A theme/issue/question driven 2500 word essay in which primary source visual material in the forms of illustrated works by significant practitioners plays an integral role in terms of visual research and analysis. Illustrations must be properly captioned at a professional level, and it is expected that students engage in an informed analysis of the images. In addition such analysis of the visual material must be supported by research into published sources on the practitioners, with an emphasis on library research. References to such bibliographic research in the essay must be properly referenced using Harvard Style. Students can also engage in primary research in terms of visiting relevant exhibitions and /or interviewing relevant artists. This essay must exhibit a high standard of research into and visual analysis of the primary source visual material it is based on.
[Learning Outcomes 1-3]

The emphasis is on formulating a critical perspective rather than a survey, providing a structured and coherent analysis supported by properly referenced visual and textual sources.
Topics are formulated and vetted via supervisory assistance. The emphasis is on students expanding their understanding of contemporary practice beyond what they are familiar with, via rigorous visual research and research into texts pertaining to the practitioners selected. Initial research is closely supervised and students are directed to engage in critical analysis of the textual and visual sources they are researching in a manner that is directed by a critical perspective that possesses a significant degree of conceptual depth.

The primary task is to write a scholarly essay in which students introduce a critical perspective and argue how that relates to their chosen practitioners. They must provide an informed well-researched commentary on the works chosen that is supported by carefully selected and properly captioned illustrations. Students must engage in critical commentary on their chosen images and support what they are arguing via well-selected quotations taken from authoritative sources. The essay must be to a high academic standard using Harvard Style referencing (Oxford Style referencing is acceptable for students coming on to the module who have been trained in this method).

Introductory lecture and seminar sessions
Supervision, individual and small group.
Study guides
Online resources
Independent study
Formative, diagnostic feedback on students' essays in progress

Data projector
Slide projector
Audio, VHS, DVD playback,
Room with blackout
Library
Slide library
Student word-processing facilities
Internet access
The Blackboard virtual learning environment will be available (where relevant) to support this module. Details will be supplied in the module handbook.

Bishop, Claire. 2005. Installation Art: a Critical History. Tate, London, 2005.
Bourriaud, Nicolas. 2002. Relational Aesthetics. Dijon: Les presses du reel.
Bright, Susan. 2006. Art Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson.
Connor, Steven. 1997. Postmodernist Culture : An introduction to theories of the contemporary. Oxford : Blackwell 1997
Cotton, Charlotte. 2004. The Photograph as Contemporary Art. London: Thames and Hudson.
Dennison, Lisa. 2003. Moving Pictures: Contemporary Photography and Video from the Guggenheim Museum Collections : touring exhibition held 28th June 2002 - May 18th. New York: Guggemheim Museum Publications
Gibson, Jane. 1999. Ceramic Contemporaries 3. London: Nache.
Greene, Rachel. 2004. Internet art, World of art. New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson.
Harrod, Tanya, La Trobe-Bateman, Mary, eds. 1998. Contemporary Applied Arts : 50 Years of Crafts. London : Contemporary Applied Arts
Kwon, Miwon. 2002. One Place after Another: Site-Specific Art and Locational Identity. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Paul, Christiane. 2003. Digital art, World of art. London, New York, N.Y.: Thames & Hudson.
Parker, R, Pollock G. 1987. Framing Feminism: Art and the Women's Movement. London: Pandora.
Rasp, Markus. ed. 1997. Contemporary German photography. Koln : Taschen
Rush, Michael. 2003. Video art. New York: Thames & Hudson.
Wallis, Brian, ed. 1984. Art After Modernism: Rethinking Representation. New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art.