Please note: this programme is closed for applications for 2024 entry.
Our MFA programme aims to strengthen your motivation, self-reflection and ambition as an emerging artist. We do this by subjecting art-making to intense critical scrutiny.
If you have specific questions about the degree, contact John Chilver.
2 years full-time, or 4 years part-time, or 3 years combined full-time and part-time
Home - full-time: £12520
Home - part-time: £5175
International - full-time: £27780
The programme is divided into two parts:
Can be taken either full-time for one year (until late July) or part-time for two years (until late July in both years). This year seeks to establish the core concerns and ambitions of your art.
Can be taken either full-time for one year (until late August) or part-time for two years (until late July, and then until late August in the final year). This stage of the programme enables you to address your ambitions for your art with an awareness of how it is situated.
Applicants who have already been awarded 120 credits from another suitably related postgraduate study may be able to apply for direct entry into Year Two of the programme on either a full or part-time basis. You may also take advantage of an exit point at the end of Year One of the programme and graduate with a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art. (The Postgraduate Diploma is not to be confused with the Goldsmiths Graduate Diploma in Art, which is a different programme.)
Our two-stage programme is designed to subject the making of artwork, the ideas and concepts involved, and the works of art themselves, to artistic and critical scrutiny. This will include individually directed research to review, consolidate and strengthen your individual position as an artist.
We place a strong emphasis on student-centred learning – especially on your individual response to the divergent views you will experience in relation to your practice.
Among other qualities, you are expected to:
Learning on the programme is primarily achieved through an appropriate combination of self-initiated and directed work in studio practice and Critical Studies. Individual tutorials, crits, workshops and art practice areas support this work.
The three examination elements for both Year One and Year Two are:
All three elements must be passed to successfully complete each part of the programme. Each element of examination has both progression and final points of assessment.
Studio crits help you develop the confidence and ability to discuss your own work and the work of others, and to use the combined knowledge and experience of the group to assist in understanding and developing your own practice.
This element of the programme is student-led with tutors responding to the needs and concerns of the participants.
Studio crits are organised by groups and take place weekly. Each full-time student presents work for a crit twice in the year.
Discussion with tutors builds your understanding of the particular demands of your art practice.
You receive scheduled one-to-one tutorials with your Group Tutors and other staff from the study area. Two tutorials per term are scheduled with the core studio staff.
In addition, you are expected to select a number of Visiting Tutors relevant to your practice for tutorials. These tutors are chosen in consultation with your Group Tutor and cover a wide range of specialisms. The Visiting Tutors scheme allows you to invite artists, curators or other significant figures of your own choice to focus a conversation around your artwork.
You are expected to write a report immediately after each tutorial, summarising what took place and recording your considered responses to it. These reports contribute to your final assessment in each year.
By the end of the programme you are expected to have established a clear articulation of the principal critical concerns and interests of your practice. This aim is supported by studio-based teaching and individualised discussions with your Critical Studies tutors, a crit devoted to the contextual research in which you locate your practice, and assessable essay writing.
The workshops are offered in two phases in the first year: in each phase there is a choice of four staff-led, discussion-based sessions on a philosophical, theoretical or historical topic relevant to contemporary art practice, which may involve texts to be read in advance. Each student takes two workshops during the first year (students may apply to substitute part of this requirement with structured independent study).
Student-led collaborative events, supported by staff and teaching assistants around a topic of mutual interest, are held during the second year. These will involve engagement with the professional art community, may take place outside Goldsmiths in collaboration with other institutions such as museums and galleries, and may culminate in an open event or publication.