Fine Art and History of Art

Why study BA Fine Art & History of Art at Goldsmiths

Study the theory and practice of fine art and learn how to think about it in the wider context of art history and contemporary visual culture.

• Goldsmiths has a worldwide reputation for excellence in art and history of art. In the Guardian University Guide League Tables 2024 we are ranked in the top 10 in the UK for both.

• BA Fine Art and History of Art is a joint honours degree that is taught by specialist staff in both areas, Art and Visual Cultures. It is a highly distinctive programme that will support your individual interests and development. You'll be encouraged to think critically about your art making, seeing it in the context of shifting socio-political and cultural forces.

• You'll have your own studio space from day one and access to excellent facilities including a wide range of specialist art practice areas.

• You will explore theory and practice through various fine art media, and thematic strands within art history and visual cultures.

• You will be taught by staff who are artists, curators, academics and writers, here to help you develop your practice, focus your research, and respond to the work that you make.

• Teaching takes advantage of the many galleries, art spaces, museums, cultural facilities and specialist libraries in London, including the Goldsmiths Centre of Contemporary Art on campus.

• Visiting artists, curators, gallerists and arts professionals will provide you with advice to complement your studies and prepare you for professional life after graduation.

Please note the BA Fine Art and History of Art only accepts applications for first year entry.

The programme has two elements:

Fine Art Studio Practice (50% of the course)
History of Art (50% of the course)

In Fine Art Studio Practice, students learn through intensive, self-directed studio and workshop practice, tutorials and group crits, with a dedicated studio practice team and a programme of visiting artists, talks and speakers. Three years of intensive studio and workshop practice culminate in the final year Degree Show.

In History of Art, modules are taught through lectures, seminars and tutorials by the Visual Cultures team. Modules are chosen from a list of set and optional modules. Students may choose to take a dissertation in final year.

An interdisciplinary Link Seminar is taught across both departments. This explores the dynamic relationships between art history, theory and practice in large seminar and small workshop formats.

Year 1
Studio Practice
Students lead the curriculum in studio – we want you to explore and experiment. You will have access to specialist art practice areas where you develop your technical skills. With guidance from studio practice staff, you will start to acquire the practical and conceptual skills necessary to initiate and develop your ideas.

History of Art
You will develop an independent critical involvement with works of art and visual culture. The first-year modules enable you to examine changing conceptions of art and the artist, historically and also in terms of context, ideas, and kinds of practice.

Each of our first-year modules is taught by a team of tutors from the permanent faculty. In this way, first-year students soon get to know many of the Department’s core academic staff. You will therefore begin your second year with both rich insights from and a comprehensive overview of Department life as a whole.

All students take a compulsory art history module:
Modernities

You also choose one of the following modules:
Space and Time
Beyond Boundaries

Your first year will introduce you to history of art as a discipline and engage you in discussion of key aspects of contemporary visual culture – including not just artefacts in museums and art galleries, but also architecture, cityscape and landscape, adverts, TV and film, websites, the body, and street style.

You must pass all components to progress to the following year.

Year 2
Studio Practice
In second year, you will build on your awareness of the interaction between the history of art and theory as it relates to your studio practice. It is a period of experimentation and synthesis, expanding and deepening your practice.

History of Art
You will take the following compulsory module:
The Link

You also choose 3 option modules to the value of 45 credits. These currently include the following history of art modules:
Feminist and Queer Technoscience
Emancipating Images and Sounds
Popular Modernism
Inhabitations
Patterns of Perception
Animating Architecture

You could also choose from the following elective modules:
Acts of Surveillance
Cohabitations
Curating, Institutions, Research

Year 3
Studio Practice
Work in the third year reflects an independent, self-motivated practice and your potential to work as an artist. You will have consolidated your practical and critical skills in preparation for the final year Degree Show exhibition. The whole cohort works together to install the Degree Show.

History of Art
You will take the following compulsory module:
The Link

You also choose option modules. This can be made up of:

3 option modules (45 credits)
OR
1 option module plus the 30-credit History of Art Dissertation

Option modules currently include:
Fashion as Dream Image
After the Internet
Counter Forensics
Curating and the Curatorial
Visual Cultures as Public Practice
Occulture: From Magic and Myth-Work to Care and Repair
Utopias and Urban Revolutions

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

Studio Practice
Studio Practice coursework is continuously assessed through individual tutorials and group seminars. This is complemented by studio presentations at Year 1, viva voce at Year 2, and a final exhibition at Year 3.

History of Art
You’ll be assessed by a variety of methods, depending on your module choices. These may include coursework, group work and projects.