BSc (Hons) Digital Arts Computing

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. 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 Introduction to Programming 15 credits This module will introduce you to the fundamentals of programming and object orientation, including the following basic ideas of programming: variables memory and assignment statements control through conditional statements, loops functions and procedures objects and classes instance variables and methods arrays user interaction interaction between objects.	15 credits
Critical Studies in Computational Arts I Critical Studies in Computational Arts I 30 credits Critical studies will give you a theoretical and contextual background to creative arts practice. You'll learn through a systematic programme of lectures, seminars and tutorials. It takes a distinct form each year that allows you to work towards developing an independent research programme. You'll be assessed through essays, while lectures will be shared with BA Fine Arts there will be dedicated seminars for Digital Arts Computing students. These seminars will be tailored to specifically digital arts topics and be closely linked to your work in Computational Arts Practice. You'll be expected to reference computational concepts and your own practice in seminars and written work.	30 credits
Creative Project 1 Creative Project 1 15 credits This module will introduce you to project-based work in Creative Computing. You'll explore and engage with a range of topics in Creative Computing and the creative industries more broadly. You'll also have the opportunity to apply and consolidate practical, technical, and theoretical knowledge acquired in your first term. You'll be given clear direction and structure enabling you to complete a project fulfilling a specified high-level brief. Through guided research, you'll gain knowledge of current topics in Creative Computing and be given the opportunity to identify and reflect upon your own interests and incorporate those into your project. Following structured design and development processes, you'll gain experience in developing and communicating ideas, prototyping, testing with users, critical reflection, and project management. The project will enable you to consolidate your programming skills and work towards managing more substantial code bases.	15 credits
Graphics 1 Graphics 1 15 credits In this module, you'll explore the perceptual and technical fundamentals of graphics computing.   Topics include:  fundamentals of visual perception: basic colour theory, perspective, and animation  manipulating images for creative contexts  image processing  the application of 2D and 3D geometry for animation and interaction  creating simple physics simulations.  You'll apply this knowledge through a series of practical and creative exercises undertaken throughout the module using an appropriate programming environment with supporting graphics libraries.	15 credits
Front End Web Front End Web 15 credits This module will introduce you to the basic concepts essential in the design and implementation of client-side web-based applications. We'll cover a basic introduction to the Web, followed by more detailed lectures and labs on current good practice with technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.	15 credits
Introduction to Digital Media Introduction to Digital Media 15 credits This module will give you a broad introduction to the nature, manipulation and creation of digital media. This is a concept-driven studio that emphasises the integration of theory and practice in contemporary media practice, particularly in the areas of process art, video art, sound art and networked art. You'll explore how image, audio, and video files are structured, and take a broad overview of methods for manipulating digital media such as compositing, segmentation, compression, filtering, remixing, and encryption. Aesthetic conventions around image, sound and video will be demonstrated through the example of digital media practitioners who apply and subvert such conventions. You'll also consider socio-economic implications arising from digitisation, as well as how software defines and influences the creation of digital media. All of this theoretical knowledge will be linked to practical considerations when creating and manipulating digital media with software and applied as the students create their own work of digital media.	15 credits
Sound and Signal 1 Sound and Signal 1 15 credits This module covers the perceptual and technical fundamentals of sound and music computing.  Topics include:   fundamentals of auditory perception: frequency/pitch, amplitude/loudness, and timbre  applying and manipulating digital audio media for interactive contexts  sound synthesis theory and fundamentals  basic signal analysis and visualisation techniques  rudimentary digital signal processing.  You'll apply this knowledge through a series of practical and creative exercises undertaken throughout the module using an appropriate programming environment with supporting audio libraries.	15 credits

Year 2

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

Module title	Credits
Creative Embedded Systems Creative Embedded Systems 15 credits Creative embedded systems and the use of microcontrollers are of increasing interest to artists, musicians, choreographers, and other creative practitioners for the creation of artworks and other forms of novel computational interaction. There are many potential applications, for example, in museums, ubiquitous and embedded computing, robotics, engineering control systems and human computer interaction. A physical environment may be sonic, tangible, tactile, visually dynamic, olfactory or any combination of these. This module will provide a starting point for you to develop an understanding of microcontrollers and how they fit into a wider computing and artistic context. You'll learn basic physics, electronics, programming with a strongly typed compiled language, and software engineering. This module will lead to an extended project, giving you the opportunity to develop and implement new creative ideas utilising computation for creative expression.	15 credits
Generative Drawing Generative Drawing 15 credits This module will allow you to develop an intuitive understanding of the expressive power of computation and reinforce important mathematical and programming concepts through engaging and creative work.   You'll be introduced to a variety of generative techniques by analysing the work of other artists and studying code examples. Possible techniques include phase modulation, uses of the sine function, additive synthesis, stochasticism, perlin noise, and extensive variation through parameterization. You'll then develop a deeper understanding of these topics through a number of challenging creative exercises using a suitable programming environment.	15 credits
Critical Studies in Computational Arts II Critical Studies in Computational Arts II 30 credits This part of the degree seeks to engage and extend your critical faculties and to enable you to develop your ability to analyse, judge and write about contemporary art. The aim of this module is to support and develop your studio practice, and help you to make informed critical and independent judgments about your own work and the work of others in the field of contemporary fine art.	30 credits
Digital Arts Project 2 Digital Arts Project 2 30 credits This module will introduce you to the process of running an independent research project in Digital Arts Computing. It will prepare you for the independence of your final year, self-initiated research project. You'll be provided with direction, structure and a given theme that you'll research and explore through a series of workshops and formative projects, leading to an assessed exhibition and final project report in the style of their final year project.  Example projects include a software tool for creative work, portfolio of creative studies, an installation, adigitally enabled performance, a digital game or toy. The project outcomes should inspire students in their future projects and might be developed further in their final year.  Your final project submission will be exhibited as part of the Digital Arts Computing exhibition and will be marked and evaluated in the context of the final year show.	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 The Goldsmiths Elective 15 credits Our academic departments are developing exciting elective ideas to allow you to broaden your education, either to develop vocationally orientated experiences or to learn more about contemporary society, culture and politics. You’ll be able to choose safe in the knowledge that these modules have been designed for non-subject specialists and to bring students from different disciplines together. For example, you may want to take introductions to areas such as Law, Education, the digital industries, the creative industries,think like a designer or understand the history and politics behind our current affairs.	15 credits
Goldsmiths’ Social Change Module Goldsmiths’ Social Change Module 15 credits Lots of students join Goldsmiths because they want to make a difference in society, to bring about positive change and develop skills and experiences which will allow them to access exciting careers. Goldsmiths’ Social Change module will allow you to do work on group projects with students from other departments to bring about change. You’ll be introduced to the UN’s Sustainable Development goals and core project management theories and practices allow you to work across a number of weeks towards a final Festival of Ideas where you’ll report work back to the academic and local community.	15 credits

Optional placement year

This degree includes an optional industrial placement year in your third year of study. You'll be responsible for securing a placement, but we can support you through this process.

Although we encourage you to take the opportunity of a placement year, you can opt not to do a placement and move straight into your final year of study.

Year 3 (or year 4 with work placement)

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 Final Project in Digital Arts Computing 60 credits The Project in Digital Arts Computing is an opportunity for you to apply the skills, knowledge, expertise and creative direction that you have acquired whilst studying Digital Arts Computing to a single and coherent body of work. You'll follow a creative and technical initiative that appeals to you, for presentation in an exhibition setting. The outcome will be the most complex, detailed and thorough piece of creative work that you have had to develop as part of your studies. This will showcase your talents, and could launch a professional career, or lead to further academic study. You'll have to manage your own time, setting regular objectives. You'll undertake project analysis, design, implementation and evaluation. You'll work on the project over the duration of the year supported by a combination of seminars, lab sessions and individual tutorials.	60 credits
Dissertation in Critical Studies in Computational Arts Dissertation in Critical Studies in Computational Arts 30 credits The Critical Studies module must be passed at 40% or above in order to successfully complete the module and proceed to the next level. In Critical Studies, the student’s written work is supported through the supervision of Critical Studies staff. The aim is to encourage independent research relevant to the student’s studio practice. The student presents this research in the form of a dissertation of between 6500 and 7000 words.	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. If you would like an earlier version of the programme specification, please contact the Quality Office.

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

Between 2020 and 2022 we needed to make some changes to how programmes were delivered due to Covid-19 restrictions. For more information about past programme changes please visit our programme changes information page.

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.

Annual tuition fees

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2023/2024 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: £18930

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.

Helen Pritchard (co-head of programme)

Helen is joint head of BSc Digital Arts Computing and a lecturer in Computational and Digital Arts. As an artist and geographer Helen’s interdisciplinary work brings together the fields of Computational Aesthetics, Geography, Design and Feminist TechnoScience. Her practice is both one of writing and making and these two modes mutually inform each other in order to consider the impact of computational practices on our engagement with environments. Central to Helen’s work is the consideration of co-research, participation and environmental practices. Helen’s practice often emerges as workshops, collaborative events and computational art. She is the co-editor of Data Browser 06: Executing Practices, published by Autonomedia. NY (2017).

Audrey Samson (co-head of programme)

Audrey is joint 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.

Simon Katan

Simon is a digital artist with a background in music and a strong preoccupation with games and play.  His work incorporates hidden mechanisms, emergent behaviour, paradox, self-reference, inconsistency, abstract humour, absurdity and wonder. He makes software which creates musical odysseys through exploring animated worlds and design games in which the players unwittingly become performers of bizarre and occasionally daft rites.

Rebecca Fiebrink

Rebecca is a faculty member at Goldsmiths, and a member of the Embodied AudioVisual Interaction (EAVI) group. She also supervises research in the Soundlab at Princeton University. Her research work encompasses a variety of projects developing new technologies to enable new forms of human expression and creativity. Much of this combines techniques from human-computer interaction, machine learning and signal processing to allow people to apply machine learning more effectively to new problems such as the design of new digital musical instruments and gestural interfaces for gaming and health. 

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.

Theodoros Papatheodorou

Theodoros  is a senior lecturer in computational arts and the course leader of the MA/MFA in Computational Arts. He completed his PhD in face recognition at Imperial College after which he returned to Greece where he started the premiere computational media course at the Athens School of Fine Arts. He is the co-founder and director of Random Quark, a creative technology studio where they develop experiences for artists and brands that delight and impress.

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.

Michael Zbyszynski

Michael is an academic in the Department of Computing. He teaches perception & multimedia computing. He has been a software developer at Avid, SoundHound, Cycling ’74, and Keith McMillen Instruments. He has also taught live electroacoustic music, real-time interaction and socialist realism.

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.

Catherine Grant

Catherine is currently researching the re-enactment of histories of feminism in contemporary art. Her work explores re-enactment as a way of learning from history, as well as a place of fantasy and possibility for the future. Drawing on thinking about temporalities and history-making from queer and feminist theorists, as well as the construction of ‘the contemporary’ and ‘contemporary art’ in philosophy and art history, she has written a number of essays that explore strategies of re-enactment, re-writing and community-building across temporal divides. The beginning of this research has been published as “Fans of Feminism: re-writing histories of second-wave feminism in contemporary art” and “A Time of One’s Own" in the Oxford Art Journal.

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. 

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:

• New media and advertising companies
• 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.

Goldsmiths Computing department has a wealth of specialist facilities and equipment for students to use. From digital studios to motion capture, and games labs to sonic media.