Course information

Length

1 year full-time or 2 years part-time

Course overview

Working from a materially diverse basis, this programme engages with a range of empirical, aesthetic, conceptual and material issues that traverse and exceed both 'art' and ‘politics’ to speak with our current contemporaneity.

Why study MA Art & Politics at Goldsmiths

  • Explore practices and issues related to our current contemporaneity in terms of public space, democracy, equality, participation, states of exception, collectivity, performance and justice.
  • Examine a range of material practices and strategies which, in the encounter between art and politics, play out in numerous forms and very different kinds of social spaces.
  • Develop frameworks and spaces that are mixed and mobile, and which can operate in trans-disciplinary settings. You'll join students from a range of backgrounds and disciplines, meaning that the political character of both theory and material practice take on renewed vigour and urgency.
  • Investigate the potential of art, material practice and trans-disciplinarity in times of political and cultural crisis. You will have the opportunity to interrogate the relationship between material practices and theoretical work, to work within constraints but also within the interstices of artistic, cultural, social and political practices.
  • Choose from a range of option modules that encourage you to work across areas of particular interest to you including practice-based Individual and Group project work, the politics of space, gender politics and human rights.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr Bernadette Buckley (Programme Convenor) or for information on practice-based optional modules please contact Dr David Martin (Counter-Mapping) or John Reardon (Designing Politics, Material Encounters).

What you'll study

Compulsory modules

You will take the following compulsory modules:

Module title Credits
Art and Politics 1: Theory History Event 30 credits
MA Art & Politics Dissertation 60 credits

You will then take at least one of the following practice-based modules:

Module title Credits
Counter-Mapping: The Politics of Space 30 credits
Designing politics (group project) 30 credits
Material encounters (Individual project) 15 credits

Option modules

You will then complete optional modules with your remaining 60-75 credits. A list of optional modules will be produced annually by the Department of Politics and International Relations. Recent modules have included:

Module title Credits
Comparative Political Thought 15 credits
Material encounters (Individual project) 15 credits
Islam, Revolution, and Empire 15 credits
Art, War, Terror 15 Credits
Memory and Justice in Post-Conflict Societies 30 credits
Decolonising Knowledge: Debates in Human Science 30 credits
Global Capitalism: Theory and History 30 credits
The United States in the World Economy 15 credits
Politics of Human Rights 15 credits
Psychopolitics 15 credits
Theories of International Relations 30 credits
The Political Economy of the Anthropocene 30 credits
Finance and Power 15 credits
Experts and Economies 15 credits

Project work

You are required to undertake project-based work in accordance with your own political and aesthetic interests. The purpose of this project-work is to find ways of ‘doing’ politics which employ ‘artistic’ strategies and interventions in their realisation.

Projects have a student-centred material focus, complementing the theoretical emphasis of core and optional modules, and will seek to raise awareness of particular issues and draw attention to their position in the public arena. They may be written, broadcast, performed, curated, made, or involve any other kind of appropriately documented submission.

Training in digital and genetic media will be provided where necessary. Project training is monitored and co-ordinated by the artist-in-residence in the Department of Politics – who will oversee students’ individual needs while ensuring that there is continuity of support and opportunities to identify and build upon individual strengths and weaknesses.

Assessment 

Assessment consists of coursework, extended essays, reports, presentations, practice based projects or essays/logs, group projects, reflective essays, and seen and unseen written examinations.

Download the programme specification.

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

Entry requirements

You should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in a relevant/related subject. 

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

International qualifications

We 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 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Fees, funding & scholarships

Annual tuition fees

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

  • Home - full-time: £11170
  • Home - part-time: £5585
  • International - full-time: £22640

If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate 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

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities. If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

How to apply

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you’ll need to have:

  • Details of your academic qualifications
  • The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively a copy of your academic reference
  • Copies of your educational transcripts or certificates
  • personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online. Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement      

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

When to apply

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place that is conditional on you achieving a particular qualification. 

Late applications will only be considered if there are spaces available.

If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an earlier application deadline. 

Selection process

Admission to many programmes is by interview, unless you live outside the UK. Occasionally, we'll make candidates an offer of a place on the basis of their application and qualifications alone.

Find out more about applying.

Careers

Careers

Our graduates come from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and embark on highly contrasting career paths. These include careers in curating (both independent and embedded); art practice (both collaborative and individual); journalism (radio, web and print journalism); performing arts; central and local government; work with NGOs (national and international); research (academic and professional); project development, administration and management. Some of our graduates undertake further professional training in law; journalism; education and social work.

Skills

You'll develop: a critical engagement with the broad field of international studies, communication skills, research skills, presentation skills.

Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths.

Student work

Time magazine cover

Student Davide Monteleone was recently commissioned by Time to create a series of powerful black and white portraits of migrants trying to cross the Mexico-US border; two of which ended up on the magazine's cover. 

You can see more of David's work on the Time magazine website.

Take Refuge

Take Refuge is a meditative sound experience influenced by the language and design of self-care initiatives.

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We Hybrids

We Hybrids consists of collaborative workshops which, through direct participation, explore how our collective perception is formed and how it takes control of social memory and communication.

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Guided tour of Cheltenham

A guided tour of Cheltenham showing the historical buildings as theatre props, around which various new developments have been built.

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