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The University of Edinburgh: Contemporary Art Practice

Institution The University of Edinburgh View institution profile
Department Edinburgh College of Art
Web https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying
Study type Taught

Summary

This programme offers a constructive, critical environment for artists wishing to develop their practice.

Our students produce artworks in a range of media, using:

  • paint

  • sound

  • performance

  • photography

  • video

  • sculpture

  • digital animation

How will I learn? Teaching is primarily by one-to-one tutorials and mixed year group critiques with a year-round programme of visiting artists.

We emphasise the centrality of conversation and dialogue to developing innovative art. We also create a supportive environment to nurture risk-taking as fundamental to producing ambitious original art.

Courses examine key contemporary art developments and ways in which artists can self-organise, collaborate and curate opportunities to exhibit.

We emphasise the application of theory to practice and vice versa. You will collaborate on self-organised exhibitions at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) and at our external gallery partners. Theory courses encourage creative and academic responses to key contemporary art debates and we insist on research projects that are connected to practice.

Our graduates Graduates produce exhibitions internationally, and have been selected for major residencies, exhibitions and prizes, such as:

  • Bloomberg New Contemporaries

  • Saatchi New Sensations

  • Glasgow Film Festival

  • Edinburgh International Art Festival

MA

University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh. Extraordinary futures await.

The University of Edinburgh is one of the world's top universities, consistently ranked in the world top 50, and placed 27th in the 2025 QS World University Rankings.

Our position as one of Britain’s leading research universities was reaffirmed by the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF). The University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s top research-intensive universities, ranked 4th in the UK for research power (Times Higher Education, Overall Ranking of Institutions), with 90% of our research activity classified as world leading or internationally excellent in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

Our …

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