Study location	United Kingdom, Colchester Campus
Type	Bachelor courses, full-time
Nominal duration	3 years
Study language	English
Awards	BA
Course code	V351

Tuition fee	To be confirmed

Entry qualification	High school / secondary education (or higher) The entry qualification documents are accepted in any language

Language requirements	English Accepted proof of proficiency: Cambridge English, IELTS, TOEFL or other equivalent IELTS: 6.0 TOEFL (IBT): 76 CAE: B2 with 52+ CAE (from Jan 15): 169+

Other requirements	At least 1 reference(s) must be provided.

More information	Expenses, accommodation, working etc. essex.ac.uk/..tercourse=UG01045&subgroup=1

Overview

Within the classroom, you gain an overview of major developments in art history – something essential for any budding curator. You will also learn about the history and theory of exhibition design, with a particular emphasis on how curatorial choices shape our experiences while viewing artworks and the other objects on display in museums and galleries.

The Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), Europe’s largest collection of Latin American art, will offer you a place to experiment with installing artworks. Besides getting your feet wet with the more tactical aspects of installing art, these experiences will open your eyes to how curatorial decisions transform the kinds of stories that artworks tell when displayed alongside others.

Frequent, staff-led visits to London museums and galleries will also expose you to the latest developments in curating, and you will be strongly encouraged to conduct a placement in order to gain exposure to the inner workings of a museum, auction house or gallery.

To ensure you are prepared to meet the challenges facing curators in the 21st century, opportunities to cultivate digital skills will be available throughout the course. For example, for your final project, you will curate an online exhibition, for which you will produce a virtual walk-through of the exhibition space and develop digitally-accessible interpretative material for all objects on display.

Essex is the ideal choice for a BA in curatorial studies. Our Art History programme is ranked 6th among UK art history departments for research excellence (REF 2014) and we are one of the few leading art history programmes that offers an undergraduate course specialising in curating. You will also be taught by our expert staff in your very first year—another rarity in UK art history courses.

Programme structure

Year 1

Art and Ideas: I(A)
Art and Ideas: I(B)
Art, Sex and Death
Culture, Work and Society
Art Revolutions
The Enlightenment (optional)
Space, Place and Locality (optional)
Popular Film, Literature and Television: A Psychoanalytic Approach (Freud and Jung) (optional)

Year 2

Art in Latin America
Art and Ideas II: More Art, More Ideas – Critique and Historiography in the History of Art
After Impressionism: European Art From Van Gogh to Klimt
Collect, Curate, Display
Becoming Modern: European Art From Futurism to Surrealism
The Renaissance in Tuscany (optional)
Study Trip Abroad (Year 2) (optional)
Reworking the Past (optional)
Inventing the Future: Early Contemporary 1945-1980 (optional)

Final year

Inventing the Future: Early Contemporary 1945-1980
The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, New Media, Software and the Internet
Contemporary Art: 1980 to the Present
Art, the Law and the Market
Study Trip Abroad (Final Year) (optional)
Curatorial Project

Career opportunities

The sectors with jobs best suited for students with a BA in curatorial studies include museums, galleries and auction houses. Within these sectors, you can pursue a career in curation, museum education, programming, or sales and marketing. Our degree also equips you with foundational skills to run your own gallery, to work as a PR agent, or to work in the fields of fashion, publishing or events management.

To help our students acquire the particular skills they need to gain employment in the museum and gallery sector – the single-most important area in which our students will seek jobs – we offer numerous modules dedicated to the histories, theories and practices of museums, exhibitions and galleries. Additionally, we give you the chance to think creatively and proactively about life after university through our curatorial employability module.