MA Art History Thesis Conference

18/05/2011

The annual MA Art History Thesis Conference was held on Friday 13 May (Asa Briggs Hall, Kensington Campus). The students delivered nine papers on their thesis progress to date, to their fellow 'junior research colleagues' and the six faculty teaching on the program, as well as a number of invited faculty. There was vigorous debate, constructive feedback and the discussion continued into the evening at the Builder’s Arms, to ensure that students are confident in moving their research forward over the summer, with submission at the start of September. The breadth of material - from Surrealism, 1960s graphic design and art law to contemporary photography, the architecture of Tate Modern and contemporary West African art - reflects not only the wide and exciting range of intellectual interests of the students, but also the diversity of visual cultures that the MA program tackles and that faculty research is engaged in.

The conference marks the end of an era and a new beginning. The MA in Art History will be re-launched as the MA in Art History and Visual Culture from this Fall. For well over a decade, the MA Art History has shown distinction in its intercultural focus, broad attention to the variety of modernisms, interdisciplinary engagement, use of London as a learning resource, and was commended in the Open University Validation report of 2007 for its successful record of student supervision and for placing students in gallery and museum work. The new MA in Art History and Visual Culture builds on this success and innovates on the curriculum, offering a more global and contemporary edge, and professional training including an accredited internship at a creative or cultural institution in London. While this year’s students are now interning at, for instance, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Centre for the Study of Craft and a number of private galleries, internships for next year are being arrange with, for example, Sotheby’s auction house, the ICA and the October Gallery.

Link to this page: http://www.richmond.ac.uk/n/1153.aspx