BA Art and History of Art

Title:

Art Studio

Code:

FA1ART

Convenor:

MISS Wendy McLean

Summary:

This is a studio-based Art module designed to introduce key methods and approaches towards the development of a self-directed and informed studio practice

Assessment Method:

Project 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Modernisms & Mythologies

Code:

FA1MM

Convenor:

DR Jenny Chamarette

Summary:

This module will provide a broad, introductory survey of key developments in the history, theory and criticism of art during the modern period. Its starting point will be theories of the development of modernity and its social, political and economic components, and the ways in which modern art functions in and on its historical contexts. It will continue to look at the retrospective modernist critical and theoretical accounts of modern art's development.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Drawing skills

Code:

FA1DS

Convenor:

DR Florian Roithmayr

Summary:

In this module you will develop your drawing skills in a series of focused practical sessions, drawing from various subjects, including life drawing, still life, spatial and architectural/landscape contexts. Through the module you will develop your skill-set in terms of foundational techniques such as line, tone, scale; you will also develop applied drawing skills including planning, scaling and gridding up; and develop an understanding of the relationship of the whole subject to detail and internal form. Practical teaching will support a focus on drawing as a way to record, document and communicate observations, as well as a way to explore, realise and communicate ideas and imagination. 

Assessment Method:

Project 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Expanded Drawing

Code:

FA1ED

Convenor:

PROF John Russell

Summary:

In this module you will develop your drawing skills in a series of practical sessions focused on ‘expanded’ or experimental drawing techniques. This will include working from still and moving subjects including life drawing, animals, still life, spatial and architectural/landscape contexts but also exploring other approaches to drawing such as sculptural, performance and conceptual-based strategies, digital drawing, dry point and mono-print drawing techniques and the inter-section of drawing and painting.  Through the module you will develop your skill set in terms of foundational skills such as line, tone, scale but you will also develop an understanding of the varied contemporary and historical contexts, uses, ideas and techniques of expanded drawing.  

Assessment Method:

Project 90%, Report 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

English for Arts and Communication Design

Code:

FA1EN

Convenor:

MS Emily Salvesen

Summary:

This module is for international students whose first language is not English with IELTS (or equivalent) below 7.0. The module recognises the need to continue language development for students whose first language is not English, and to develop their academic skills in a UK Arts and Communication Design context.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 50%, Oral 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Postmodernisms & Other Fictions

Code:

FA1PF

Convenor:

DR Galia Kollectiv

Summary:

This module will provide a broad, introductory survey of key developments in the history, theory and criticism of art during the postmodern period (c. 1960s on). Its starting point will be theories of the development of postmodernity and its social, political, and economic components, and the ways in which modern, postmodern and contemporary art functions in and on its historical contexts.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Management

Code:

AP1SB1

Convenor:

PROF Julian Park

Summary:

This module provides a contemporary and comprehensive introduction to management science and its relevance to businesses. Interactive in-class activities and the use of online apps will help you learn techniques for inspiring teamwork in an organisation context, discover the importance of strategic management design for achieving an organisation's goals, and understand the roles of the manager and the responsibilities this carries. You will also have a range of opportunities to gain hands-on practising decision making through case studies. Furthermore, develop your leadership skills to motivate and guide a team towards the achievement of an organisation’s objectives.  

Assessment Method:

Class test 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Roman History: the rise and fall of the Republic

Code:

CL1RH

Convenor:

DR Andreas Gavrielatos

Summary:

This module investigates the mid- and late Republican history of Rome (2nd century BC to late first century BC), a period marked by profound socio-political changes which ultimately led to the crisis of the Republican institutions. It introduces students to the main types of evidence for ancient history and to modern methodological approaches.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 50%, Class test 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Ancient Song

Code:

CL1SO

Convenor:

PROF Ian Rutherford

Summary:

This module introduces students to the lyric poetry of ancient Greece and Rome, studying authors from both civilisations and considering a range of thematic approaches to the surviving corpus of poetry. It is intended to be suitable for beginners and for those who have studied some ancient literature before; there is no language requirement, but there will be an opportunity for students who do have relevant skills to employ them in their coursework and exams.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Texts, Readers, and Writers

Code:

CL1TR

Convenor:

PROF Eleanor Dickey

Summary:

This module explores the history of texts, reading, and writing in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. We shall look at literature, papyri, inscriptions, letters, Linear B, etc. Attention will also be given to the invention of the alphabet and to ancient writing materials and technologies. No knowledge of Latin, ancient Greek, or the ancient world more generally is required.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Oral 50%, Set exercise 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Economics of Climate Change

Code:

EC110

Convenor:

DR Stefania Lovo

Summary:

The module will offer an economic perspective on the causes and consequences of climate change. It will provide an introduction to key theoretical concepts, such as externalities and public goods, and to the policy tools available to devise adequate responses to climate change, such as command and control measures, taxation and subsidies. The module will also introduce national and international policy approaches in dealing with climate change and provide an overview of their implications for economic development.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Class test 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Approaches to Film

Code:

FT1ATF

Convenor:

DR Adam O'Brien

Summary:

How do films tell stories, make meanings, and contribute to our culture? What questions can, and should, we ask of a film?

This module includes a mix of cinema screenings, seminars and lectures, exploring a range of fiction and non-fiction films. Class discussions and assignments will challenge you to explore the meanings and cultural significance of moving images, across the 20th and 21st centuries.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Analysing Theatre and Performance

Code:

FT1ATP

Convenor:

DR Matt McFrederick

Summary:

How do theatrical stories allow us to examine and reimagine our impression of the world today?  What practical qualities do theatre makers return to - or reinvent - in creating meaning in performance?

In this introduction to theatre and performance, you will share your interpretations and expand the ways you see and think about theatre in relation to the world today. You will learn how to be a confident spectator and reader of theatre through a range of diverse and topical performances in local or in London-based venues - previous trips have included the National Theatre, RSC Live, Peking Opera, the West End and smaller, innovative fringe venues.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 70%, Oral 30%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Approaches to Television

Code:

FT1ATT

Convenor:

DR Faye Woods

Summary:

In an era of intensified competition for audiences and technological innovation, the box in the corner has expanded to include a vast universe of televisual content that can be slipped into your pocket. In this module you will learn the tools to both analyse this wealth of programming and the industry that produces it. Considering contemporary developments alongside the extensive history of the form, it examines continuities rather than disruption. Centred on close analysis and critical reading, you will explore a range of exciting viewpoints and frameworks through which to approach television.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Comedy on Stage and Screen

Code:

FT1CSS

Convenor:

DR Simone Knox

Summary:

This module gives you the opportunity to study comedy on stage and screen, encompassing film, television, theatre and stand-up comedy. You will engage with the relevant critical vocabulary and contextual knowledge to explore how humour is created, consumed and debated, across a range of genres and practices. Case studies may include classic and contemporary film comedies (e.g. screwball comedy, black comedy); musical comedies (e.g. The Book of Mormon); stand-up comedy (e.g. Ali Wong, Hannah Gadsby); sitcoms (e.g. Friends); or the work of specific creative practitioners (e.g. Joe Orton). 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 60%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Intercultural Competence and Communication

Code:

IL1GICC

Convenor:

MS Joan McCormack

Summary:

In this module students develop skills and understanding needed for working in the multi-cultural global workplace. In the Autumn term it will consider intercultural competence and communication from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including psychology, education, inclusivity, business, language and discourse. In the Spring term students will apply their knowledge to define and explain a defined a real-world issue.

The module will be delivered at the University of Reading Whiteknights campus

Assessment Method:

Oral 10%, Portfolio 30%, Project 60%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

English Language and Society

Code:

LS1ELS

Convenor:

DR Christiana Themistocleous

Summary:

The course aims to provide a broad introduction to English Language and Society, and a basis for further in-depth study of the field in parts two and three of the degree in English Language and Linguistics.

Assessment Method:

Exam 60%, Assignment 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Globalization and Language

Code:

LS1GL

Convenor:

DR Tony Capstick

Summary:

In this module students will explore the role of language in globalization. They will examine the reasons for the spread of languages around the globe historically and in the future (especially in the context of political developments such as Brexit, and the increasing importance of World languages such as English). They will also explore debates about linguistic imperialism and the political dimensions of language use and language policies. Finally, they will explore the effects of technology and migration on the linguistic situation in Latin America, New Zealand and the Middle East, including how urban centers are becoming increasingly multilingual and ‘superdiverse’, and the political and social consequences of this. Teaching is drawn from across the School of Literature and Language.

Assessment Method:

Set exercise 10%, Project 90%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Presenting the Past

Code:

MC1PP

Convenor:

DR Rhi Smith

Summary:

Museum display environments create representations of the past through a complex process of design, curatorship, and interpretation. This module uses museological theory and practice to interrogate the way that heritage organisations present the past to the public.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Linguistics

Code:

ML1IL

Convenor:

MR Federico Faloppa

Summary:

This module aims to familiarise students with principles in general linguistics, and to give students an overall picture of what a language is, how it works, and what its main structures are, with a particular focus on French, German, Italian and Spanish. It will also provide useful meta-linguistic competence which can be applied to the study of any other language.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Oral 20%, Set exercise 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Student Enterprise

Code:

MM1F10

Convenor:

DR Lebene Soga

Summary:

This is a dynamic module introducing students to key concepts of business start-up. Students work in a team to identify and develop a new business opportunity, and then seek to test their idea through ‘lean start-up’ experiments. Students will be introduced to key concepts of entrepreneurial management including design thinking, business model creation, entrepreneurial finance and marketing. This is a highly interactive and practical module, with a focus on experiential learning.

Assessment Method:

Project 60%, Class test 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Political Ideas

Code:

PO1IPI

Convenor:

DR Andrew Reid

Summary:

An introduction to political theory, covering central topics like the state and its authority, democracy, rights and liberty, equality and social justice, and war and intervention, as well as some of the basic methods for understanding them all. 

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Global Justice

Code:

PP1GJ

Convenor:

DR Shalini Sinha

Summary:

Global traditions of philosophy  from the Buddha and Confucius to Simone Weil, Frantz Fanon, Martin Luther King Jr., and African and Native American thinkers advocate ideas of justice and freedom that extend far beyond contemporary conceptions. This course shows how these thinkers question our  ideas of justice, and  transform how we approach injustice and freedom in the  context of race and colonialism, nature and  indigenous communities, identity  and sexuality, family and polity, through radically different conceptions of freedom and violence,  love, equality and harmony.

Some of the claims we will examine include: Justice is freedom from suffering!  Revolutionary violence is cathartic and emancipatory! Political justice  requires mental training! Nature is alive and has rights! Gender and sexual freedom are gained by  dissolving bodily boundaries!  Truth lies in pleasure! Justice is  love! Social justice comes with harmonising differences! 

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Class test 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Meaning of Life

Code:

PP1ML

Convenor:

DR George Mason

Summary:

What is the meaning of life? This is perhaps the most important philosophical question we can ask. What is the answer? Indeed, what is the question really asking? In this module, we seek the answers. Along the way, we will consider a series of fascinating questions which promise to enlighten our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. What makes life worth living? Is there any reason to fear death? Could life in artificial reality be better or more fulfilling than life in the real world?

Reading:

A list of required readings will be posted online. All or nearly all core readings are available electronically.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Class test 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Reason and Argument

Code:

PP1RA

Convenor:

DR Jumbly Grindrod

Summary:

This module enhances students’ ability to understand and construct complex arguments through the study of logic and the psychology of human reasoning. Reading: A module guide will be available. Recommended: Jamie Carlin Watson and Robert Arp, Critical Thinking: An Introduction to Reasoning Well, 2nd edition, Bloomsbury, 2015.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Class test 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Radical Philosophy

Code:

PP1RP

Convenor:

PROF Maximilian De Gaynesford

Summary:

From Plato and Marx to contemporaries like Judith Butler, Slavoj Zizek, and Catharine MacKinnon, there is a long tradition of radicalism in philosophy. This course is about how radical philosophy can usefully question our deepest assumptions and challenge our deepest beliefs. Poets should be outlawed from our society! We can secure knowledge by doubting everything! Capitalism will be destroyed by the very forces it creates! Gender is a social performance! Pornography silences women! Torture is permissible in extreme circumstances, e.g. post 9/11! These are some of the claims this course investigates philosophically.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Class test 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Introduction to Psychology

Code:

PY1IPY

Convenor:

DR Katie Barfoot

Summary:

This module is delivered at the University of Reading, for students who are interested in but not studying Psychology.  

Assessment Method:

Exam 60%, Report 40%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

History of Graphic Communication

Code:

TY1HGC

Convenor:

DR Rob Banham

Summary:

The module provides students with an introduction to the history of graphic communication over the past 150 years, and the changing role of the graphic designer during that time. We will study the key design movements of the 20th century and the work of some of its most influential graphic designers and typographers.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 50%, Oral 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What the font? Making and using typefaces

Code:

TY1WTF

Convenor:

DR Rob Banham

Summary:

You are surrounded by fonts. Social media, text messages, email, branding, advertising, websites, books, magazines … Human (and machine) communication relies extensively on fonts, but what do you really know about them? How and why are new fonts created? And is it ever OK to use comic sans?! This module will introduce you to the world of typeface design, exploring the history, theory, and practice of making and using fonts and giving you the opportunity to design a typeface of your own. No background in design is required.

Assessment Method:

Set exercise 50%, Project 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

International Study

Code:

FA2IS

Convenor:

PROF Alun Rowlands

Summary:

This module involves a week long supervised study trip to a major European art centre (there is also 1 lecture in Week 2 of the Autumn term). Students see and experience contemporary art at first hand and also benefit from the knowledge and expertise of accompanying academic staff. Recent centres have included Berlin, Madrid, Vienna, Cologne, Paris and Venice.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Part 2I Studio

Code:

FA2IS2

Convenor:

MR Angus Wyatt

Summary:

This is an Art studio module that is supported by tutorials, group critiques, material sessions, weekly seminars, exhibitions, and a program of visiting artist talks. There is also an option to take a study abroad module or take up a work placement in the Autumn term. The aim of the module is to support and challenge students in their development of an independent, creative and critically informed art practice. The module encourages students to identify and investigate particular (individual) interests and concerns through practical engagement in the studio and workshop areas. Students are further supported in the development of research skills relevant to both the development of an art practice and an understanding of its relationship to the broad field of contemporary art. Through the visiting artist program and placement schemes, students are encouraged to enhance their knowledge of career opportunities and reflect upon skills required to make effective applications.

Assessment Method:

Practical 33%, Portfolio 33%, Report 34%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Part 2 Studio including Career Management Skills

Code:

FA2S2

Convenor:

PROF Rachel Garfield

Summary:

This is a studio-based module where students are supported and guided in the development of an individual art practice. Studio tutors are available from Monday to Friday and they encourage students to be experimental, creative and

to become knowledgeable about contemporary art and culture. Material sessions where students can learn new skill in a range of media from painting to digital are available in the Autumn and Spring term. Weekly lectures by visiting artist give insight into diversity in the art world and the different ways artists make and practice today. Through staging exhibitions students learn about group working and this is further advanced through a program of group tutorials. During the module students learn appropriate methods of documenting and writing about their work. Through making, documenting and writing students learn what materials and ideas matter to them and how their concerns are informed by and relate to relevant contemporary art practices. The university careers team and alumni visit the department in the Autumn and Spring term to give practical and creative advice on the range of careers open to arts graduates.

Assessment Method:

Project 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Visual Thinking and Material Writing

Code:

FA2IMW

Convenor:

PROF Alun Rowlands

Summary:

This is a seminar based module designed to develop writing skills and the awareness of the scope of writing within art and art history. It will focus on the range of writing that constitutes the current discourses in art. The module will look at writings from Art Historical and critical theory approaches to genre in order to expand the student's expectations of what approaches are acceptable and useful within writing about art and art writing. Each week the group will look at different models of art writing in order to think through and begin to find a position on the appropriate forms for different contexts.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Philosophies and Theories of Art

Code:

FA2IPA

Convenor:

DR James Hellings

Summary:

This module explores a range of philosophical and political ideas and tracks their impact on the histories and discourses of art. Over the course of 10 lectures students will be introduced to a range of historical and contemporary expositions and their use in Art, art criticism and theory. The module will develop through a combination of lectures, seminar discussion, exhibition visits, screenings and a written assignment.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

International Study 2

Code:

FA2IS3

Convenor:

PROF Alun Rowlands

Summary:

This module involves a week long supervised study trip to a major European art centre (there is also 1 lecture in Week 2 of the Autumn term). Students see and experience contemporary art at first hand and also benefit from the knowledge and expertise of accompanying academic staff. Recent centres have included Berlin, Madrid, Vienna, Cologne, Paris and Venice.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Independent study with Work Placement

Code:

FA2ISP

Convenor:

DR Kate Allen

Summary:

Students undertake an intensive investigation into an organisation, museum, gallery, studio complex, selected in consultation with a supervisor. Students will develop and present a portfolio consisting of elements such as an annotated list of sources; a critical bibliography including an analysis of a selected number of key sources; an exhibition and reproduction history, including illustrations; a visual analysis; a short discursive text accounting for the significance of their chosen investigation.  It may also be an exhibition or key texts in the field.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What is the Contemporary? 3

Code:

FA2IWC3

Convenor:

MISS Julia Crabtree

Summary:

This module provides a rigorous critical forum where students consider their own artistic concerns in relation to the experiences of visiting speakers. Module content will centre on Contemporary Art's debates and trajectories as well as diverse models of practice through presentations by visiting artists, theorists, writers, curators, and others involved in visual culture. Students will critically analyse the artist presentations through seminar discussion, course reading, art historical research and written response.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What is the Contemporary? 4

Code:

FA2IWC4

Convenor:

MISS Julia Crabtree

Summary:

This module provides a rigorous critical forum where students consider their own artistic concerns in relation to the experiences of visiting speakers. Module content will centre on Contemporary Art's debates and trajectories as well as diverse models of practice through presentations by visiting artists, theorists, writers, curators, and others involved in visual culture. Students will critically analyse the artist presentations through seminar discussion, course reading, art historical research and written response.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Visual Thinking and Material Writing

Code:

FA2MW

Convenor:

PROF Alun Rowlands

Summary:

This is a seminar based module designed to develop writing skills and the awareness of the scope of writing within art and art history. It will focus on the range of writing that constitutes the current discourses in art. The module will look at writings from Art Historical and critical theory approaches to genre in order to expand the student's expectations of what approaches are acceptable and useful within writing about art and art writing. Each week the group will look at different models of art writing in order to think through and begin to find a position on the appropriate forms for different contexts.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Philosophies and Theories of Art

Code:

FA2PA

Convenor:

DR James Hellings

Summary:

This module explores a range of philosophical and political ideas and tracks their impact on the histories and discourses of art. Over the course of 10 lectures students will be introduced to a range of historical and contemporary expositions and their use in Art, art criticism and theory. The module will develop through a combination of lectures, seminar discussion, exhibition visits, screenings and a written assignment.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Study Abroad

Code:

FA2SSA

Convenor:

MISS Julia Crabtree

Summary:

Module code to indicate that a student has undertaken a period of Study Abroad at a partner institution as part of their single or joint honours Art degree.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What is the Contemporary? 1

Code:

FA2WC1

Convenor:

PROF John Russell

Summary:

This module provides a rigorous critical forum where students consider their own artistic concerns in relation to the experiences of visiting speakers. Module content will centre on Contemporary Art's debates and trajectories as well as diverse models of practice through presentations by visiting artists, theorists, writers, curators, and others involved in visual culture. Students will critically analyse the artist presentations through seminar discussion, course reading, art historical research and written response.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

What is the Contemporary? 2

Code:

FA2WC2

Convenor:

PROF John Russell

Summary:

This module provides a rigorous critical forum where students consider their own artistic concerns in relation to the experiences of visiting speakers. Module content will centre on Contemporary Art's debates and trajectories as well as diverse models of practice through presentations by visiting artists, theorists, writers, curators, and others involved in visual culture. Students will critically analyse the artist presentations through seminar discussion, course reading, art historical research and written response.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

The Colonial Experience: Africa, 1879 to 1980

Code:

HS2O10

Convenor:

DR Heike Schmidt

Summary:

This module explores the impact of colonialism in Africa, considering this impact in broad terms but with a particular focus on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and reflects on how historians can understand the colonial past without reproducing a Eurocentric point of view.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Rebel Girls: The Influence of Radical Women 1792-1919

Code:

HS2O14

Convenor:

DR Jacqui Turner

Summary:

This module considers changing perceptions of women in Britain from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century, and examines the influence of those women who challenged social stereotypes and the Victorian double standard.

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

‘The brightest jewel in the British crown’: The Making of Modern South Asia, 1757-1947

Code:

HS2O16

Convenor:

DR Rohan Deb Roy

Summary:

This module introduces students to the history of modern South Asia. Students learn how British colonial rule and anti-colonial Indian nationalism shaped modern South Asia.  

Assessment Method:

Exam 50%, Assignment 50%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Society, Thought and Art in Modern Europe

Code:

HS2STA

Convenor:

DR Veronica Heath

Summary:

This module aims to provide students with a systematic historical and cross-national understanding of the key ideas, institutions and symbols that have come to constitute and represent modernity in Europe and, at the same time, new conceptions of Europe. This module examines the birth of modern men and women in Europe in the late eighteenth century and the broad intellectual, cultural, economic, political and social conditions which have been shaping and re-shaping them since. The module further shows a) the contributions of different European nations to a common European reaction to and re-evaluation of tradition and modernity; and b) the diffusion of modernity (Westernisation) from Europe to Asia and Africa and its role in the creation of a global world. Finally, it shows how art has played a leading role in the transformations of modernity; not only recording it but also constituting one of its central components.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 80%, Class test 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Curatorship and Collections Management

Code:

MC2CCM

Convenor:

DR Rhi Smith

Summary:

A practical introduction to researching, cataloguing, interpreting and displaying museum objects. The module is based on work with objects from the University of Reading's collections. Students will choose one object from the stores, and are assessed on three assignments based on researching, labelling and displaying the object.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Museum Learning and Engagement

Code:

MC2LE

Convenor:

DR Rhi Smith

Summary:

This module critically examines the learning role of museums in society. Students are introduced to learning theory, programme and event management, while also learning about resource design, evaluation, and visitor research. During the course students will hear from museum-based learning and engagement professionals and observe and evaluate learning resources and events. Interactive lectures, seminars and museum visits encourage students to contextualise and apply learning. Work is assessed through design and planned evaluation of a learning resource, evaluation of an educational event, and an analysis of a museum's learning programme.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 90%, Oral 10%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Studio (joint honours)

Code:

FA3HS2

Convenor:

PROF Susanne Clausen

Summary:

This is an Art studio module that is supported by tutorials, group critiques, material sessions, weekly seminars, exhibitions, and a program of visiting artist talks.  The aim of the module is to support and challenge students in their development of an independent, creative and critically informed art practice. The module encourages students to consolidate and develop particular (individual) interests and concerns through practical engagement in the studio and workshop areas, to prepare them for future public exhibitions and to state their positions as artists. Students are further supported in the development of research skills relevant to both the development of an art practice and an understanding of its relationship to the broad field of contemporary art and to locate their practice both historically and theoretically. Through the visiting artist program students are encouraged to enhance their knowledge of career opportunities to enable them to plan and make effective applications for future postgraduate opportunities, employment, professional practice. 

Assessment Method:

Project 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Art and History of Art Dissertation

Code:

FA3VCD

Convenor:

DR James Hellings

Summary:

This module aims to provide the occasion for students to identify, research, and organize an extended written project. The focus of the module is on independent learning. The module also challenges students to reflect and build upon knowledge gained from lectures, seminars and studio tutorials in parts 2 and 3 of the programme.

Assessment Method:

Dissertation 100%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Greek & Roman Painting

Code:

CL3AP

Convenor:

PROF Amy Smith

Summary:

In this module students will explore the range of styles, techniques, and contexts for painting in the Greek and Roman world, whether it was used to decorate architecture or free-standing objects.

Assessment Method:

Assignment 40%, Oral 10%, Portfolio 30%, Report 20%

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.

Title:

Sexual Politics: Gender, Sex, and Feminism in Britain after 1918

Code:

HS3T100

Convenor:

DR Natalie Thomlinson

Summary:

Sexual Politics examines histories of gender, sex and sexuality, and feminism, in Britain since 1918, when the vote was first won for women (albeit only over the age of 30). A mixture of social, cultural and political history, it challenges students to ask why our understandings of these concepts have changed so much over the last 100 years.

Assessment Method:

Disclaimer:

The modules described on this page are what we currently offer. Modules may change for your year of study as we regularly review our offerings to ensure they’re informed by the latest research and teaching methods.