VA6008 - Final Project

What will I learn on this module?

The learning within the module centres on bringing your studio-centred artmaking (production) into public-reaching sites of presentation through informed strategies of exhibition-making.



The central topics of the learning are:

Bringing independent artmaking to public and artworld audiences.

Identifying and progressing (testing and evaluating) individually appropriate sites of presentation (where and on what terms artmaking meets publics).

Extending and progressing (developing, testing and evaluating) the artmaking (its production) through individually appropriate forms of exhibition-making (how and on what terms artmaking meets publics).

Addressing and negotiating collective and group-centred forms of public exhibition and presentation.

Delivering independent technically resolved artmaking to public audiences through presentation and exhibition.

Delivering an effective and appropriate public-reaching distribution (dissemination) of independent artmaking (practice).

Establishing an effective and appropriate public-reaching representation of independent artmaking (practice).



Keywords and critical frameworks are:

Contemporary art practice.

Critical and contextual artmaking (independent artmaking).

Public-reaching presentation.

Extended forms of exhibition-making.

Group Exhibition (as an expanded term).



Terms:

Exhibition is used both in its artworld context and as a term inclusive of distributed and diverse sites of presentation - not bound exclusively by the gallery.

Exhibition-making is used to signal the continuing production of artmaking within exhibition delivery. And its extended forms within contemporary art practice, including online, digital, virtual, social, workshop, event, publishing forms.

How will I learn on this module?

The learning on this module is both academic and technical. Academic learning is centred through regular contact with an individual studio tutor, peer-centred learning through your studio tutor and your tutor group, and further extended individual and group learning with an extended specialist academic team and external partners. Technical learning is centred through regular fixed contact within an individually selected technical area, and regular flexible contact within any required technical area.



1-1: Academics will meet with you for regular individual and/or collective for collaborative practices 1-1 tutorials to focus learning on the specificities of your artmaking. Attuning its critical, contextual and public frameworks, and progressing its production and development in the studio and extended production through exhibition-making.



Tutor Group: A lead academic will lead regular peer-centred learning through a small tutor group. This brings you adaptive collective co-developed modes of learning in forms that might include the investigation of case-studies, visits, practical and collaborative exercises and reading groups.



Group Crits and Cross-Group Group Crits: Academics will meet with you for regular collective group crits both within your tutor group and in mixed groups. This peer-centred discussion-led learning focusses on openly and robustly investigating and evaluating the further production of your art-making as it transitions into sites and contexts of public presentation and exhibition.



Technical: Technicians will meet with you for regular open access technical working in both a primary and a flexible technical area. Learning is focussed on the specificities of your artmaking and the strategies and approaches of your exhibition-making.



ELearning Portal: Academics and Technicians will provide learning resources through the module site.



Directed Learning: Academics and Technicians provide formative feedback that direct you to learning approaches and learning resources in all contact sessions with you.

How will I be supported academically on this module?

In this module you are supported academically and technically. The academic team is led by the module tutor who will introduce you to the module and your assessment brief at the start of the semester. They are a primary point of contact and will provide guidance and support to you throughout the teaching semester, public exhibition phase of the module, and assessment period.



Within the academic team you will have an assigned lead, your studio tutor. And within the technical team you will have an assigned lead, your technical lead. They are also primary points of contact and support for you during the module. In addition, the module’s full academic and technical teams are further points of contact and support for you through the module. And in addition to your teaching contact with the academics teaching you, each has regular consolation contact hours during (in-person or remote access) in which they can provide additional feedback and support to you. 



Core learning resources for the module are made available on Blackboard along with adaptive supplementary learning resources that support you in meeting the teaching aims of the module. Regular announcements, published through Blackboard and arriving in your email, support you in staying connected with the module, critical and important information, and with key events in its timeline.

What will I be expected to read on this module?

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

What will I be expected to achieve?

Knowledge & Understanding:


1. Demonstrate a synthesis of your creative and conceptual skills through a critical engagement with contemporary theory and practice.


2. Present work in an exhibition context that reveals an awareness of appropriate and professional methods of display and audience reception.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:


3. Identify and resolve connections between intention, process, research and context.


4. Establish an independent fine art practice that demonstrates that material decisions have been critically considered and tested against ideas.


5. Demonstrate the capacity to pursue a sustained and independent fine art practice, including its logistics, progression and outcomes.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):


6 Apply ethics processes applicable to a final project

How will I be assessed?

Summative Assessment:

This takes the form of a significant output of independent artmaking presented publicly through exhibition. It is intended to be as close to a professional exhibition as possible and will reflect the extent to which you have established an independent and critically positioned fine art practice. The submission will take the form of a professional presentation of practical work; supporting coursework, contextual research/documentation and an artist statement.



NB. ‘Exhibition’ is used both within the specialised context of the contemporary artworld and in its expanded form in which it is understood to be live and configured through distributed and diverse sites of presentation, not limited to or by the gallery; and to extended modes and forms of exhibition-making, not limited to but including online, digital, virtual, social, workshop, event, publishing.



Summative Feedback:

This module is a capstone module. The assessment is first and second marked internally and externally moderated. The mark (pre-external examiner and exam board) is returned electronically through Blackboard along with written feedback within regulated return period policy of the university.



Formative Assessment:

.



To prepare you successfully to undertake the summative assessment(s) on this module, formative assessments will be set by the module team. These may take the form of in-class tasks or projects, developmental activities undertaken between classes, or learning exercises/activities set over a longer period. Feedback (written and/or oral) will be provided to help you learn from, reflect on, and develop in light of these formative assessments.





MLOS: The assessment task tests all MLOS.

Pre-requisite(s)

N/A

Co-requisite(s)

N/A

Module abstract

This 40-credit practice-led module supports you to bring your independently established artmaking to public and artworld audiences through presentation and exhibition-making. The module supports you to resolve your studio-centred artmaking (production) confidently and ambitiously through individually and collectively appropriate public-reaching exhibition-making. It supports you to develop, refine and deliver your artmaking through resolved and distinctive forms of individual and group exhibition-making. It supports you to meet public audiences confidently and effectively through your artmaking through appropriate material, digital, virtual, social, event, workshop, and publishing exhibition-making forms. The module asks how and where your artmaking enters the world, to what impact and effect, and through what forms of output and distribution. It sets the forward foundation for taking your practice-led arts learning and artmaking confidently and ambitiously into the world.

Course info

UCAS Code W105

Credits 40

Level of Study Undergraduate

Mode of Study 3 years Full Time or 4 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad

Department Northumbria School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries, Arts

Location City Campus, Northumbria University

City Newcastle

Start September 2025

Fee Information

Module Information

All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

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