Course information

Entry requirements

UCAS code

I150

Entry requirements

A-level: BBB
BTEC: DDM
IB: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655

Length

3 years full-time

Department

Computing
Art

Course overview

This is an innovative and interdisciplinary degree where you will produce creative computational projects for public exhibition. Explore the materialities of digital art, emergent technologies and critical studies and develop a wide set of skills that can be applied to the creative industries and transform the field of digital art.

Why study BSc Digital Arts Computing at Goldsmiths?

  • The degree places you at the centre of one of the fastest growing creative industries in the world, pioneering new approaches to computational creative practice. Digital arts computing is a unique interdisciplinary field where some of the most exciting and progressive developments at the intersection of emergent technologies, fine art practice and media culture are currently found.
  • You don’t need to know how to code to apply for this course. You'll learn the fundamentals of programming and acquire industry-ready technical skills during the degree.
  • You’ll develop your creative practice incrementally on both a technical and conceptual level through technical labs, creative project studio sessions, and critical studies seminars and lectures.
  • With an emphasis on learning through doing, you will build your professional portfolio and develop a series of projects that will be exhibited publicly in exhibitions throughout the three years you study at Goldsmiths.
  • During the degree you’ll be able to select specialist modules to gain practical knowledge of areas such as generative art and machine learning, physical computing, VR and immersive technology, motion capture, sound and signal processing and games engines.
  • You’ll prototype and explore the possibilities of computational tools and languages when placed in dialogue with fine art practice and critical studies.
  • The degree will teach you creative technology skills – from coding languages such as C++ to sound programming, immersive environments, computational art techniques and physical computing such as 3D printing and electronics.
  • You’ll be encouraged to critically question and take on the ethical responsibility of using computational technologies and methods, and discuss and understand the further implications of their use on culture and society.

Produce original work using state-of-the-art facilities

During the course you will produce works across a diverse range of media – not just on a screen. You will have access to the amazing Goldsmiths HatchLabs – our state-of-the-art physical computing maker space – and be supported by studio technicians to develop and prototype your creative projects. It's where you'll be introduced to a variety of digital and physical tools including 3D printing, laser cutting machines, Arduinos etc. You'll also have access to a range of other facilities including motion capture, virtual reality, 360 immersive cinema and audio visual equipment, performance spaces, robotics, wearable technologies, woodworking, digital sculpture and embroidery.

Get taught by experts in the field

Your lecturers and the technical support staff on the programme are practising artists, creative technologists, curators and writers. They are therefore uniquely positioned to support and critically respond to your work to help ensure that it engages with the critical and technological context in which it is made. 

Immerse yourself in a creative community

As part of the BSc Digital Arts Computing cohort you will be invited to attend regular Forums that welcome all three year groups to show and critique work together as a close-knit community of practitioners. We invite guest artists, creative technologists and curators to join us for presentations, workshops and 'crits', and you will also be able to participate in field trips to museums, festivals, galleries, studios and creative technology centres across London. This will give you exposure to practices that will heighten your awareness of digital art as a field. 

We regularly invite world-class artists and curators to visit Goldsmiths to deliver Masterclasses where they explain their work and can engage in critical dialogue with students. This enables you to develop a wider understanding of the contemporary art scene and how your work sits within the professional art world.

Grow your professional network

You'll have the opportunity to grow your professional network through participation in workshops, studio visits and guided field trips. There are also opportunities for residencies and collaborations with creative studios – and art and technology publications – to further amplify and develop your practice.

Exhibition opportunities

Every year of the degree you will have the opportunity to exhibit your work to the general public on-campus at our dedicated gallery space, as well as online. Internationally renowned practitioners and experts can be invited to take part in your public programme as part of your exhibition.

Current and past collaborations have been with internationally renowned institutions and cultural centres including:

Student life and support

As part of the BSc Digital Art Computing programme you’ll be part of a vibrant community of students and alumni, and you’ll be supported by a network that includes academic personal tutors, career advisers, disability officers and other student support staff.

Our labs and lectures are run as small working groups and you will be sharing your critical studies lectures and seminars with students from the Department of Art to further broaden your peer network.

The technical and problem solving skills, creative and critical development, and peer and professional network you gain from studying this degree will provide you with a multitude of exciting career pathways across the creative industries.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Rachel Falconer.

What you'll study

Overview

The programme is made up of three components:

  • Computational arts practice. This will combine technical and creative skills and will be taught by practising computational artists in the Department of Computing
  • Critical studies of contemporary art, to provide you with a space for examining the historical and critical context in which art is made, seen and understood. This will be taught in the Department of Art
  • Core technical computing, with a particular focus on audio-visual technology. This will be taught in the Department of Computing 

Year 1

In your first year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:

Module title Credits
Introduction to Programming 15 credits
Critical Studies in Computational Arts I 30 credits
Creative Project 1 15 credits
Graphics 1 15 credits
Front End Web 15 credits
Introduction to Digital Media 15 credits
Sound and Signal 1 15 credits

Year 2

In your second year, you'll take the following compulsory modules:

Module title Credits
Creative Embedded Systems 15 credits
Generative Drawing 15 credits
Critical Studies in Computational Arts II 30 credits
Digital Arts Project 2 30 credits

You'll also take 30 credits of optional modules from a list provided annually by the department. These may also include the following:

Module title Credits
The Goldsmiths Elective 15 credits
Goldsmiths’ Social Change Module 15 credits

Year 3

Your final year consists of:

  • 30 credits of option modules from a list made available annually by the department
  • a critical studies dissertation
  • a major project
Module title Credits
Final Project in Digital Arts Computing 60 credits
Dissertation in Critical Studies in Computational Arts 30 credits

Teaching style

This programme is taught through a mixture of lectures, tutorials, workshops and laboratory sessions. You’ll also be expected to undertake a significant amount of independent study. This includes carrying out required and additional reading, preparing topics for discussion, and producing essays or project work.

The following information gives an indication of the typical proportions of learning and teaching for each year of this programme*:

  • Year 1 - 18% scheduled learning, 82% independent learning
  • Year 2 - 22% scheduled learning, 78% independent learning
  • Year 3 - 21% scheduled learning, 79% independent learning

How you’ll be assessed

You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These include coursework, examinations, group work and projects.

The following information gives an indication of how you can typically expect to be assessed on each year of this programme*:

  • Year 1 - 90% coursework, 10% written exam
  • Year 2 - 100% coursework
  • Year 3 - 88% coursework, 13% written exam

*Please note that these are averages are based on enrolments for the traditional pathway in 2022/23. Each student’s time in teaching, learning and assessment activities will differ based on individual module choices. Find out more about how this information is calculated.

Credits and levels of learning

An undergraduate honours degree is made up of 360 credits – 120 at Level 4, 120 at Level 5 and 120 at Level 6. If you are a full-time student, you will usually take Level 4 modules in the first year, Level 5 in the second, and Level 6 modules in your final year. A standard module is worth 30 credits. Some programmes also contain 15-credit half modules or can be made up of higher-value parts, such as a dissertation or a Major Project.

Download the programme specification.

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Entry requirements

We accept the following qualifications:

A-level: BBB
BTEC: DDM
International Baccalaureate: 33 points overall with Three HL subjects at 655
Access: Pass with 45 Level 3 credits including 30 Distinctions and a number of merits/passes in subject-specific modules
Scottish qualifications: BBBBC (Higher) or BBC (Advanced Higher)
European Baccalaureate: 75%
Irish Leaving Certificate: H2 H2 H2 H2

Additional requirements

Portfolio
We request up to 12 items of work for portfolio, these can be images or video of sculpture, painting, drawings, digital or any other work that gives us an understanding of your practice. We will request to see a portfolio when invited for an in person interview.

You should ideally have Grade B/Grade 6 or above in GCSE Maths. If your portfolio is particularly strong we may accept a slightly lower GCSE Maths grade.

International qualifications

We also accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.0 no element lower than 5.5 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for degree-level study.

Alternative qualifications

See our full list of undergraduate entry qualifications.

Fees & funding

Annual tuition fees

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

From August 2021 EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will no longer be eligible for 'Home' fee status. EU/EEA/Swiss nationals will be classified as 'International' for fee purposes, more information can be found on our fees page.

  • Home - full-time: £9250
  • International - full-time: £20160

If your fees are not listed here, please check our undergraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office, who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page.

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

Funding opportunities

We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries, and our careers service can also offer advice on finding work during your studies. Find out more about funding your studies with us.

Staff

Rachel Falconer (joint head of programme)

Rachel is co-head of the BSc Digital Arts Computing and a Lecturer in the Department of Computing. She is a digital art curator, researcher, writer and educator operating at the critical intersections of contemporary art practice, feminist technoscience, emergent technologies, civic data infrastructures and networked culture. Rachel has conceived and delivered multi-scale interdisciplinary public programming, alternative exhibition models and innovative public research platforms spanning a diversity of critical modes of engagement with technology. 

Audrey Samson (joint head of programme)

Audrey is co-head of the BSc Digital Arts Computing and a lecturer in Fine Arts (Critical Studies) in the Art Department. Resident at the Somerset House Studios, she is a critical technical practitioner in the métis duo FRAUD which develop forms of art-led inquiry into the multiple scales of power and necropolitics that flow through physical and cultural spaces.

Atau Tanaka

Atau bridges the fields of media art, experimental music, and research. Active in the Tokyo noise music and media arts scenes, he moved to Paris with a residency at the Cité des Arts to work at IRCAM, was Artistic Ambassador for Apple France, and was researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratory Paris. Atau creates sensor-based musical instruments for performance and exhibition, and is known for his work with biosignal interfaces. His recent work seeks to harness collective musical creativity in mobile environments, seeking out the continued place of the artist in democratised digital forms.

Edgar Schmitz

Edgar is senior lecturer in Fine Art (Critical Studies) at Goldsmiths. He is an artist and co-director of A Conversation in Many Parts, the international discursive platform for contemporary art and concepts. Recent exhibitions include British Art Show 7, Hayward Gallery, ICA London. His book on ambient attitudes is under negotiation with Sternberg Press, Berlin/ NY.

Sylvia Pan

Sylvia is a Lecturer in Virtual Reality. Working in VR for more than 10 years she developed a unique interdisciplinary research profile with journal and conference publications in both VR technology and social neuroscience. Her work in training and education in VR has been featured multiple times in the media, including BBC Horizon and the New Scientist magazine. More info can be found on Xueni Pan's website.

Richard Noble

Richard's main area of scholarly interest is in visual art that engages in one way or another with the political; he is interested in the political impact of visual art and also the boundaries between aesthetics and politics. His interests are primarily philosophical, but over the course of the last four years he has written about a fairly wide range of artists as well as the theoretical problems associated with art and politics.

Ros Gray

Ros is Senior Lecturer in Fine Art, Critical Studies in the Art Department at Goldsmiths. Her research explores the trajectories of militant filmmaking, particularly in relation to liberation struggles and revolutionary movements in Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso, and more recently with the intersections between artistic practices and decolonial environmentalism. 

Stephen Johnstone

Stephen has worked in collaboration with Graham Ellard since 1993. Their work is concerned with the relationship between pre-cinematic spectacle and immersive space and abstract film and cinematic spectacle. This body of work exists at the intersection of architecture and film and draws on and emphasises the architectural qualities of the projected video image to create an immersive and dynamic space that the spectator experiences as a kind of performer. Most recently, their work has engaged with the conventions of representing architectural space in film.

Susan Kelly

Susan is a writer, artist, organiser and educator. She researches the relationships between art and micropolitics: where the production of subjectivity becomes a crucial site for analysing and intervening in the reproduction of capitalism, imperialism, art and culture. She has worked in performance, video, installation, drawing, and public / site-based intervention. More recently, she has been focused on writing and co-producing workshops and research processes using various forms of participatory militant investigation. 

Careers

Skills

This degree is designed to prepare you for a career as a technology-led creative in the media industries. The programme will develop you not just as a technical expert, but also as a creative thinker, allowing you to learn and explore through a combination of technology and imagination. Technical skills include:

  • a strong understanding of how to design, develop and apply software in all areas of commerce and industry
  • an awareness of the fundamentals of computing (hardware, software, architecture and operating systems)
  • an understanding of programming languages
  • a clear sense of the issues involved in building and maintaining reliable software for the sophisticated demands of today's market and for the software industry as it develops throughout the 21st century
  • an understanding of the social context and visual design aspects of software development together with the technical skills of programming

Our degrees have a large proportion of practical work in which you must deliver software projects, both individually and in groups. This mirrors as closely as possible a real-world work environment. These projects develop your technical skills but also require you to tackle the broader aspects of the software development process, such as understanding users' needs and requirements and the design of interfaces on a number of platforms – from web pages to touchscreen phones.

You'll also gain skills in teamwork, creative thinking, report writing, time management and organisation, presenting reasoned arguments to a range of audiences, and retrieval of information – all of which are sought by graduate employers.

Careers

The explosive and ever-growing use of technology in business and commerce means that there's a whole range of different career possibilities for computing graduates. In terms of job opportunities and salaries, the IT sector is well ahead of most other industrial and commercial sectors.

Where do Goldsmiths computing graduates work?

Some of the recent graduate level careers for computing graduates have included:

  • Professional artist
  • Curating and exhibition design
  • Film/TV special effects and post-production
  • Visual interface designer
  • Computer graphics designer
  • Video game developer
  • Music production
  • Multimedia systems analyst
  • Media and entertainment industries
  • Mobile App developer
  • Web developer
  • Computer music/sound engineer
  • Interface designer
  • Database manager

Employers include:

Our graduates are also working in the following areas:

  • Cultural industries
  • IT consultancies
  • Architecture firms
  • Education
  • Film industry
  • Computer games developers
  • Software development firms
  • Design studios
  • Financial institutions
  • Engineering companies
  • Retail and service industries
  • Tourism and leisure industries
  • Entertainment industries

You can find out more about career options after graduating on our Computing careers page. Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.

Facilities

HatchLabs

This state-of-the-art digital fabrication and physical computing space has been equipped with everything necessary to bring your digital designs and ideas into the physical world. We offer inductions on a range of machines and hot-desking workspace for studying, making and collaborating! This includes:

  • A host of computer-controlled equipment, including a laser cutter and 3D printers
  • Fully-equipped electronics workbenches, including soldering equipment, oscilloscopes, and bench power supplies
  • Optical and digital microscopes for electronics inspection
  • High-end woodworking equipment, and manually operated equipment, such as power drills, sanders, drill press, and jigsaw

Take a virtual tour of HatchLabs.

Computer Suites

The Goldsmiths computer suites are equipped with more than 200 iMacs running Windows 10 and MacOS in parallel. These machines are all centrally managed, ensuring that any software you need for your studies is available on every machine. This includes the Adobe Creative Suite, and a host of other programmes to aide creative computing, as well as software and web development.

Each lab also features an HD projector, speakers, voice reinforcement, and the ability to stream lecture slides to each iMac for easier viewing.

Take a virtual tour of one of the computer suites.

Virtual Reality Lab

The space is equipped with a full multi-camera motion capture studio, similar to that used in the making of Avatar, Avengers, and The Last of Us.

This system allows you to capture live-action performances, and translate them into perfect animated replicas to be used later in your animation, creative computing or games programming projects. The equipment is also capable of doing this in real-time, so as you act out your scene, your VR avatar copies you on screen.

The lab is also equipped with an 8.1 Ambisonic surround sound system, sound recording/mixing equipment, and custom Oculus rifts and LEAP Motions, which allow you to interact with whatever virtual objects and world you create.

Take a virtual tour of the VR Lab.

Sonics Immersive Media Lab

This is a space designed for complete versatility, where students and researchers learn to use cutting-edge sound, lighting and video technologies. An interdisciplinary, cross-departmental initiative, this world-class multimedia facility was designed collectively by the departments of Media, Computing and Theatre and Performance.

The facility has hosted events including John Akomfrah's Unfinished Conversation, the world premiere of Eliane Radigue's OCCAM IX performed by Laetitia Sonami, and the London satellite event for Sonorities 2015.

The Sonics group comprises staff and visiting fellows from the Computing, Music, Sociology, Visual Cultures, Media and Communications, and Theatre and Performance departments. For more information visit the Sonics website.

Games Lab

With HD projection and 7.1 surround sound, the Games Lab is set up to showcase students' work and the latest in gaming technology.

The room is set out as a casual, comfortable workspace, where students can develop work on desktop PCs or bring their own laptops. We are currently fitting VR-specific facilities suitable for Oculus Rift and Vive.

Goldsmiths Digital Studios

This is a space that brings students and artists together. The studio has several specialist solder stations, basic electronics consumables and hacking equipment making it the perfect home for physical computing activities.

Take a tour of the Goldsmiths Digital Studios.

St James Hatcham

This is a dedicated exhibition space available for all departments on campus.

The building is a former church, and retains iconic features including beautiful stained glass windows, while benefitting from modern finishes. This makes it an outstanding exhibition space for our BSc Digital Arts Computing and MA/MFA Computational Arts degree shows.

Take a virtual tour of St James Hatcham.