Programme Specifications

n/a

• Art and Design

• History of Art, Architecture and Design

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 endeavor 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.

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.

The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, skills, qualities and other attributes in the following areas.

• 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.

10.2.1 Intellectual skills

• 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.

10.2.2 Practical skills

• 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.

• 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.