency that is required can vary with the type of programme for which you are applying. For further advice on the appropriateness of overseas qualification and proficiency in the use of English, please contact our International Office.
The minimum IELTS score for acceptable English proficiency for entry is normally 6.5.

Facilities – resources – environment

We have a range of facilities and resources supportive of student work including:

  • Studio spaces for full-time students
  • A fleet of AV computers/video/multimedia/sound studio resources
  • Fully equipped Print and Photo facilities
  • Textiles, ceramics and plasterwork workshops Metalworking (and woodworking) facilities
  • Life drawing classes Dedicated and supportive technicians

Seminars, group critiques and tutorials take place in the dedicated Postgraduate Base-room in Scott Building on the main campus. Studio space can be negotiated at the main campus or at our Royal William Yard off-campus
site, situated on the waterfront adjacent to cafes and restaurants.

    Facilities image
    Ceramics studio