Curating Contemporary Design (in partnership with the Design Museum) MA

Links with the creative industries

Our links with professional practice provide a real-world base for our courses. They also help us to ensure your studies are kept up-to-date and relevant to the workplace.

 

Links with the Design Museum

The Curating Contemporary Design MA is taught in partnership with the Design Museum, London. The Design Museum, founded in 1989, is:

  • one of the world’s leading museums of design, fashion and architecture, with a mission to excite everyone about design;
  • the cultural champion of UK design, winning international acclaim for its exhibitions of modern design history and exciting innovations in contemporary design; and
  • the UK’s largest provider of design education resources.


A new museum is planned to open in 2012, under the directorship of Deyan Sudjic, previously Dean of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at Kingston University.

 

Several modules are taught at the Design Museum by its staff, which means you gain from their professional expertise. You will be involved in aspects of planning and organising live exhibitions.

 

For more information, visit www.designmuseum.org/universities/ma-course and www.designmuseum.org/courses.

 

Guest speakers and studio visits

Guest speakers and studio visits give you the chance to meet a wide range of professionals directly involved in the public presentation of contemporary design.

 

Visiting tutors and speakers in 2008/09 included Morag Myerscough and Anthony Burton.

 

Professionals involved in course projects, crits and briefs come from a range of institutions, including the:

  • British Council;
  • Science Museum;
  • London Transport Museum;
  • Crafts Council;
  • Wellcome Trust;
  • Demos; and
  • Lighthouse Glasgow.

 

Many members of staff based at Kingston University also have experience as professional designers, which keeps your learning cutting-edge (read more in the Who teaches this course? section).

 

Work experience

Work experience placements are also an important part of the course. Most students work on an aspect of the Design Museum's programme. Past students have worked at the:

 

Advisory Committee

The Curating Contemporary Design Advisory Committee ensures the course stays up to date. Members include:

  • Paola Antonelli from The Museum of Modern Art, New York;
  • staff from The Lighthouse, Glasgow; and
  • Paul Thompson, from Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York and rector of the Royal College of Art.

Study visits

Study visits to London and New York give you the opportunity to explore first-hand the visual culture of two of the world's most exciting cities. As part of this, you will meet curators and artists working in leading institutions. Please note that there is an extra charge for the New York trip.