Programme details
The MSc in History of Art, Theory and Display provides a rich programme of study allowing students to develop a number of relevant skills in relation to both modern and pre-modern art.
Programme structure
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| Option Course A | 20 |
| Option Course B | 20 |
| Research: Theories and Methods | 20 |
| The Cultures and Politics of Display | 20 |
| Internship, OR a further two option courses of your choice (half to be pre-1800, half to be post-1800) | 40 |
| Dissertation OR Work-based Dissertation | 60 |
Course descriptions
This page provides a brief description of the relevant courses, for further information please refer to the individual handbook of each course.
For part-time students the distribution of course units and credits over the two years is negotiated on an individual basis with the Programme Director.
Option courses
Students choose one optional course in each of semesters one and two. Option courses normally include:
- Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: The Elite World of China
- Utopia Zones: Modernism and Abstraction
- Scottish Art Since the 1960s: Practice and Debate
- Interactions of Islamic and Christian Art in the Medieval Islamic World
- Art and Society in Contemporary World: China
- Impressionism and the Third Republic, Culture, Politics and Social Change, 1865-1900
- The Celtic Question : Art in early Britain and Ireland
- Theorising Contemporary Art
- Impure Cinema: Film and the Other Arts
- Rome Across Time and Space, Visual Culture and Cultural Exchanges, c.300-1300
- Medieval and Renaissance Italy: Texts, Objects and Practices
Core Courses
Research: Theories and Methods
Shared with all taught MSc degrees in the department, this course will introduce students to core theoretical and methodological issues that have shaped the discipline of Art History as well as covering some practical skills which you need for postgraduate study. This course runs every week during the first semester and is taught by a mixture of lectures and seminar discussions.
The Cultures and Politics of Display
This course is shared with students studying the MSc in History of Art, Theory and Display, and the MSc in Modern Art: History, Curating, Criticism. It will introduce key issues and debates as well as practical issues in the curating of exhibitions and museological collecting and display. It is taught weekly in the second semester through a mixture of lectures, workshops and seminar discussions.
Each course is assessed by means of a 3000-word piece of written work.
Internship
Students may choose to take the Internship which runs across both semesters. It involves a work placement in a particular art institution, and is assessed by an Internship Report.
The Internship is assessed by an Internship Report, which is usually 7,000 words long. The Internship coordinator is Dr. Claudia Heide.
If students do not want to do the Internship, then they can choose two further option courses instead, with the only proviso that one must be from the pre-1800 period and one from the post-1800 period.
Dissertation
The dissertation is a major piece of academic research, 15,000 words in length. It follows the same conventions as the essay, but the research questions it addresses are defined by the student, in discussion with an appointed supervisor. It must show some originality of thought or research, as well as the organisational qualities demonstrated in the essay.
In the academic year 2011-12 we are trialling a new option: instead of the usual dissertation, students may opt to undertake a work-based dissertation, in which the student develops an original research topic in consultation with an employer. This may be a research project that is designed specifically for the student, or the student may contribute to a larger ongoing project involving one or several staff in the organization. The work-based dissertation is designed to further enhance students' employability, work experience and transferable skills. It should meet the same criteria as the ordinary dissertation in terms of originality and organisation, but should also meet particular needs as identified by the employer, so that the finished piece of work ends up being useful to the employer as well as academically sound. This scheme may run in subsequent years, depending on the success of our trial. It remains an option which some students may choose or not. Places are limited.
This article was published on Sep 7, 2012