This degree aims to enable students interested in art and technology practice to develop their individual research. It takes two key features of the Slade and extends them into the contemporary context: the ethos of self-direction, and its history of fostering computational practice.

The Slade's Fine Art courses require students to develop their research in a free and self-directed way. Students are treated as artists from the day they begin their studies, there are no projects or themes directing production of work, and tuition is supportive of the individual and their perspective. This ethos is valued by students and staff alike and produces independent and innovative graduates.

The BA Art and Technology retains this approach, with around half the course time devoted to self-directed studio practice. Activity here is structured in the same way as the Fine Art courses, with group critiques, individual tutorials, and technician support, culminating in a degree show in the final year.

However, in Art and Technology students are supported in this endeavour through a relatively greater proportion of technical teaching, addressing contemporary technologies that typically involve some form of programming or other computational aspect. This approach is designed to make these technologies more accessible to students by recognising the foundation of working with code, while taking advantage of the cross-disciplinary environment of UCL East and the benefits of a modular structure.

The Slade has a notable history of research and teaching in systems-oriented and computational arts practice. It was one of the first art schools to make a computer available to students, through the department of Electronic and Experimental Art created in 1974 by Systems Group co-founder Malcom Hughes, who also led the Slade Postgraduate programme between 1973 and 1983. Alumni who studied at the Slade during this period include Jean Spencer, Dominic Boreham, Darrel Viner, Julian Sullivan, Stephen Bell, Paul Brown, and Nigel Johnson. From 1995 to 2015, the Slade Centre for Electronic Media in Fine Art (SCEMFA) facilitated artists working with computer and network technologies, including Slade staff Susan Collins, Jon Thomson (Thomson and Craighead), and Martin John Callanan. More recently, coding workshop series have been offered with UCL’s Advanced Research Computing and Slade staff Patrick White, as well as recent alumni working in the field such as artist Jake Elwes. The BA in Art and Technology under course leader Dr Winnie Soon, will therefore open a new chapter in the Slade’s rich tradition of fostering computational practice. 

What is the BA Art and Technology?

The BA in Art and Technology is a modular course for a new generation of artists to create art connected to emerging and disruptive technologies, experimenting in new forms of expression, communication and collaboration. It uses a practice-based approach to understanding the centrality of technology, specifically in the areas of creative computing/computational art & culture — the reading, writing/coding/wiring and thinking with technology — as a critical tool for our times, in recognition of the way in which technology contains material processes and our experiences are ever more programmed.

The course also explores how technology, with its underlying assumptions and biases, influences consumption and production. It highlights that technology is not neutral in its impact or design within digital culture. We explore how power dynamics are structured by and embedded within technologies and how art practice might be used to critically investigate and challenge this.

It is expected that the course will have a largely creative computing focus working with code/programming, physical computing, data, software, hardware and networked technologies. The course is approximately split 50/50 between taught modules and self-directed art practice modules.

For further information about the proposed modules, see the UCL BA Art and Technology prospectus page.

The Course

How is the course structured? 

The course is split between set modules and self-directed art practice. See the draft example of the timetable (please note: this draft timetable is subject to change). 

Year 1

Term 1

• Histories and Theories of Art and Technology
• Creative Computing 0: Coding Practice for Artists
• Creative Computing 1: Sensing Practice for Artists

Term 2

• Technology as a Way of Seeing
• Creative Computing 2: Artificial and machine intelligence in arts practice

Terms 1 and 2 Art Practice 1 and part of term 3 (45 credits)

Year 2

Term 1

• Creative computing 3: Worlding and gaming in arts practice
• Technology as a Way of Being

Term 2

• Find your art and technology future
• Designing for VR/AR - Making the Media I

Terms 1 and 2 Art Practice 1 and part of term 3 (60 credits)

Year 3

Term 1

• Engagement. exhibition, experience and display
• Creative computing 4: Art futures

Term 2

• Independent study in art and technology practice
• Career structures and strategies

Terms 1 and 2 Art Practice 1 and part of term 3 (60 credits)

Can you tell me more about the art practice module of the programme?

In the BA Art and Technology course, we have Art Practice 1, 2 and 3 across all three years of the programme. When compared with the other taught modules, Art Practice is much more self-directed to encourage you to develop your own work with tutorial and technical assistance. Each student has a personal tutor with one-to-one tutorials.

All students will take part, both as observers and as presenters in studio crits to students and tutors, as well as learning to give and receive peer feedback. The crits provide a forum for debate through which students become increasingly professional and articulate in making and presenting their artworks. As well as crits and tutorials, there will be seminars and visiting artists to give talks/workshops. Students are expected to participate in contemporary art and staff lectures, which will mainly take place at the Bloomsbury Campus.  

Will I need to be able to code?

The course is aimed at beginners so there is no pre-requisite of skills, but you need to be interested in technologies, such as code/instructions and constraints/algorithms/data/networks, as artistic materials.

You will learn the basics of coding in relation to physical computing, sensing technologies, software development, networked configurations, web, computer terminals, games, computational publishing and machine learning/artificial intelligence but please note that this is not a computer science degree and our approach to teaching and learning would be more experimental and critical/reflective within the context of arts practice and computational culture. 

What will I learn in the History and Theory component? 

There are three modules in relation to the History and Theory component: 

1. Histories and Theories of Art and Technology in year 1: This module introduces students to key histories, theories and technologies that have shaped the making, reception, and circulation of art from the mid 19th century to the present. Navigating between art and technology, the module asks, how has technology shaped the history of art, and in turn, how has art shaped the history of technology?
2. Technology as a Way of Seeing in year 1: The module aims to enable students to question received notions of technology and the politics of vision from diverse perspectives, affording a more sophisticated view of its entanglement in art practices of all kinds. This module focuses on theoretical and aesthetic conceptions of art and technology. We emphasise vision (e.g., perception, gaze, cognition), whether human or machine, as a politically and socially engaged function of power, shaped by perceptions of race, class, gender, ability, and histories of colonisation.
3. Technology as a Way of Being in year 2: This module emphasises how technical, infrastructural, and aesthetic systems function through and as technological regimes of power. Engaged with platform politics, we will explore the techno-political configuration of networks, software, and computation, and their alternative infrastructures, placing emphasis on how technological art practices have been wielded as forms of resistance.

These modules are designed to provide students with the ability to reference their work within a relevant contemporary and historical cultural context of art and technology. The assignments include practice/creative elements such as publishing a webpage, multimedia blogpost, DIY print media like zines/booklets, written or video analysis and presentation of artworks etc. 

What collaborative opportunities are there? 

There will be collaborative opportunities with students from other courses at UCL East including the BA Media, BA Creative Arts and Humanities and BSc Information in Society. Social Hackathon and Cinema Club are some of the examples of events that have been organised.

Students on the BA Art and Technology are also expected to attend Slade staff talks and contemporary art lectures, which are currently scheduled at UCL Bloomsbury, as part of the programme. We will organise some cross-campus critiques during the study. Attending the BA/BFA degree show would be part of the Art Practice module, which provides a good context to learn from each other in terms of concept, medium, materials and artistic vision.

What other facilities are there at UCL East?

UCL East is home to the Culture Lab and the UCL Urban Room, as well as the Institute of Making and Fabrication Lab. For further information, see the UCL East Spaces and Facilities page.

UCL East is part of East Bank. Over the coming years the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will welcome new sites for Sadler’s Wells, BBC Music and the V&A, as well as UCL and University of the Arts London's London College of Fashion: a brand-new destination for London with world-class culture and education at its heart.

What should I include in my portfolio?

Visit our BA Art and Technology Portfolio Guidance page for information about what to include in your portfolio and how to upload it to the syste.

Can you give some personal advice about what to include in my portfolio?

We are not able to offer individual advice about the makeup of your portfolio, but are happy to answer general questions about the different formats/media that could be included.

Can you give some guidance on what to include in my personal statement? 

A personal statement for a portfolio-based degree is slightly different to a personal statement you would write for other courses. 

Up to 500 words covering:

• What interests you and influences your work? 
• What processes are you using?
• What are you exploring, investigating and questioning in relation to Art and Technology? 
• How do all these affect your materials, mediums, and your ideas and thinking? 

Interview questions: 

• Why have you applied to the BA Art and Technology? 
• Why do you think it is important for artists to understand technology beyond knowing how to use it?
• What do you think the role/power of art is in technological fields? 

Can I transfer from the BA Art and Technology to the BA/BFA in Fine Art?

No, as the two courses operate in very different delivery modes.