Dissertation: Final Project

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Independently research the intellectual underpinnings for your project
• Develop and articulate a complex curatorial project
• Locate your proposal within a broad and complex curatorial framework

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Deliver a sustained and highly developed argument in writing
• Support and illustrate your ideas with written and visual evidence, properly cited and acknowledged
• Critically reflect upon and evaluate your own written and presentational outputs

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• Advanced contexts for curatorial practice
• Focussed and purposeful curatorial positioning
• How to generate new insights and expertise in interdisciplinary curating practices and research
• Current, relevant curatorial and presentational techniques

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Demonstrate an understanding of all relevant practical issues of installation and presentation

The dissertation is a significant piece of self-directed research. It aims to give you the opportunity to undertake an extended piece of independent research, with guidance from a supervisor. It will require reflection on theoretical and methodological frameworks, and critical analysis relating to your chosen topic. It will enable you to make an original contribution to curatorial literature and prepare you for progression to more advanced study and/or to work beyond academia.

During the summer you will primarily be working independently to execute and write up your research project. You will have periodic meetings with a supervisor to monitor your progress and discuss any problems that arise. Throughout this period, you will submit draft chapters and sections for feedback at your supervision meetings.

An alternative mode of presenting your research is through an applied project, in the form of a fully-resolved and detailed exhibition proposal for a designated space, or a realised project, fully documented.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

• Introductory group seminar
• Individual and group tutorials from designated specialist Dissertation tutor
• Limited support with mounting realised project, if required

Learning method:

• Independent study of module materials

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Hoffmann, Jens, (2014/17 (There are two versions of this and both are useful)). Show Time: The 50 Most Influential Exhibitions of Contemporary Art,. London:: Thames & Hudson,.

Gray, Carole, Malins, Julian, ( 2004). Visualising Research: A Guide to the Research Process in Art and Design,. Burlington: Ashgate.

Graham, Beryl and Sarah Cook ( 2010). , Rethinking Curating: Art After New Media,. London and Cambridge,: MA: Leonardo Books – The MIT Press,.

Cottrell, Stella (2019). The Study Skills Handbook . 2013. London:: Red Globe Press, ,.

Eco, Umberto, (2015 (1977)). How to Write a Thesis,. London and Cambridge,: MA: The MIT Press,.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Draft piece

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: tutorial
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.