Credit Points: 45
Study Time: 450 Hours

Building on interests you have found through Negotiated Practice, this unit provides a major opportunity for a period of extended creative exploration and development.

Even when the concerns of an artistic practice can ostensibly be described by narrative, concept, process or formal experimentation, the meaning(s) of the work may be some distance from these. How work is "read" is a function of historical, social and cultural factors as well as display context, viewer predispositions and what the artist makes visible. To some degree then the meaning of the work is contingent and it is an important part of the task of the artist to be rigorous in his/her understanding and control of his/her practice in relation to its various contexts.

This unit therefore requires critical consideration of the concepts implicit in the methods, subject matter and media you employ and careful interrogation of the contexts that relate to the origination and development of your ideas.

Outline Syllabus

• Continuation of the development of your studio practice. 
• Investigation of the meaning and interpretation of your work through the concepts of content and context. 
• An analysis of the context of your work with particular reference to the notion of site-specificity.

Method of Delivery
Studio-based project: individual tutorials, group presentations and critiques, independent study and practice; also lectures from visiting artists, seminars and project group meetings.

Aims

A1 To encourage you to approach your practice with critical and contextual awareness, examining the origination and development of ideas and justification of creative choices.
A2 To increase your sense of ownership over the vocabulary needed to discuss contemporary practice.
A3 To gain a thorough and coherent understanding of the relationship between your practice and its audience through an analysis of the issues inherent in the notion of "context".

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this unit you will be able to:

LO1 Demonstrate an understanding of the necessary critical dialogue between content and form within individual creative work.
LO2 Develop your creative ideas in the context of a critical consideration of their origination and development.
LO3 Relate your choice of subject, process and formal language to both the content and context of your work through the development of an increased awareness of the context in which your work is apprehended by its audience.
LO4 Demonstrate enhanced critical awareness and vocabulary - make references to related practices and relevant theoretical commentaries - when discussing your work and the work of others.

Reference Material

Key
O'Doherty, B. (1999). Inside the White Cube, the Ideology of the Gallery Space, Berkley, University of California Press
Suderburg, Erika (2000) Space, Site, Intervention - Situating Installation Art, London: University of Minnesota Press.
Kaye, Nick (ed). (2000) Site-specific art - performance, place and documentation London: Routledge,

Recommended
Batchelor, D. (2004). Shiny Dirty, Birmingham, Ikon
Boltanski, Christian. (1997). Christian Boltanski. London: Phaidon
Bryson, Norman. (1990). Looking at the Overlooked. London: Reaktion Books
Cruz, Amanda (2000). Cindy Sherman Retrospective. London: Thames & Hudson
Deepwell, Katy [1195], New Feminist Art Criticism, Manchester, Manchester University Press
Jones, Amelia [ed], 2006, A Companion to Contemporary Art Since 1945, Oxford, Blackwell
Rorimer, A. [2001] New Art in the 60's and 70's: Redefining Reality, London, Thanes and Hudson
Rosental, Mark (1987). Anselm Kiefer. Munich: Prestel
Spence, Joe and Solomon, Joan. (1995). What Can a Woman do with a Camera: Photography for Women. London: Scarlet Press
Taylor, Brendon [2004], Art Today, Lawrence King Publishing
Taylor, Brendon [2004], Contemporary Art, Prentice Hall
Viola, Bill (1994). Bill Viola. Ritter Klagenfurt
Wells, L. [ed], 1997, Photography: A Critical Introduction, London, Routledge
Williams, R. [2000], Art after Modern Sculpture: Art in the United States and Europe, 1965-70, Manchester, Manchester University Press

Videos
Anselm, Kiefer. Acc. no 7610 
Christian, Boltanski. Acc. no 8428