Postgraduate Course: Contemporary Artists' Film and Video (HIAR11135)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course examines key works of film and video art produced since the 1990s in a variety of forms, including hand-drawn animation, HD video, and 16mm film. Through a series of case studies we will explore how artists use the moving image today to develop new aesthetic forms, to address key historical and political issues and to contribute to ongoing debates within art history as well as wider society. |
| Course description |
Moving image became a ubiquitous part of the contemporary art world in the 1990s, as part of a wider move by artists out of medium-specific practices. Artists working in moving image today often do so alongside parallel practices in drawing, sculpture, performance and other forms of art making. In this way, individual practitioners have developed works which contribute to a variety of ongoing narratives and debates both within the art world and in relation to wider social and political contexts. At the same time, their work has begun to build a rich tradition of artists' moving image, with its own techniques and features. In this course, via a series of in-depth case studies of the works of individual artists, we will examine different examples of moving-image art and how it relates to wider art history and social and political contexts. Artists studied will vary from year but may include for example William Kentridge, Tacita Dean, Elizabeth Price, John Akomfrah, Steve McQueen, Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin, Melanie Gilligan, Pierre Huyghe, and Zarina Bhimji.
The course is taught through a series of ten, weekly 2-hour seminar discussions and associated weekly approx. 1-hour film-screenings. Students will be expected to prepare for class by completing the required reading (typically 2-4 articles or book chapters). Students will also be encouraged and supported to attend weekly 1-hour peer study groups, to discuss a key question set by the teacher. In class, students will be asked to present their study group findings and participate in general discussion of the readings and the case-studies.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
| Course Start Date |
15/09/2025 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 10,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
164 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course has 2 assessment components
1. 1,000 word analysis of an individual work of moving-image art (30%), due in Week 5-6 of semester
2. 3,000 word essay (70%), due in December exam period
The first assessment task (the film analysis) will help you develop the skills of close visual analysis that will support you to achieve well in the second assessment task (the essay). |
| Feedback |
FORMATIVE LEARNING TASKS:
This course has the following formative learning task, which is not graded, but contributes to developing your understanding and helping you improving your performance in the final assessments:
1. A spoken presentation delivered in class, c.10 mins, supported by appropriate visual materials, in a week agreed between the student and the Course Organiser.
This task will help you develop the skills of visual analysis and clear presentation of relevant contextual information which will support you to achieve well in both of the assessment tasks.
FORMATIVE FEEDBACK:
A feedforward meeting with the Course Organiser on the presentation, on the day or within a week after the presentation is given. The meeting will focus on how you can develop your work for either the essay or the film analysis and will identify things you are doing well and things you could do better, the level of your understanding of the material, and how you can use what you have learned to improve your performance in the assessment.
Students will also be encouraged to offer constructive feedback to each other in student-led peer study groups.
SUMMATIVE FEEDBACK will be given according to University regulations as follows:
Written feedback on the essay and the film analysis will be provided via Turnitin and you will be given the opportunity of a 1:1 meeting with the Course Organiser to discuss the feedback if requested. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of some of the different ways in which artists use the moving image today.
- Analyse key examples of moving-image art in relation to their historical context and relevant critical debates.
- Explain the ways in which moving-image art is part of and contributes to wider histories and debates.
- Use visual analysis of particular works of moving-image art to support the development of your own independent critical and interpretive arguments.
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Reading List
Comer, Stuart ed. 'Film and Video Art'. London: Tate, 2009.
Dávila, Mela and Roland Groenenboom eds. 'Tacita Dean'. Barcelona: Museu d'Art Contemporani, 2000.
'John Akomfrah'. London: Lisson Gallery, 2016.
Kholeif, Omar and Iwona Blazwick eds. 'Moving Image'. London: Whitechapel Gallery, Documents of Contemporary Art series, 2015.
Trodd, Tamara ed. 'Screen/Space: The Projected Image in Contemporary Art'. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy: This course will help students to develop their abilities as critical and reflective thinkers, by asking them to analyse and evaluate the arguments put forward in different critical texts relating to moving-image art; and to consider the place of those arguments in relation to wider social and political movements.
Research and Enquiry: The course will help students develop their abilities as creative problem-solvers and researchers, by asking them to explore the application of ideas and arguments to specific examples of practice in moving-image art, and to develop convincing interpretations, arguments and proposals of their own.
Communication: The course will help students develop their skills as effective communicators, in written form, through the coursework essay, as well as in spoken form, through the individual spoken presentation. The emphasis on seminar class discussion and the use of Autonomous Learning Groups will help students develop their skills as effective communicators, through listening to and engaging with others' ideas and working constructively through group discussion to develop new understanding. |
| Keywords | Film,Video,Projected Images,Animation,Moving Image |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tamara Trodd
Tel: (0131 6)51 3120
Email: Tamara.Trodd@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Susanne Neil
Tel:
Email: sneil@ed.ac.uk |
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