Master's in Modern & Contemporary Art History Theory & Criticism

University College Cork: University College Cork (UCC) is a prestigious public research university located in Cork, Ireland. Established in 1845, UCC is known for its academic excellence, innovative research, and vibrant campus life. It offers a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs across various fields, including arts, sciences, business, engineering, medicine, and law. UCC is committed to providing a supportive learning environment, fostering critical thinking, and preparing students for successful careers and global citizenship.

Our MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism is a unique art history programme that offers a stimulating, rigorous and wide-ranging exploration of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art and theory. This MA Art History course is rooted in both solid historical training and cutting-edge critical methods and is designed to combine skills in creative and precise visual analysis, a close reading of critical texts, and the cultivation of independent and original thinking and research. On completion of the course, you will be equipped with skills that are vital to both further academic study and to the pursuit of a wide variety of careers in the arts. Our students typically come to us from backgrounds in the history of art, fine art, film, English literature, philosophy, and other related disciplines. The course can be studied full-time over one year, or part-time (by day) over two years (this part-time option is available to EU students only). The taught MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory and Criticism includes an intensive course of four core modules in the fields of modern and contemporary art, a literature review (5,000 words), and a dissertation (20,000 words).