Visual Culture
The BA in Visual Culture offers a unique opportunity to study the history and theory of modern and contemporary art and design practices in the setting of a leading art and design college. Visual Culture embraces not only the output of celebrated artists and designers but also forms of anonymous design and popular culture in the modern world. The programme provides the tools for a deep analysis of the hold that images and things have on life today, as well as in earlier eras.
The programme has been designed for students who aspire to careers in the many professional sectors allied to the arts and to design, including arts management, publishing and the media, and museum and gallery curation. The programme is suitable for anyone with a broad interest in history, culture, and society. You do not need to have prior knowledge of the subject before starting. Study on the programme takes the form of lectures, seminars, one-to-one tutorials and small group workshops exploring current issues. Students have opportunities to select from a range of modules in specialist areas like fashion history and theory or film studies.
Taught by some of Ireland’s leading art and design critics and historians, the programme offers a strong connection to Dublin’s thriving art and design scenes, as well as the city’s museums and galleries. There will also be opportunities to work with studio-based NCAD students: this engagement may take the form of critical/professional writing and publication projects, exhibition curation and event programming. Like all programmes at NCAD, we place a strong emphasis on professional practice and offer opportunities to undertake work placements. You will be educated to become a visually literate thinker, an expressive and articulate writer, and a skilled researcher. These are valuable skills that can be employed in many professional contexts in the arts and further afield. A portfolio submission is not required; places are allocated through the CAO on a competitive basis to students with Leaving Certificate or FETAC qualifications.
What will I study?
This degree uses theoretical and historical approaches to Visual Culture to help understand the place of art and design in the world today. This includes examination of not only the production of art and design but also their representation in the media, film and in the gallery and their effects on our lives.
How will I study?
Taught by some of Ireland’s leading art and design critics and historians, the programme combines lectures, seminars (small group classes), workshops and one-to-one tutorials, and is designed to encourage high-level writing, research and presentation skills. Students also undertake optional study visits in Ireland and Europe, and a work placement in their final year. The programme draws upon a network of supporting institutions including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Ireland, the Irish Film Institute, the Science Gallery, the National Gallery of Ireland, as well as many other dynamic arts organisations in Dublin.
We also turn to the expertise of the skilled artists, designers and technicians who work at NCAD to understand how and why images and objects take the form that they do. Some classes are shared with studio based students who are developing practices as artists and designers. As your degree progresses, you will have increasing choice to select the subjects that you research and write about with a choice of classes in specialist areas like fashion history, sound and music, film and gender studies. We will support you to develop skills as a writer, researcher and thinker whether you chose to work on subjects closely connected to Irish culture today, or international and historical themes.
Year 1
Introduction to Key Concepts in Art & Design; Histories of Visual & Material Culture; Introduction to Techniques, Materials and Practices of Making; Technologies of Visual Culture; Professional Practice - Mediation (with a focus on the dissemination of Visual Culture); Situations (Visual Culture in Dublin today).
Year 2
Professional Practice - Institutions (focusing on institutions like galleries, archives and museums); Histories of Art & Design II (a course on the history of modernism); Professional Practice - exhibition-making; Understanding Digital Culture; specialist ‘electives’ on a wide range of themes from fashion history to systems art.
Visual Culture+/Erasmus & BA Visual Culture (International)
Visual Culture+ is an optional year of study between the 2nd and final year. Students can choose from a range of study or placement options located either in NCAD, or in cultural organisations and community projects on its doorstep. You can choose to spend a semester (or two) fully immersed in one of the studio disciplines at NCAD, or to undertake a work placement in a cultural organisation in Dublin (or both). Visual Culture+ can also include a work placement abroad or a study abroad period through the Erasmus programme with internationally recognised institutions partnered with NCAD. Students who choose Visual Culture+ will complete a 4 year BA in Visual Culture or a 4 year BA Visual Culture (International).
Final Year
Professional Practice – Placement; Collaborative Practices; Economies of Visual Culture; Research Practices (a major student-led research project); specialist ‘electives’ on a wide range of themes from fashion history to systems art.
How will I be assessed?
Assessed coursework may include essays, presentations, curatorial and event-based projects, and forms of self-publishing.
Opportunities after graduation?
With the breadth and depth of understanding and experience offered by the degree, Visual Culture graduates have a wide range of local and international opportunities open to them. They include arts administration (in contemporary and heritage contexts); publishing, journalism, and critical writing; work in museums and private galleries; or art and design historical research and lecturing. Graduates are equipped to progress to further study at postgraduate level to further refine their creative and critical abilities. The School of Visual Culture also offers highly regarded masters programmes, MA Art in the Contemporary World and MA Design History and Material Culture, as well as PhD level study.
Many of our graduates have progressed to further study at postgraduate level to refine their creative and critical abilities. The School of Visual Culture offers a range of highly regarded masters programmes, including the MA Art in the Contemporary World and the MA Design History and Material Culture, as well as PhD level study in Visual Culture.
Student & Graduate Stories
Mia Shirreffs, BA in Visual Culture 2016
Why did you decide to study at National College of Art & Design?
I had heard how unique a college NCAD is, and it’s city centre-based, which was where I wanted to be at the time. When I heard about the variety of subjects covered by the Visual Culture course – art history, curation, publishing, media, digital culture, design, fashion and architectural history – I thought it would be an opportunity to explore different areas of art in order to figure out which vocation to focus on.
Jane Gleeson, BA in Visual Culture 2016
Why did you decide to study at National College of Art & Design?
I completed a portfolio preparation course for entry to art college, but because my interest wasn’t in the physical creation of art, I was considering a CAO offer to study Journalism with French. However, I spotted an announcement about a new course at NCAD that seemed even more suitable: as Visual Culture was theoretical rather than practical, it allowed me to pursue my academic interests in the field of contemporary art and design.