Performance and Visual Practices
Introduction
The masters degree in Performance and Visual Practices at the University of Brighton is an interdisciplinary programme that facilitates practical and theoretical research across different fields of enquiry, whilst providing links to a network of local and national arts agencies and venues.
Designed to reflect a contemporary visual culture in a state of flux, the masters course is marked by a shift away from discreet disciplines and familiar dialogues towards a culture of expanded and interdisciplinary practices, such as site-specific performance, installation, screendance, sound art, and devised visual theatre.
The MA Performance and Visual Practices understands performance practices as a method for research, for making art and as a mode for sharing knowledge. This entails individual and/or collaborative processes of enquiry into the conditions, structures and dynamics of given situations or fields of knowledge. Through an interdisciplinary approach the student and researcher draws on expertise in one field to develop understanding in an other. Therefore, the performative may be rooted in particular histories and practices, such as music, dance or theatre, or be drawn from procedures of the everyday.
Performance disciplines have traditionally been a site of radical cultures and contributed to a dematerialisation of the art object, from the avant-gardes of the early 20th century to the performance practices of the 60s, 70s and beyond. In the first decade of the 21st century performance practices continue to engage with the issues of contemporary culture through institutional critique and cultural resistance.
Brighton's masters degree capitalises on this capacity of performance and visual practices to respond critically to contemporary socio-economic conditions and to engage audiences that emerge from within this context. Within a stringent economic climate and increased global multicultural scenario, the MA advances an approach to art practice that embraces change and argues for a continuous and rigorous questioning of disciplines and traditions. The programme’s claim to the radicality of performance and visual practices springs from the ability to move through practices and across boundaries and to expose the performativity inherent to constructs of power, knowledge and social relations.
The MA Performance and Visual Practices is designed to run in both full-time and part-time mode. Practice units include a lecture series titled Performance Unlimited, seminars and workshops to investigate experimental art practices, alongside other fields of research such as science, philosophy and ecology.
Students will have the opportunity to access expertise from across the Faculty of Arts through a Mentoring unit, and to exchange ideas and undertake collaborations with colleagues from across the Faculty. This is facilitated through shared seminars and lectures led by the Faculty of Arts Research Student Division and the Arts Practices & Performance Research Institute.
Key facts
UCAS code
Duration 
Full-time: 1 year
Part-time: 2 years in consultation with course leader
Typical entry requirements
individual offers may vary
Location Grand Parade
For non-native speakers of English:
IELTS 6.5 overall and 6.0 in writing.
Degree and/or experience:
Normally, an honours degree in arts-related subjects. Applicants demonstrating the equivalent skills and experience may be considered. Seasoned artists and practitioners whose fields of research might embrace science, philosophy and ecology, and who wish to re-examine their practice within a critically supported frame of reference, are encouraged to apply.
Fees
The fees listed here are for full-time courses for the upcoming academic year only. Further fees are payable for subsequent years of study.
The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, whether you study full- or part-time and whether or not you already have a higher education qualification. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take. Different rules apply to research degrees - contact the course team for up-to-date information.
Visit www.brighton.ac.uk/money for more information, including advice on international and island fee paying status, and the government's Equivalent or Lower Qualification (ELQ) policy.
Performance and Visual Practices (MA) (Full time)
UK/EU (FT) - 4,320 GBP
Island Students (FT) - 8,925 GBP
International (FT) - 12,750 GBP
Facilities
Input from leading artists from a range of disciplines ensures that students are conversant with emerging trends in contemporary Art, whilst contextual studies provide an understanding of the historical precedents from which they emerge and a critical framework for their own work.
A wealth of teaching experience developed over the department's 20 year history ensures that student understanding is facilitated through an organised and effective process of knowledge accumulation, with sufficient flexibility to suit individual needs.
The department achieved the highest rating for research in the recent RAE (2008), with sixty-five per cent of research in art and design at the Faculty of Arts classified as either 'world leading' or 'internationally excellent'. This places Brighton amongst the leading research centres in the country for art and design and Research Fortnight ranked the submission second in terms of the volume and quality of research
The teaching staff provide a broad range of professional expertise including:
- Context Specific Performance
- Sound Art, Music
- Drawing, Sculpture and Installation
- Screendance, Screen-based Practices
- Experimental Music
- Visual Narrative
- Sound Design
- Innovations in Choreography
- Improvisation, Play and the Post-modern clown
- Critical-Poetic Writing for Performance
What will I study?
The MA Performance and Visual Practices at Brighton equips students with the critical, conceptual and practical skills required to pursue careers within the arts, media, cultural and communication industries as independent visual performance practitioners, curators, film and television producers, directors , researchers, community arts practitioners, arts administrators, academics and teachers.
Students on the programme will also be offered the opportunity to consider and resolve issues of Health & Safety that may arise within professional contexts, as well as developing an awareness of the ethical concerns that may be implicit in the work of students and professional artists.
Independent modes of enquiry will be instigated by student’s experience and their individual study proposals. These projects will be supported by a historical and philosophical framework that underpins and informs interdisciplinary practice, alongside expanded approaches to research.
- Expanded Disciplines and Integral Structures
- A lecture series titled Performance Unlimited
- Mentoring units (optional)
- Theoretical Enquiry units include:
- Research and Practice Methodologies units
- Final Exhibition/ Performance
- Professional Publicity and Promotion Pack
Below are sample timetables for the full-time and part-time courses.
professional spaces
The MA Performance and Visual Practices has links with a number of local, independent venues, which offer a variety of opportunities to students such as rehearsal and installation space, professional advice and mentoring as well as performance opportunities.
The links to the wider cultural industries of Brighton and Hove are central to the course, enabling students to develop their work within a professional context and with professional support.
The network facilitates a two-way discussion between the industry and the research community which challenges existing processes, and boundaries, producing innovative relationships between different fields of practice and between artists, performers and their audiences.