Open day: Monday, June 27, 2016, 2–4pm
Royal College of Art
Kensington Gore
London
SW7 2EU
The CCA Master of Arts programme at the RCA is committed to practice-based collaborative learning and research-led teaching. To enable students to gain direct knowledge and experience of working collaboratively with artists and public arts organisations, CCA has forged important new partnerships with Gasworks and Delfina Foundation—two of London’s most significant arts spaces addressing the contemporary and the international.
Aaron Cezar, Founding Director of Delfina Foundation has commented: “This new partnership offers a unique opportunity to involve the next generation of curators in the artistic research and exchange taking place at Delfina Foundation, and to consider their emerging practice within relevant global discourse. We look forward to their contribution to exploring new ideas and salient themes with the exceptional UK and international artists and curators we have in residence here, and to being part of this new learning initiative within the Curating Contemporary Art Programme.”
These partnerships expand the range of graduate project opportunities available to MA students. They include collection-based curating, public sphere art commissions, artist residency programmes, gallery-based curatorial projects, online projects, and discursive and performance/event based programming. Each offer presents the opportunity to explore curatorial innovation in the context of creative and responsible practice. As Alessio Antoniolli, Director of Gasworks & Triangle Network also notes: “We’re excited by how this partnership between Gasworks and the RCA can support the professional development of both early career curators and our international artists-in-residence by enabling them to work together to organise activities, initiate discussions and create opportunities in an important local, national and international context.”
Featured in Art&Education’s influential School Watch, the new MA curriculum and project partnerships build on the programme’s history of practice- and research-based partnerships including those with Tate, London; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA); Bétonsalon, Paris; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Wysing Arts, Cambridge, UK; and Whitechapel Gallery, ACME studios, Showroom and the Austrian Cultural Forum in London.
Since CCA was founded in 1992, 308 MA and seven PhD students from over 40 different countries have graduated from the programme. The international nature of the student body highlights the exceptionally diverse and rich opportunities the course continues to offer through peer-led learning, knowledge-exchange and collaborative group project work. This year’s student experience has been informed and enhanced through the input of over 30 visiting lecturers including curators Lizzie Carey-Thomas, Anna Colin, Alice Creischer & Andreas Siekmann, Catherine David, Brian Dillon, Anselm Franke, Paul Goodwin, Nataša Ilić, Tobi Maier, Courtney J Martin, Susan May, and Irit Rogoff.
The value of public-facing, project-based learning is clearly reflected in the high employment rates of graduates and recent student successes, including: CCA alumni being selected within two years of graduation for the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Young Curators Residency Programme (2015); the Neon Curatorial Award (2015); along with the highly significant award of UK Tier 1 Exceptional Talent or Promise visas to two recent graduates (2015/16). The latter recognises students with the potential to become world leaders in their field.
Professor Victoria Walsh, Head of CCA added: “The dual ethos of collaboration and partnership can be seen throughout CCA’s history. These new relationships are a direct response to the need to develop innovative modes of curating in new settings, and are an important and exciting development for CCA and its students. The energy and openness of the conversations we have held with both Delfina and Gasworks confirm our mutual shared interest in exploring alternative curatorial models of working with both artists and audiences.”
The accolades accruing to our graduates and students, the level of influential visiting curators—all reflect the RCA’s world-leading status; the College has been named for the second year running as the number one university of Art and Design in the 2016 QS World University Subject Rankings, beating Yale, Parsons, MIT, etc. to the top spot. The Rankings assess the best international universities based on academic and employer reputation.
For further information about CCA, details on how to apply to the Programme for MA and research degrees, or to register for the next Open day, please click here.
With a student body of 1,500, the Royal College of Art has over 450 academic staff and some 800 visiting academics, practitioners and theorists. It attracts students from 65 countries, and its graduates go on to international careers in the arts and design, as well curating, criticism, arts leadership and academia.
