Artistic Research

The Hons, MAFA and PhD programmes work through, and experiment with, different models of artistic research, and we work from the positionality that practice is at the centre of the research process. Throughout the year, the programmes invite a range of creatives who are critical thinkers to run seminars, workshops and talks that will help students think through what it means to do ‘creative research’ or to research creatively: what does it mean to make a body of creative work as part of a focused research and assessment process, and what does it mean to have a studio as part of a discursive environment?

Student-led sessions and peer reading-groups focus on the needs of particular postgrad groups. These sessions are mostly voluntary but are aimed to help you think critically and support you formulating your critical research question, which underpins your practice and your dissertation/thesis. Each student is allocated a supervisor(s) and, with the guidance of a supervisor(s), formulates an unique articulation of their practice and research. Here your independently-directed research, engagement with your peers and practitioners in the field, as well as writing and reading groups, are essential to formulating this position. You are expected to attend exhibitions within the School and the city, and keep abreast of developments in contemporary South African art, but also internationally. As this is a practice-led degree, open studios for Hons, MAFA and PhD students are an opportunity for fellow students and staff to view your ongoing practice/ideas and to critically engage and give feedback on your work. These are invaluable sessions and students are expected to participate in at least one per semester, with all new students presenting their research ideas within the first 3 months of registration.

We hope that this journey with us will be a personally and professionally rewarding one among staff and peers.

Please read this Postgraduate Handbook in conjunction with the Faculty of Humanities ‘Application to Graduation’ Document that is available on the PG Ulwazi modules.

3. Course Structure

3.1 Bachelor of Arts Honours in the field of Fine Art

The Bachelor of Arts Honours in the field of Fine Art is a one year fulltime or two years part-time degree.

Programme Code: AHA00 / Plan Code: AFAFIN40

NQF Level exit: 8 / NQF Credits: 122

The BA Hons in the field of Fine Art is made up of the following courses:

• Professional Practice in Fine Arts (FINA 4018A) (first semester)

• Critical Theories and Visual Cultures (FINA4019A)

(first semester)

• Fine Arts IVA (FINA 4020A) (first semester)

• Fine Arts IVB (FINA 4021A) (second semester)

• Research Project (FINA4022A) (full year)

Critical Theories and Visual Cultures (FINA 4019A)

Semester: One and Two

Prerequisites: HART3005A, HART3006A, HART3007A, HART3008A

Aim

In Critical Theories & Visual Cultures (CTVC), 4th Year and Honours students are encouraged to engage with shifting temporal, sociopolitical and geographic drifts, tributaries and movements within expressive cultures, with a focus on South Africa, Africa and the African diaspora. The course is geared towards honing and deepening critical analytical, theoretical and reading skills; and these as oriented towards both the textual as well as a more expanded field of theoretical practice (as haptic and affective). Course participants are asked to think of theory and practice as entangled and mutually informing operations, as opposed to discrete intellectual/aesthetic pursuits.

In this course we collectively address and work through key questions of representation, exploring the possibilities of creative art practices from sites of rupture, disobedience, community, care and imagination. The course is divided into two separate but entangled courses: one in the 1st Quarter titled Disobedient Histories, Fugitive Aesthetics, and the other in the 2nd Quarter titled A Different kind of InhabitanceViolence, its aftermaths & the (im)possibilities of representation.

Students coming into the BA Hons in the field of Fine Art degree degree will have completed a three-year Fine Arts or equivalent programme at another institution or will have the necessary professional experience to be considered for admission through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

Working with the notion of ‘fugitive disobedience’, the first quarter course and reading material follows a range of black feminist, queer, ethical, decolonial, and ecological ‘turns’ within critical art theory, and the seismic and ongoing effects of these movements on the field of aesthetics. Lectures, seminars and assignments encourage course participants to think through, play with, and apply to art practice a range of interrelated theoretical frameworks.

The second quarter course sits in close relation to the material covered in the first quarter, addressing notions of representation from points of paradox and rupture. The focus here is on the aftermaths, afterworkings and ‘impossibilities’ of representing violence and trauma. How do we think about and work with the limits of representation, which is to say the ways in which language (in its various modalities) falters and ‘fails’ in its capacity to represent and make shareable experiences of violence, trauma and pain? Central to the course is the question of what artmaking practices (in the most capacious sense) can afford us, open-up and enable, in relation to lived experiences of difficulty, even impossibility.

CTVC provides an important entry point for those who wish to continue to the Masters programme. The standard expected of this course is equivalent to any 4th year of academic study. Participants will already have completed the FVPA course in First Year and subsequently two years of History of Art. CTVC builds on previous courses in Art History as well as research and reading undertaken during studio-based courses, deepening understanding of art theory, history and practice.

CTVC is a reading intensive course and requires independent studentdriven research. The course includes lectures, guest presentations, set readings, reading presentations and creative/written assignments. Details are available in the course outline, and both quarter courses have dedicated readers which provide a useful resource for the 2nd Semester Research Project.

Assessment

CTVC is subject to a cumulative assessment throughout the semester, and is weighted as follows:

Quarter 1: 2 x formative assessments (20%), 1 x summative assessment (40%)

Outcomes

• develop analytical skills (visual and textual)

• develop capacity to structure an argument/analysis

• develop close-reading and comprehension skills

• develop research capacity and language skills (oral and written)

• develop skills to situate arguments/analysis within a relevant theoretical framework(s)

• encourage integration of studio practice(s) and formal academic work

• deepen knowledge of local, African, African diasporic and international art practices and theory

Format

Weekly Lectures (online)

Guest Lectures (online)

Weekly Set Readings

Reading Seminars (on campus / venue: Room 322 & UC7)

Assignments: written & creative

Professional Practice (FINA 4018A)

Quarter 2: 1 x summative assessment (40%)

This course looks to further equip professionals with necessary skills for the visual arts industries, as well as providing academic support for those professionals who are upgrading their professional degree status through postgraduate study. As such, the course introduces students to relevant visual culture theories and aims to share knowledge on basic application writing, as well as writing funding proposals, residency and portfolio requirements for the creative arts sector. As many students who are part of this course are already professionals, peer knowledge sharing is considered an invaluable resource during these classes. The course will also look at the particularities of different types of art writing, from art history and art criticism so as to develop a critical dialogue around notions of ‘aesthetics’. The course actively offers support towards postgraduate writing and thinking.