Fine Art

This module is taught through weekly readings and seminar discussions through which you will develop a grounding in key strands of thought relevant to the practice of fine art, and the world in which art is made today. The critical and theoretical texts we discuss are selected for their relevance to contemporary art practices. As the module progresses, students are invited to contribute readings and lead discussions on texts that relate to their own emerging area of expertise and the sites/contexts/archives they make work in relation to.

By the end of the module, you will have a grounding in key strands of critical work and theory relevant to the practice of fine art today, and will have demonstrated your own critical skills in reading, parsing and contextualising contemporary texts, understanding them through the lens of your own discipline and the world your work seeks to operate in.

The module includes discussion around theoretical areas such as Posthumanism, New Materialism, Postmodernism; critical work on art practices and concepts such as Art Writing, Post-Digital, Mobilities, Participatory Art, New Media, Investigatory Drawing; and historical texts by writers such as Walter Benjamin or Audre Lorde, that have been reappraised for a contemporary contexts and become foundational for some of today's artists.

Lectures and workshops will introduce a range of qualitative and creative research methods from the arts and social sciences, and discuss their relevance to contemporary art practice. This will include enabling you to distinguish between research for art practice, about art practice and through art practice.

You will challenge and re-evaluate your existing art practice through practical studio work and by critically reading a range of appropriate texts and artworks. This will include arriving at original ideas, appropriate research methods, techniques and concepts through testing, reflection and critical discussion.

Building on this period of practice, and in discussion with potential residency locations, you will develop a research proposal for your Research Residency module.

The research methods training in this module is suitable for students wishing to apply for further study at PhD level, or for professional arts practice.

The module introduces you to the role of management in arts organisations and the systems and processes that are present in these businesses. We will explore the different challenges that arts organisations face and reflect on the implications that this has for traditional management concepts.

This module is about the relation of films to history. By examining a selection of films, we will begin with questions such as: What is history? Does history shape our understanding of films? Does cinema change our understanding of history? We will then address major themes concerning ‘the end of history’, history versus fiction, nostalgia, lost time, technology, myth and memory. Background reading will include key texts on history and cinema by film directors, historians, philosophers and film theorists. Films screened on the course might include Lincoln (Steven Spielberg 2012), Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000), Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994), No (Pablo Larraín, 2012), The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (John Ford, 1962), Germany Pale Mother (Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1979), Rosetta (The Dardenne brothers, 1999).

The module will provide students with a broad knowledge of the practices, structures and institutions that define cinematic practice and theory. Students will be introduced to an advanced understanding of contemporary debates regarding historical and cultural theories of cinema and history, and the relevance of these debates to contemporary society. By the end of the module, students should have a broad understanding of the role of cinema in shaping historical events and vice versa.

This module aims to explore and reconfigure the ways in which climate change is understood through a focus on the social, rather than the scientific-environmental discourses that have dominated the policy and politics of climate change. This module give you a wide-ranging and intensive introduction to the politics, cultures and theories of climate change research in the social sciences and humanities. You will be able to critically evaluate different theoretical perspectives on a range of climate change debates and present alternative arguments.

This module introduces approaches to critical analysis of key forms of contemporary media and culture such as commodities, celebrities, platforms and different media forms and environments.

We will read and discuss recent and formative writings in cultural and media studies, allowing you to develop an understanding of key concepts such as subjectivity, platform, materiality, commodity, difference, value and power, and how they help us make sense of contemporary social life. You will also engage with analytical work on specific media platforms, products and practices, ranging from photographs and search engines to newspapers and reality TV.

Topics we may explore include:

• concepts of culture in relation to images, commodities and brands

• popular culture, audiences and media practices associated with celebrity

• contemporary digital media cultures, and their circulation and consumption

• embodiment, differences, politics and identities amidst media change

This module is designed to introduce you to contemporary methodological issues, key approaches, practical techniques, and case examples relating to the study of media and culture.

Many different methods are used in media and cultural studies, and that variety is reflected in this module. To explore research practice in this discipline, we look at textual and discourse analysis, visual analysis, ethnography and participatory approaches, but place a strong emphasis on engaging with issues of identity, differences, power and experience in the hyper-complex media and cultural environments that we live in.

To give you a taste of particular research methods and approaches, we draw on recent examples of media and cultural research done here at Lancaster, and encourage you to explore their theoretical and practical implications.

We aim to have a number of invited guest speakers on this module, and you will have the opportunity to discuss and critically evaluate different methodological approaches and learn how to draw on these approaches as a starting point for your own research. It is our aim that you acquire a good understanding of the key elements in planning and carrying out independent research projects.

In this module you will explore different aspects of digital audio and music cultures, in theory and in practice. The aim is to learn to think critically and creatively about the role that digital audio practices and technologies play in the current media landscape. The module contains both theoretical and practical components. You will engage in critical theoretical discussions on different aspects of digital audio culture. You will also have the opportunity to learn how to work with digital audio editing software and recording technologies. In the end, you will work together with group members to create a short podcast or audio documentary in which you reflect on a digital audio topic that you choose.

Digital media provide outlets for critical and compelling storytelling. In this module, we aim to develop your understanding of different core topics that have to do with digital journalism techniques, production values, journalistic tenets, and intersections of practice and critical issues within international journalism communities. You can learn how create journalistic packages, from the written word to video.

Current debates over issues such as plastic and food waste, fracking, loss of biodiversity or climate justice – and the protest movements and campaigns that have arisen in response – provide tangible evidence that the relationship between society and the environment is a difficult and often controversial one. This module examines the role that sociology and social theory can play in helping us to understand that relationship better and explores the range of approaches that have been developed in environmental sociology. Studying the environment sociologically opens up a host of interconnected social, cultural and political issues. Whose knowledge counts? How can we handle unquantifiable risk? What role should technology play? And what about democracy, freedom, diversity and justice? Using lectures and seminar discussion, the module will lead you through the resources of sociology and social theory to enable you to think through these questions in relation to some of the most urgent environmental issues facing societies today.

In times when hope and fear about the environmental crisis alternate in our minds, when social and political change play havoc with our interpretation of the historic worlds we inhabit, it is crucial that we examine critically and creatively the ways and means by which such a crisis has come into existence. To do so, the module builds bridges across disciplines.

The module combines a place-based approach (Lancaster, the Morecambe Bay, and the Lake District) and an analytical focus centred on the dissonance and convergence of temporal scales. We seek to answer two questions in close dialogue with students:

• To what extent is the dissonance between the different timescales of the Earth system, the social and built environment, and the human imagination a contributing factor to political inaction and cultural indifference?
• In what ways can we better integrate these timescales while retaining the rigour, criticality, and creativity of the disciplines used to study each?

The module will explore topics such as tidal systems, coasts and estuaries; floods; the rise, fall and rebirth of particular narratives of change; ruins and memory; risk and CO2 trading; glacial archaeology and informality and hope.

This module runs as an intensive workshop usually in the summer term... It offers an advanced introduction to feminist technoscience studies, focusing on theoretical and empirical developments, as well as key debates. It will ask what counts as ‘science’ and ‘technology’, how are they imagined and practised, and how scientific and technological knowledges are produced, circulated, and deployed.

Theoretical debates will be introduced and investigated through a specific empirical topic, chosen each year to reflect the particular expertise of tutors, for example, feminism encounters biotechnology; feminism and the non-human; bodies, cyborgs and prostheses; genomics, kinship and kinds; virtual and effective technologies.

The Fine Art Major Project is the culmination of your Master's program, allowing you to showcase the skills and knowledge gained from previous modules.

You will create a substantial, independent body of contemporary art with real-world relevance. Building on your experiences from the residency module, your final work will be presented professionally, such as in an exhibition, screening, event, or publication, alongside fellow MA Fine Art students.

You will be provided with a studio space suitable for your artistic practice, enabling extensive practical development across various media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, performance, new media, and more. Expert guidance from practicing artists is available.

The module emphasizes one-on-one tutorials and group critiques, with a growing focus on executing professional-level work.

The Fine Art Major Project is the culmination of your Master's program, allowing you to showcase the skills and knowledge gained from previous modules.

You will create a substantial, independent body of contemporary art with real-world relevance. Building on your experiences from the residency module, your final work will be presented professionally, such as in an exhibition, screening, event, or publication, alongside fellow MA Fine Art students.

You will be provided with a studio space suitable for your artistic practice, enabling extensive practical development across various media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, performance, new media, and more. Expert guidance from practicing artists is available.

The module emphasizes one-on-one tutorials and group critiques, with a growing focus on executing professional-level work.

This module is a cornerstone of the MA Fine Art program at Lancaster University, designed to elevate students' professional practice and career prospects.

Amidst a competitive UK art landscape, this module fosters the development of professional opportunities and networks. It focuses on practical experiences, allowing students to interact with host organizations, sites, or departments during residency periods.

Each student collaborates with a specific organization, enriching their practice's real-world relevance. Through weekly meetings, group critiques, and the creation of experimental artworks, students prepare to deliver their final Major Project.

The module leverages Lancaster's unique North West location, fostering connections with prestigious organizations and embracing a legacy of innovation, it propels students journey into the art world.

This module is a cornerstone of the MA Fine Art program at Lancaster University, designed to elevate students' professional practice and career prospects.

Amidst a competitive UK art landscape, this module fosters the development of professional opportunities and networks. It focuses on practical experiences, allowing students to interact with host organizations, sites, or departments during residency periods.

Each student collaborates with a specific organization, enriching their practice's real-world relevance. Through weekly meetings, group critiques, and the creation of experimental artworks, students prepare to deliver their final Major Project.

The module leverages Lancaster's unique North West location, fostering connections with prestigious organizations and embracing a legacy of innovation, it propels students journey into the art world.

How are gender, sex and bodies understood in contemporary sociology and feminist theory? How do feminist theorists and social scientists address questions of difference, representation and performativity in their research? In this module, we engage with the work of particular theorists (enabling you to acquire skills in close reading and critical discussion), critically evaluate relevant empirical findings, and explore current issues of importance to sociology and feminism. Topics include medicalization and health, race and racism, sex and sexuality, bodily autonomy, and reproductive choice. The essays you write then give you scope to follow your own interests in more depth by using the reading lists provided and undertaking independent research.

How do writers recreate place - real or imagined? How do readers imaginatively inhabit place? This module explores elements of place writing and New Nature Writing, looking at domestic space, urban space, the countryside and the ‘edgelands’ that lie in-between.

We will encourage you to develop your own creative work and reflect upon the different dimensions of place writing and ‘literature-as-place’. A critical interpretation of texts will allow you to reflect upon the authorial decisions made and the effects you seek in your own creative projects.

Indicative study themes:

• What is place, or ‘place writing’? Who invented it? How does that relate to ideas of space? Recent ideas of wilderness, the old emphasis on walking, the New Nature Writing.
• The archive, the curatorial and the imaginary museum. Key text: Jonathan Meades Museum Without Walls
• The city, the countryside, and the spaces in between. Key texts: Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts Edgelands, Jean Sprackland Strands
• Deep place – the natural world in our midst, and the nonhuman viewpoint. Key text: Charles Foster Being a Beast
• Occupying imaginary worlds: cinema’s parallel universe, and the journey through landscape. Key text: Geoff Dyer Zona

‘Reality is movement’ Henri Bergson observes in Creative Evolution (1911). This module explores how the im|mobilities of people, goods, money, information, resources, policies shape the individual and collective, human and more-than-human, local, global, planetary and interplanetary realities we experience.

Mobility capital, mobility justice, mobility transformations are some of the key concepts we will explore. The module provides opportunities for you to experiment with mobile methods and how they shape the study of physical, imaginative and communicative mobilities of, for example, migration, tourism, work, and love. Decarbonising transport, the need for a digital ethics to govern the im|mobilities of data, and the multiple refugee crises across the world are examples of the global challenges that we will address. We will also consider issues of creative inspiration for activism and ‘affirmative critique’.

This module explores key theoretical, methodological, and ethical issues in researching migration, migrants’ experience, and the effect of migration on origin and receiving societies. Through the use of case studies, you will have the opportunity to examine, in-depth, several topics in contemporary migration research, and related methodological and ethical considerations. Topics covered may include: are we living in an 'age of migration'?; how do we define 'migrant' and why does it matter?; borders; citizenship; migration as a reproductive justice issue; ethical considerations when researching migration; the use of qualitative and quantitative methods in researching migration; and more.

This module is an introduction to the UK cultural landscape and key themes in the arts and creative sector. It provides an understanding of the environment within which arts organisations operate and the strategic challenges they face. We will consider how business strategies are developed and implemented in this sector and develop a critical understanding of the environment that arts managers and leaders work in.

The fluidity of the contemporary 'nation' has complicated our understanding of international cinematic production, distribution, and exhibition. These cross-culture and cross-border interactions and encounters are best understood within the field of contemporary transnational film studies. This module explores a variety of the key concepts, debates and theoretical approaches to film studies which problematize the idea of ‘national’ and ‘world’ cinemas. This module provides an overview of debates that have recently emerged in the field of translational cinema while covering a range of approaches to analysing films that fall under this paradigm. This module will look at films from different national and regional contexts, films about immigrant identities, transnational encounters, cosmopolitanism and citizenship, terrorism, border politics, legality and race.

Some of the topics may include:

• Approaches to Transnational National Cinema Studies
• The Nation and the Region
• Genre Crossings
• Migration and Border Crossing
• Different national and regional cinemas from across the Globe (British Cinema, German Cinema, Nordic Cinema, Korean Cinema, Hong Kong Cinema, Japanese Cinema, Russian Cinema, Palestinian Cinema, Iranian Cinema, Lebanese Cinema, Turkish Cinema, Egyptian Cinema, Algerian Cinema, Senegalese Cinema, Nigerian Cinema, etc.)