MA Art & Ecology

Goldsmiths is pleased to announce the launch of a new MA Art & Ecology and is now accepting applications for September 2021 entry. This innovative fifteen-month studio-based postgraduate programme is designed for artists and graduates who want to intervene through practice in meaningful and transformative ways with the most pressing ecological questions of our time.

The MA Art & Ecology invites artists to develop a self-directed project grounded in rigorous artistic approaches to urgent ecological challenges, including climate breakdown, pollution, biodiversity loss and environmental and social justice. We welcome artistic practices that may involve painting, sculpture, printmaking, installation, performance, art writing, textiles, digital media and video, as well as food production, rewilding, inter-species care and co-dependence, sustainable data, citizen and expert science, waste management, somatic work and ritual. The MA Art & Ecology encourages applications from artists working in any ecological context, from rural to ocean habitats, and from social movements to scientific settings. The programme’s location in South East London, with proximity to some of the world’s leading artistic and scientific institutions, also provides an opportunity to focus on urban ecologies as dynamic more-than-human worlds. During the MA Art & Ecology we support artists to develop art practices in diverse sites and scales dedicated to imagining and shaping liveable futures.

The MA Art & Ecology provides an exceptional opportunity for artists to learn skills, acquire knowledge and build networks that are essential to propelling their artistic practice after graduation, for developing as educators, producers and leaders in a wide range of fields, or for pursuing doctoral research. Students are supported by the Programme Leader Dr Ros Gray and contributing staff including Louise Ashford, Bonnie Camplin, Ian Hunt, Dr Susan Kelly, Saskia Olde Wolbers, Jacqueline Pennell, Dr Audrey Samson and Dr Edgar Schmitz, as well as visiting tutors who are leading practitioners in the field.

Through the development of their artistic project, students realise a public exhibition and disseminate their research process through a project journal that is published online. Studio practice is taught through an intensive programme of individual tutorials, group crits and study visits. Students also participate in an artist-led collaborative experimental laboratory. The Department of Art offers students world-class art-production facilities, from Graphics & Time-Based Media and 3D printing to Constructed Textiles, Photography and Moving Image Capture, Ceramics, Woodwork, Metal and Casting, Print & Dye, Fine Art Print and Stitch & Fabric. A Pigment Garden and Art Research Garden are in development. The programme teaches best professional practice through talks and workshops led by practitioners that provide real-world insights into the kinds of skills, negotiations and knowledge necessary to realising a successful expanded practice.

The MA Art & Ecology provides a specialised programme of critical studies lectures and seminars on art’s relation to socio-ecological issues such as climate justice, environmental racism and indigenous sovereignty, and theoretical approaches such as ecofeminism, decoloniality, queer ecologies and science and technology studies. Students will be part of a dynamic research culture at Goldsmiths, which includes the Critical Ecologies research stream. Goldsmiths’ Green New Deal is a further context that the university provides for understanding and participating in environmental change.

For more information on the programme, available scholarships and how to apply online, please visit.

Please register for an Open Day, or write to Dr Ros Gray if you would like to discuss your application.