“Why do I do this and you do that?”
MA Fine Art
MA Fine Art is an opportunity to look at the familiar with a fresh, perhaps oblique perspective in order to explore how “detour” permits “access” (Jullien 2004) to more subtle yet more complex interpretations. What constitutes a meaningful and useful research methodology in one culture may be considered unknown, unnecessary or redundant in another.
These differences are at the very fabric of the Fine Art course; establishing deliberate cross-cultural dialogues with students from International and UK backgrounds and providing a vehicle for highlighting differences in working practices and methodologies.
Course Duration
1 year full-time (45 weeks)
2 years part-time (90 weeks)
Course Leader
Simón Granell – Course Leader
MA (painting), BA (Hons) 1st Class (painting)
Simón Granell studied Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art and The Slade School of Art, London. He is currently MA Fine Art Course Leader at the Arts University Bournemouth. Curatorial projects include Underground (2007) with Roger Ackling and Eric Butcher; a site-specific collaboration in the labyrinth of basement rooms at Shoreditch Town Hall, London, A Machine Aesthetic (2013-2014) at Gallery North, etc.
Course Philosophy
Recognising the individual and their aspirations, and celebrating ideas and risk-taking, our approach and experience of encouraging interdisciplinary and collaborative activity lie with the provision of a meaningful journey for our students beyond the obvious.
They meet the fresh, often unpredictable and certainly challenging possibilities that are offered as they test, develop, progress, interrogate, ‘make’ and confidently reflect on their practice.
Our guiding principle is to offer distinctive and exciting opportunities for students to engage in their respective subject discipline in order to redefine their particular individual approach to their practice and position it within their chosen external creative economic and cultural environment.
Crucial to the course is that each student demonstrates a passion for their practice within their chosen medium and subject discipline.
MA Fine Art gives you the chance to explore how “detour” permits “access”, as Françios Jullien said in 2004. What constitutes a meaningful and useful research methodology in one culture may be considered unknown, unnecessary or redundant in another. These differences are the very fabric of the Fine Art course, which establishes deliberate cross-cultural dialogues with students from international and UK backgrounds, and provides a vehicle for highlighting differences in working practices and methodologies.
As an international student, you are not here simply to gain a UK education at Master’s level but to lend your voice, practice and ideas to an environment that celebrates the cross-pollination of countries and cultures in the discourse and creation of work. You’ll work alongside fellow international and UK students in a way that is essential to the course’s delivery and structure.
As a UK student, this is an opportunity to test your practice within a broader European or non-Western context, that is dependent on the composition of the cluster of students selected. You’ll reflect upon the determinants that inform your practice amongst the broadest student voice available. You’ll explore what it means to adopt particular working strategies and methods, and the contexts that inform these. These might be self-imposed, institutional, or cultural.
By taking advantage of the diversity of the course’s cohort, you’ll be able to explore the cultural and educational differences delivered through practice, discourse, workshops, faculty and collaborations with a range of MA courses across the University and Architecture. Our course not only acknowledges the contribution of international students but also puts centre stage the dialogue that is created with UK students on the course.
