VPR2011 Research practices advanced

Research practices advanced is a core unit in the Visual Arts sequence, and is the first of the two second year units. This unit is a practice driven, workshop based unit which develops a variety of methodologies and their contribution to a research practice in visual culture. It is designed to further develop, challenge and expand how you think about making artwork and to synthesise research interests, building on first-year units. A series of individual and collaborative exercises and projects are presented to extend and further foster creative research skills and consolidate your material skills. The main emphasis of this class is to demonstrate how thinking operates through making. Fabrication processes in the workshop can be in any medium from across two- and/or three-dimensional works, to sound and performance. The aim of these exercises is to further extend your capacity for production, creating a pool of ideas, strategies, forms and processes for you to draw on and develop as you progress through the course. Teaching methodology involves critical dialogue, classroom discussion and peer review. This unit presents a broad range of approaches to contemporary art and its institutions for those wishing to work in the arts industry as artists, curators, arts writers, educators or practitioners. Research practices encourages an experimental approach to conceptual, material and public outcomes. Safe and sustainable approaches to fabrication and materials are core values in the unit.