MA Digital Arts in Performance

Jointly delivered with Birmingham Institute of Art and Design
Applications: Direct to BIAD
Full-time: 1 year / Part-time: 2 years

This new programme aims to support students from art, music or performing arts backgrounds in enhancing their creative practice through digital technology and broadening their technical skills. Your study will be split between BIAD’s Visualisation Research Unit and the Conservatoire’s Centre for Composition and Performance using Technology, allowing you to access state-of-theart facilities and expert tutors in a variety of new technologies such as motion capture, HD video, gesture control of sound and visuals, multi-touch interfaces and distributed computing. (For a complete listing of our facilities, visit our facilities page or the VRU website.

This course is situated at the intersection of the arts, science and technology. You will be encouraged to explore the resulting opportunities and experiment with new practices. This programme will prepare you to work in emerging areas of the cultural industries, including content generation, installation art, composition and technology-based art projects. It is oriented towards people preparing for freelance careers in digital arts and the creative application of digital technology, including research, professional performance and technology development.

There are four main elements to your study:
  • Theory: how do digital technologies affect our concept and delivery of artistic works
  • Programming: how things work behind the scenes
  • Content management: how visual, audio and other elements can be included in your project
  • Interface: how the audience accesses your work
There is an emphasis on giving you the skills to create works that can achieve a degree of persistence within the context of an ever-changing technological landscape.

The programme is strongly focused on practical work with digital technology, with an emphasis on experiences created in real time. To cater for students whose practice straddles the border of visual and sonic arts, and to encourage the combining of these practices through collaboration as well as individual work, it is envisaged that creative outcomes may be aural, visual, performance-oriented (in real or virtual spaces) or a combination of these.

Emphasis is placed on producing live experiences through applying digital technologies and you will be involved in the development of interactive environments and time-based applications of technology for performance/ installation. The early part of the programme focuses on developing collaborative projects and enhancing and expanding your technological skills. During the middle section of the programme you will begin work on your major project and experiment with different applications of technology in the arts, ranging from improvisation to installation practices, from the concert hall to the art gallery or dance studio. During the final stage of your study, you will complete your major project combining your expressive ideas with your understanding of technology through performance. There are also optional modules drawn from Art and the Conservatoire to augment your studies on the programme.

You will be encouraged to take a research-based line throughout the programme and you may find that this takes you logically forward to MPhil/PhD study in our unique research environment.

Entry Requirements
  • Honours degree or postgraduate diploma in a relevant subject, or equivalent professional qualification / experience.
  • You should be able to demonstrate some knowledge of technological applications in your area of creative practice and some experience of creating work with digital technology.
For further information, please contact:
Gregory Sporton
Visualisation Research Unit
BIAD
T: 0121 331 5978
E: Visualisation Research Unit
W: www.biad.bcu.ac.uk/vru