Visual Culture BA(Hons)

How this course is delivered

COVID-19 has changed everything. We’ve made some changes to the way our courses are taught to keep everyone safe and that will help you stay connected and involved in university life.

From the start of term in September, you’ll learn through a blend of on-campus and digitally enabled remote learning that will provide lots of opportunities to interact and engage. Together with carefully managed access to libraries, labs, workshops and studios this means your studies are as collaborative, practical and flexible as possible.

Year 1

The first year of the Visual Culture degree familiarises you with good study practices and introduces you to the different kinds of assessment used on the course, including essays, seminar presentations, display projects and exams. Much of the teaching will take place in small groups of around 12 students with one tutor.

Modules

• Art, Culture and Commerce

  In this module you will explore core concepts and historical phenomena, including colonialism, consumption, national identities and class constructions, which impacted on art, design and culture from the closing decades of the eighteenth century to the opening decades of the nineteenth. Through lectures and seminars, you will explore how enlightenment ideas and philosophies, as well as revolutionary upheavals and developing institutional practices, informed the conditions in which art and design was produced and consumed.

• Art and Design History in Brighton: Places and Processes

  In this module you will explore aspects of Brighton and Hove that are significant to the history of art and design within the locality and in some cases more broadly, through the introduction of key sites, themes and resources, for example, the Royal Pavilion and Museums; the historical development of local identities in subcultures and sexualities and Brighton on film. The topics are complemented by a seminar series that will equip you with the skills and tools to the study of history of art and design at degree level.

• Critical Approaches: Core Concepts in History of Art and Design

  This module will introduce you to core concepts and key words in the humanities (including ideology, gender, class, nationality and ethnicity) and will provide opportunities for evaluating your utility as a means of understanding art and design through your application to practices, sites and artefacts.

• Art, Design and Modern Life

  Through lectures and seminars, you will examine how ideas of ‘the modern’ and the contradictions of modernity are manifested in a wide range of visual and material culture including realist paintings, photography, advertising, dress, cities and international exhibitions during the long nineteenth century. The module relates practices of art, design, exhibition and dress to changing social structures and occupational patterns that informed many of the debates around art and design in the period.

• Analysing Art and Design: Techniques and Tools

  This module will introduce you to the frameworks and tools by which a variety of visual and material objects, images and environments can be ‘read’ and understood. The emphasis of the module is on the acquisition and application of a range of different technical methods for image and object analysis across a range of media forms, including acquisition of the specialist vocabulary suitable to the analytical method deployed, and an understanding of the appropriateness of each technique.

• Introducing Themes in History of Art and Design

  In this module you will undertake an intensive themed study related to your individual preferences and/or programme of study. The module will introduce you to the teaching and learning methods most relevant to the investigation of a particular area of inquiry within the History of Art and Design programme.

Our courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis in order to make sure that what you learn with us is relevant and that your course enables you to develop appropriate skills. When you apply to study with us, we will inform you of any new developments in your chosen programme through Student View.

Poster advertising Brighton – early twentieth century. Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove.

Year 2

In year 2, you’ll build up core knowledge of the history of art and design and develop your own specialist areas of interest from a wide choice of option modules. You can apply to spend the first semester of your second year at the University of Oslo.

In semester two, you have the opportunity to take a 40-hour placement, working in a museum, gallery, archive or the creative services. Assessment is through a logbook, presentation and essay. 

Previous placement destinations include: Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, Design Archives, Worthing Museum, Ditchling Arts and Crafts Museum, The Keep, Phoenix Gallery. Placements are unpaid but travel costs on public transport are paid by the university. You can also opt to go on a five-day trip to a European city to study art, design and visual culture in context. Potential destinations include Paris and Berlin. The trip costs around £350.

Modules

• Modernism, Ideology and the Avant-garde in the Twentieth Century
• After Modernism: Postmodernism and Beyond
• Constructing Histories: Research Methods and Professional Practice in History of Art and Design

Options*

• A Trip to Europe
• Behind the Scenes: Arts and heritage placements
• Creative option – examples include Words and Pictures: Experiments in Art Writing; Understanding Exhibitions and Creating Displays

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Students on a study visit to the Queer Looks exhibition at Brighton Museum

Final year

The final year sees you execute independent but closely supervised research projects, including your own dissertation, a group display project and a visual display of your dissertation research, which is shown as part of the arts and humanities graduate show. In these projects you are supported by one-to-one or small group supervision as well as peer support.

Modules

• Eye And Mind
• Dissertation in the History of Art and Design
• Communicating Research

Options*

• Real World Research in Art and Design History
• Professional Paths in Art and Design History
• Special subject – examples include The Past in the Present: Vintage, Retro, Revival; Participation, Performance, Politics; The Limits of Representation

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Resources

• We are proud to have a world-class Design Archives based on campus.
• The university's excellent art and design library is nearby
• Screen Archives South East, a moving image archive, is based on campus.
  • Our Dress History Teaching Collection gives you the chance to closely examine and photograph historical and world fabrics and garments.

The university has close relationships with local festivals and organisations such as CineCity, the Brighton Photo Biennial, Brighton Festival, Brighton Festival Fringe, Brighton Digital Festival, Fabrica and Lighthouse. These connections provide a range of opportunities for students.

Students have access to the world-class Design Archives.

Meet the team

The University of Brighton was one of the founding institutions for research in design history and our teaching team are world authorities in both design and dress history and the culture of photography, integrating their own research with their teaching.

Dr Verity Clarkson, course leader

Verity is an academic who examines visual and material cultures in a number of contexts. Her research looks at art, design and culture in the twentieth century with a particular focus on east-west cultural contacts during the Cold War. She is also interested in transnational exhibitions, 1960s and 1970s fashions and the ways in which ideas about ‘the past’ are used in visual and material culture today.”

Find out about our other staff: Dr Lara Perry, Dr Harriet Atkinson, Dr Annebella Pollen, Dr Angelica Groom, Dr Anna Vaughan Kett, Dr Yunah Lee, Dr Charlotte Nicklas, Dr Louise Purbrick, Dr Megha Rajguru, Dr Glenn Ward and Dr Claire Wintle.

Student work 

History of Art and Design programme dissertation catalogues 2018. View catalogues from previous years on Issuu.

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Course fees

What's included

You may have to pay additional costs during your studies. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. A summary of the costs that you may be expected to pay, and what is included in the fee, while studying a course in the School of Humanities are listed here.

• For a number of courses you will have the opportunity to attend field trips and off-site visits. These are optional and are not required to pass your course but under normal circumstances we would expect a budget of approximately £150 per year will cover the costs of particular trips. The amount spent would be based on location and number of trips taken.
• You will have access to computers and necessary software, however many students choose to buy their own hardware, software and accessories. The amount spent will depend on your individual choices but this expenditure is not essential to pass any of our courses.
• In most cases coursework submissions are electronic but you may wish to print notes and should budget up to £150 per year for printing.
• Course books are available from the university but you may wish to budget up to £200 to buy your own copies.

You can chat with our enquiries team through the Stay in touch panel at the end of this page if you require further information. Or check our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships, as well as more information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Info

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2020–21.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

Local area

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

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