module specification

The Public Art Project module represents the culmination of the students’ journey on the MA Public Art and Performative Practices: it is thus designed to bring together creative, methodological, professional and academic skills developed in previous modules, applied to a context of work chosen by the student. Up until this point, projects worked on across the course will have been typically based on tutor-led briefs; in this module, the brief is now completely open for students to independently develop their creative and professional practice, according to their own interests and preferred contexts of work.

Already in modules like FA7057 Public Art: Creating and Curating, students will have been given opportunities to envision what work they may want to lead in the Public Art Project, so that this module is used as a reference point throughout the course for the students to work towards, as a stepping stone in progressing their careers as a result of the MA.

While the nature of the Project is intentionally open, this will typically consist of a range of artistic and/or curatorial outputs, activities and creative experiments, presented as one cohesive body of work, according to a chosen area of research. Through mentoring by the tutor, such outputs may be in any medium and may take place in any location chosen by the student during the Summer Term, to then be presented or documented in an exhibit as part of the Postgraduate Show in September.

The modules aims to:
• provide students with the opportunity to realise a major self-initiated and self-directed project;
• facilitate the development of professional skills and competencies in doing so;
• explore artistic, methodological and ethical questions in conjunction with the work pursued;
• encourage dialogue, exchange and experimentation in creative practice;
• develop confidence and rigour in independent creative practice and research.

Students must have completed the following modules, prior to commencement of this:

FA7057 Public Art: Creating and Curating
FA7051 Professional Focus 1: Public Art Funding and Commissioning
FA7052 Professional Focus 2: Project Managing Public Art
AND
FA7053 Critical Discourse & Analysis for Art Practice

Available for Study Abroad? NO

This module is based on independent practice. Following initial group sessions to provide key principles and methods of work, students will then be mentored through tutorial-based supervision and liaise with their tutor formative deadlines and targets in order to develop their work.

Students will work on a range of self-initiated activities, to be articulated within a cohesive project or body of work as according to the student’s own interests. These activities may include (but are not limited to):
- public art and performative experiments
- participatory activities
- artistic works in any medium (physical or digital), intended for public spaces
- curatorial activities
- written documentation and evaluation

The work may feature collaborative practice, but the student needs to clearly indicate their individual contribution to this, for assessment purposes. Students may also wish to include in their work the development of ideas explored in previous modules or in extra-curricular activities (e.g. The Big Idea Challenge or professional opportunities developed in parallel with the course), as long as these show clear connection with their chosen area of research and a clear progression since previous explorations led during the course.

Approaching the Postgraduate Show at the end of the Summer Term, students will engage as a group in the preparation of this; here, they will present/document their work in individual exhibits, which may include any medium (artefacts, performance, text, sound, video, photography) as appropriate to the student’s own work, through guidance by the tutor.

Scheduled teaching provides the guidance and foundation to ensure that independent study is effective in addressing the module’s learning outcomes and assessment tasks.

In-class activities and tutorials make use of varied student-centred approaches, so that a range of learning strategies is deployed, and individual learning styles are accommodated. Information is provided through a range of means and sources to minimise and remove barriers to successful progress through the module. The course team seeks to embed the University’s Education for Social Justice Framework in fostering learning that is enjoyable, accessible, relevant and that takes account of the social and cultural context and capital of its students.

Activities foster peer-to-peer community building and support for learning. Reflective learning is promoted through interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, receive help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including written reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-based learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal and career development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

On completion of this module, students will have gained:

A. Cognitive intellectual abilities
LO1 The ability to frame practice as research, developing intellectual and methodological rigour and cohesive thinking in doing so
A. Knowledge and understanding
LO2 An understanding of how creative/curatorial practice in public art functions in relation to broader cultural, ideological and social questions and debates
B. Transferable skills
LO3 The ability to carry out independent practice to professional standards of development, presentation and dissemination
B. Subject specific skills
LO4 Experience of leading independent creative/curatorial practice according to a chosen area of research and with an emphasis on public space, social engagement and participation
LO5 Experience in project managing independent projects, referencing established models of practice and public programming in the arts and culture

The nature of this module entails that students will engage in independent research as part of this. A selection of broader publications complements their chosen research sources, as listed here https://rl.talis.com/3/londonmet/lists/A732A7F3-799D-7617-DF18-3604ED861208.html?lang=en&login=1