2015 ⁄ 16
School
of Humanities
Modern: Design 1945–70 (2008), and
Postmodernism: Style and Subversion
1970–1990 (2011). From 2010–14, she
was also head of the History of Design
programme at the RCA. Her specialist
teaching and research interests include
post-war design and its social/political
contexts, and design curation.
The School offers three full-time, two-year MA
programmes: Curating Contemporary Art, Critical
Writing in Art & Design, and V&A/RCA History of
Design, which is run in partnership with the Victoria
and Albert Museum. In addition, the School also
provides College-wide humanities teaching for all
MA art and design students, through its Critical &
Historical Studies programme.
Alongside our MA programmes, we offer
research degrees (MPhil and PhD) on a full or
part-time basis. Our Doctoral Studies programme
in the Humanities supports more than 40 research
students, working either across the School or
within a particular programme. We are committed
to interdisciplinary research, and the programme
affords students the opportunity to draw on the
broad range of supervisory expertise offered by the
School as a whole. Many of our research students,
therefore, work in ways that combine the practices of
history, theory, curating and writing, as appropriate
to their specific areas of research interest. In
addition, and as appropriate, Humanities research
students can be co-supervised by tutors in other
Schools, combining practice-based investigations
with Humanities research. Working with its network
of external partners, the School supports a large
number of Collaborative Doctoral Awards, cosupervised (for example) with the Tate, the V&A, the
Science Museum, and the British Postal Museum
& Archive. All research students are supported by
a lively programme of events, exhibitions, seminars
and workshops.
The School of Humanities has a reputation for
research excellence, with a track record in attracting
funding from the AHRC, the Getty Foundation, the
British Council and European Funding Councils,
among others. Our School-wide research themes
include Design and the Welfare State; The Experiment
in Art and Design; Art and Conflict; Heritages of
Communism; Performance Cultures; Cultures
of Curating; and Global/Transnational Networks in
Art, Design and Curating.
School of Humanities
Prior to joining the RCA in 2010,
Professor Jane Pavitt was the University
of Brighton’s Principal Research Fellow
at the Victoria and Albert Museum
(V&A), where she co-curated a series
of exhibitions on twentieth-century and
contemporary design, including Brand.
New (2000), Brilliant (2004), Cold War
The School of Humanities has a unique role at
the heart of RCA culture. It represents a broad
range of concerns in teaching and research
across the history, theory and interpretation of
art and design, with core practices in writing,
research, curating and criticism. Disciplinary
interests span the fine arts, architecture, design
(including fashion, graphics, interior and product
design), craft, communication, film, photography,
digital media, science and technology. We train
the historians, curators, writers, journalists and
critics of the future, and play a vital part in the
dialogue between history, theory and practice.
Dean of School
Professor Jane Pavitt
‘The School of Humanities offers students
the opportunity to develop their own
practice in the fields of history, theory,
writing and curating. The School has a
distinctive and highly innovative research
culture based upon its extremely close
relationship to art and design practice.We
play a vital role at the heart of College life.’
Applications are welcomed from:
– Anyone with a good BA degree, usually in a
Humanities/Arts subject (including studio courses
in art and design). We welcome applications from
students of all ages, and view both prior academic
and professional experience as valuable.
– Applicants with a commitment to writing, and a
strong interest in art and design practice.
– Applicants with relevant practical experience, who
have worked in a paid or unpaid capacity within the
visual arts/design and are able to demonstrate
an existing commitment to their future career path.
Those considering a research degree can discuss
their project in advance of application with the
Head of Doctoral Studies or an appropriate tutor,
by contacting: [email protected]. For
College-wide and programme-specific requirements,
please see: rca.ac.uk/entrance-requirements
Alumni — The Royal College of Art is rightly proud
of its graduates’ achievements. Alumni from the RCA
form part of an international network of creative
individuals who have shaped and continue to shape
the culture surrounding all of us. The School of
Humanities trains the curators, writers, historians
and theorists of the future, who go on to have diverse
careers in the arts, including museums and galleries,
art consultancy, media and journalism, and in
academia. Our alumni network offers an important
support structure for students in the School, and
many of our alumni are visiting tutors in the School.
Well-known alumni include: Professor
Christopher Breward, Principal, Edinburgh College
of Art; Professor Guy Julier, University of Brighton
Professor of Design Culture and V&A Research
Fellow; Omar Kholeif, Curator at Whitechapel Gallery
and Editor of Ibraaz; Francesco Manacorda, Artistic
Director, Tate Liverpool; Giorgia Mancini, Curator,
National Gallery, London; Emily Pethick, Director,
The Showroom; Rick Poynor, writer and editor;
Celia Joicey, Director of the Fashion & Textile Museum,
London; Bisi Silva, Founding Director, CCA Lagos;
and Sally Tallant, Director, Liverpool Biennial.
MA Critical Writing in Art & Design: As is the Sea, Student publication
Staff — Our programme/School staff are highly
regarded historians, theorists, writers and curators,
all with extensive teaching experience at
postgraduate level. Each programme is supported
by a core staff team, and by a wide range of
visiting scholars and practitioners. For further
information on staff, including research interests,
exhibitions and publications, please visit:
rca.ac.uk/humanities-research
by a team of writers and critics, and led by Professor
David Crowley, the Critical Writing in Art & Design
programme is designed to develop the literary and
intellectual skills required to write about art and design
in an age of rapid technological and cultural change.
This full-time, two-year MA explores different
aspects of writing about and for contemporary
culture. Students are encouraged to develop
specialist knowledge of a field of art and design, and
to refine their skills as writers, editors and thinkers in
a variety of contexts including radio and the internet.
Drawing on the teaching methods of the art school,
this programme makes full use of the ‘crit’, briefs
and writing workshops, providing a lively environment
for intellectual exchange and collaboration. Students
on the programme publish their work both online
and in print, and work alongside graphic designers
and other peers at the College to produce a major
publication in the second year of their studies. In
recent years these have included After Butler’s Wharf,
a book about the afterlives of one part of London’s
docklands, and ARK: Words and Images from the
Royal College of Art Magazine 1950–1978.
On graduating, Critical Writing in Art & Design
students have a portfolio of different skills in writing,
editing and critical understanding, and will belong
to a network of RCA graduates. This will enhance
their opportunities to pursue a career in the arts and
cultural industries. Students and graduates from
the programme have published articles in many key
art and design periodicals including Cabinet, Frieze,
The Guardian, The White Review, and Sight and
Sound, as well as books for MIT Press, EROS Press
and Afterall.
Research students (MPhil and PhD) can be
attached to the Critical Writing in Art & Design
programme and be supervised by its staff. Current
research students attached to the programme
are exploring the Phenomenon of ‘The Essay’ in
Literature, Film and Architecture; Badness in
Art and Literature; Open Source Platforms in Design;
Marxism and New Media Art; and Écriture féminine
and Contemporary Art.
twitter:
@CWAD_RCA
Critical Writing in Art & Design Taught
[email protected]
rca.ac.uk/cwad
and design, but their emphasis is on nurturing a
commentary that acknowledges the shared
concerns of these disciplines in an international
contemporary framework.
Research students (MPhil and PhD) can be
attached to the CHS programme and be supervised
by its staff. We supervise students in a broad range
of subject areas in art, design, craft and architecture,
with a close relationship to practice, and an emphasis
on the art school context for research. CHS research
is Humanities-based and engages fully with the
historical and theoretical positions that art and design
practice embodies. Current research student topics
supervised by the programme include British
Art Criticism; ‘Ecoaesthetics’; Current Architectural
Curatorial Practices; Aspects of the Modernisation
of Victorian London; Translation and Craft Practice;
and an Examination of Narrative Architecture and
the Work of NATO Architects.
[email protected]
rca.ac.uk/chs
Critical & Historical Studies Taught by a
team of specialist historians, critics and philosophers,
and led by Joe Kerr, the Critical & Historical Studies
(CHS) programme provides a unique environment
for postgraduate art and design students to reflect
on their own practice, and to engage critically with
students from their own and other disciplines.
Critical & Historical Studies delivers a Collegewide seminar and lecture programme to all
studio-based MA students in the College, enabling
students to engage with ideas that are relevant
to their work in an exciting and challenging manner.
This College-wide programme is also available to
Humanities students.
CHS also delivers the MA Dissertation
programme for all students in Schools outside of
Humanities, shaping the intellectual framework
within which they can begin to establish a coherent
relationship between theory and practice, and explore
the theoretical background of their chosen discipline
through a structured tutorial process.
Exciting, thought-provoking and inspiring
lectures by tutors within the programme and highprofile visiting speakers, as well as individual tutorial
support from our programme’s team, ensure that
students are fully prepared and supported through
their academic journey. CHS staff are authorities in the
varied fields of art, architecture, craft, communications
V&A/RCA History of Design The
V&A/RCA History of Design MA programme is
internationally recognised as the leading centre for
postgraduate study in the history of design. Co-heads
of the programme are Dr Sarah Teasley (RCA) and
Dr Marta Ajmar (V&A). We offer the opportunity to
study design and material culture in all its aspects,
from the early fifteenth century to the present
day, across global geographies. Particular areas of
specialism include fashion and textiles, graphics,
architecture and interiors, science and technology,
and the crafts. Object-based research is central to our
approach. The programme offers specialist teaching
in three broad areas: Renaissance and Early Modern;
Modern and Contemporary; and Asian (Early Modern
to Contemporary). Shared by two world-class centres
of scholarship and creative excellence, the RCA and
the V&A, the programme offers a unique opportunity
to pursue postgraduate study in the context of one of
the world’s outstanding museum collections.
The programme is jointly managed by the
V&A and RCA, with a dedicated staff team at
both institutions. MA Students pursue a common
programme in the first year, choosing from a
range of specialist seminar courses. Students are
introduced to object-based research, and the various
methodologies and critical/historical perspectives
pertinent to the study of design and material culture.
Research methods (including the use of primary and
secondary sources) and writing/analytical skills are
foregrounded in this first year. The second year is
devoted to independent, original research in the form
of a major dissertation, supported by two tutors
for every individual project. Students also engage in
a variety of projects at both the RCA and V&A, such
as curatorial research and studio exchanges, over
the two years.
Now over 30 years old, the programme
was the first postgraduate centre for the study of
design history in the world, and its alumni work
internationally as academic researchers and
lecturers, curators, journalists and policymakers.
The programme has a history of research
excellence as well as funding success from bodies
such as the Getty Foundation, the Pasold Research
Fund, the British Academy, the Wellcome Trust, AHRC,
ESRC and the European Scientific Fund. Our staff are
active as historians, writers and curators. Research
students (MPhil and PhD) can be attached to the
History of Design programme and be supervised by
its staff. Current research students attached to the
programme are exploring subjects including Craft
and the Luxury Trades; Paper in Renaissance Italy;
Modern Typography in Scandinavia; the Department
Store in England and America; and the Centralised
Design Policies of Socialist Czechoslovakia.
website:
unmaking.things.com
contemporary art, the annual CCA exhibition attracts
a significant audience from London’s contemporary
art sector, securing a high level of critical and
professional engagement with students as they
prepare to develop their own independent careers.
Equally committed to research-led teaching,
the programme’s tutors are all actively engaged with
curatorial research, ensuring the cultural significance,
critical integrity and intellectual vibrancy of their
teaching. The unique work of research students
and international research projects ensures that all
students in CCA have access to the highest quality of
research practice in the sector.
Taking advantage of its central London location,
the programme offers students unique opportunities
to engage with emerging and high-profile artists,
writers and curators; world-leading public collections
and private galleries of contemporary art; and
exhibition programmes around the year that have
established London as one of the major centres of
contemporary art in the world.
Research students (MPhil and PhD) can be
attached to the CCA programme and be supervised
by its staff. Current research students are exploring
research areas including Globality; Internationalism in
Cold War Era Mozambique; Exclusion of Public Space
in Former Eastern Europe; Unrealised Exhibitions;
Curating the Caspian; and Curating Architecture.
[email protected]
rca.ac.uk/hod
over 20 years ago, the internationally renowned
Curating Contemporary Art programme (CCA), led
by Professor Victoria Walsh, is centred on providing
students with a foundational knowledge of both
the practical skills and theoretical issues that
inform the practice of curating and commissioning
contemporary art.
With an emphasis on integrating these critical
and professional practices, teaching takes place
through a programme of seminars and lectures by
CCA staff, visiting curators and artists and group
projects developed in collaboration with high-profile
and well-established public organisations. Aimed
at assessing existing trends and exploring new
approaches to curating in a wide range of contexts
and for different audiences, the international scope
and diverse backgrounds of students also offers
a rich and unique peer-led learning environment
to share knowledge of artists, ideas and curatorial
issues across the globe.
During the second year of the MA programme,
students have the opportunity to organise and
present their own exhibition in the galleries of the
RCA, and to test and demonstrate their ideas,
working with artists and practitioners across multiple
platforms and media. Widely acknowledged as
an important marker of current developments in
[email protected]
rca.ac.uk/cca
Curating Contemporary Art Founded
Research Students: MPhil and PhD — We welcome
applications to undertake original research by thesis
(c. 40,000 words for an MPhil and 80,000 words for
a PhD) or by project (students explore aspects of
practice such as publishing or curating). Research
students in the School engage with a broad range of
subjects across the fields of art and design history
and criticism; the history and practice of curating;
and critical and cultural theory. We are committed to
extending the reach of these fields.
Research students play a large part in the life
of the School. There are currently over 40 full-time
and part-time research students, who together form
a lively community of writers, thinkers and makers
working closely with RCA artists and designers,
often sharing skills and interests by organising
symposia and exhibitions. Like all good researchers,
our students produce new ways of thinking about
and understanding the world. Many have gone on to
publish their research, and to establish significant
careers in the arts, cultural institutions and academia.
The School has secured doctoral funding
such as AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards,
PhD studentships via its membership of TECHNÉ,
the London and South-East Doctoral Research
Consortium, and has research students working
in collaboration with the V&A, the London Postal
Museum & Archive, Tate and the Science Museum.
Research in the
School of Humanities
MA Curating Contemporary Art: …all silent except for the buzzing…, Installation view
Research in the School of Humanities is led by Dr
Marquard Smith. The School is at the forefront of
arts and humanities research by way of original
and significant contributions to design history
(particularly in Asia and Europe), curating
contemporary art, critical writing in art and design,
and critical and historical studies.
Current research projects include Art and
International Conflict: Building Networks, Discourses
and Understanding (AHRC); Fashion and Translation:
Britain, Japan, China, Korea (AHRC); MeLa: European
Museums in an Age of Migrations (European
Commission); and Cultural Value within New Media
Cultures of Networked Participation (AHRC).
Researchers in the School publish work in
books and journals, curate major exhibitions, make
programmes for broadcast media and work closely
with many international institutions including Tate, the
Science Museum, the Bard Graduate Center New York,
and in a long-established partnership with the V&A.
The School regularly hosts public events, from
one-day specialist workshops, like the experimental
novel or the design of socialist modernity in Eastern
Europe, to international conferences. In spring 2014
the School hosted the 40th Annual Association of Art
Historians conference.
[email protected]
rca.ac.uk/humanities-research
Critical Writing in Art & Design
Students have a dedicated studio equipped with
computers running a range of software including
sound- and film-editing packages, as well as
professional sound recording equipment and HD
video cameras that are available for student projects.
Curating Contemporary Art
The programme has a suite of dedicated workspaces
for seminars, meetings or computer work, equipped
with iMacs and a projector, and its own small
specialist library, which students may use for short
term loans. Students may also make use of the
library and archive resources of the Tate and V&A.
V&A/RCA History of Design
Students have use of seminar and computer-equipped
workrooms at both the RCA and V&A, and a dedicated
programme library at the V&A. Students on the
programme also have direct access to the National Art
Library and facilitated access to V&A collections.
Research (MPhil/PhD)
Research students have use of a set of workspaces
in the School including a student common room.
Funding support and facilities are made available for
research students to organise public-facing events
and scholarly exchange.
Facilities
MA History of Design: Seminar, Photograph by Richard Haughton
Students across the School have a dedicated work
space within their programme, as well as a newly
equipped shared School workspace for both research
and MA students. They can also make use of the
cross-College resources such as the Drawing Studio
and digital facilities in Kensington, and the Moving
Image Studio on the Battersea campus. Our students
make use of the library facilities at the RCA, the
National Art Library at V&A and the multitude of
specialist libraries and archives across London and
the UK.
National and international study visits are
organised each year to introduce students to
important art spaces, collections and archives
abroad. The School also provides opportunities for
students to meet and work with students from other
MA programmes and related research degrees within
the College, London and internationally.
All students in the School are expected to
present their work to their peers and tutors in regular
work-in-progress seminars, and to participate in RCA
end-of-year exhibitions. Students are encouraged
and supported to publish their work, and the School
regularly hosts conferences and events at which they
can present their work to a wider, external audience.
MA and research students are also supported by a
programme of professional development, throughout
their period of study.
School
[email protected]
For more information about the
School please visit
rca.ac.uk/school-of-humanities
Admissions
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore
London SW7 2EU
[email protected]
+44 (0)20 7590 4444
rca.ac.uk
Facilities: Humanities Seminar, Photograph by Richard Haughton
Critical & Historical Studies
Critical Writing in Art & Design
Curating Contemporary Art
V&A/RCA History of Design