Who is providing this programme?
This programme is a Master of Arts programme, provided by the Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT), Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland. It is validated by the Higher Educational and Training Awards Council (HETAC) and internationally recognised. Since September 2008 the programme has been hosted at The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin 1.

How long is the programme?
One year (January – December) full time.

How is the year structured?
The year begins in January and ends in December. Term one runs from January to June and term two runs from September to December. During July and August students complete independent study and project work and may take a studio space on the main IADT campus to facilliate this.

What will it cost?
Fees for 2010, including all exams, registration and student services fees, are as follows: Full-time (EU and Non-EU) students: €5,750

What are the visa guidelines for Non-EU applicants?
For further information on student visas, see the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service Student Visa Guidelines.

What will be taught on the programme?
The programme has three separate pathways: art-making, curation and criticism. Through each pathway students produce self-directed project work (e.g. exhibitions, publications, events, gallery and non-gallery based projects, performance works). The form and nature of the work is determined by each student, in consultation with the teaching team, and distinctions between art-making, curation and criticism are understood to be fluid and not fixed. Work produced by students on the programme may be publicly presented. The work is required to exist within the "real" world not just the familiar classroom, studio or critique situation. It is a part of the student's task to determine what this "real" world situation might be.

What are the components of the programme and how are they credited?
Students must complete five modules. Each module carries credits, adding up to 60, in accordance with European standards:

A lecture series on advanced themes within Visual Cultural Research (10 credits)
A reading group exploring aspects of Contemporary Art Practices (5 credits)
An interdisciplinary Curatorial Seminar (5 credits) offering the opportunity for collaboration
A pathway-specific exploration of Research Methods in Practice (20 credits) developed through critiques, tutorials, lectures and the organisation of a public event.
A pathway-specific Final Project (20 credits) developed through critiques, tutorials and a visiting lecturer programme.

Each of these modules will have an assessment submission (such as essay, presentation or project work).

What is the relationship between the three pathways?
The three pathways interact throughout the programme, in the core modules and in the group critiques. It is envisaged that collaborative and crossover projects may emerge for some students across the pathways.

Can I see an indicative annual schedule?
The 2009 schedule is detailed at the end of this page.

Where will the MA programme take place?
The programme is based at The LAB in the heart of Dublin City. Students pursuing the art-making pathway may also be able to access production facilities, by arrangement, on the main IADT Campus in Dun Laoghaire. Group critiques take place in a range of exhibition venues, such as Broadstone Studios and Four Gallery.

What is the level of attendance required?
Full-Time: Students are required to attend lectures/seminars/classes/tutorials for two days each week (Thursdays and Fridays) during term time. They will further be expected to work on their self-directed project work throughout the rest of the week, and through the summer months.

Study Trips and Workshop training will also be scheduled at other times during the year, subject to need/demand and the relevant dates will be flagged well in advance.

International Study Trips
External visits are organised in order for students to expand their professional network and broaden their knowledge of the contemporary visual arts context. A minimum of two international study trips will be undertaken by students during the period of study and these trips are seen as an integral part of this programme. The cost of each trip is approx. €400 - €600 and students who are in receipt of a grant may be able to secure funding from their grant agency to cover part of this cost.

Can I just make art or do I have to also curate and write criticism etc?
Each student will determine the nature of their own pathway-specific, project work. It is loosely assumed that:

A student specialising in the art-making pathway will primarily make artworks and consider how and under what circumstances viewers will be asked to see / experience the work. Art-making is not just understood here as the production of objects and images but will also extend to many other types of activity.

A student specialising in the curation pathway will organise situations where audiences come into contact with artworks of some form or other. Curation is not just the co-ordination and care of exhibits in a gallery and students on this pathway must determine what an appropriate and / or personally relevant curatorial project is.

A student specialising in criticism will primarily create materials (essays, publications, audio recordings, visual essays, documentary projects) that facilitate or promote a relationship between an audience and an artwork or artworks. Criticism is not just the writing of academic texts but can extend to any form of considered mediation, evaluation or response to an artwork or an artworld or an art institution.

Students graduate from this programme with an MA in Visual Arts Practices and as such will have an appreciation of the discipline of each of the three strands and will have experienced working directly with colleagues within curation, criticism and art-making.

What qualifications do I need to apply?
Applicants must possess an undergraduate qualification of Second Class Honours or higher at BA level. Additional entry requirements are specified for each pathway:

Curation: applicants should normally possess a BA in a visual art, design or communications area. Typical disciplines include fine art, visual communication, art history, media studies, communications, and interactive design.

Criticism: applicants should normally possess a BA in a visual art, design, literary, or communications area. Typical disciplines include fine art, visual communication, art history, media studies, communications, and interactive design.

Art-making: applicants should normally possess a BA in a visual arts discipline.

Where there is a demonstrable engagement with contemporary visual art, applicants to all pathways who hold qualifications in arts and humanities or the sciences will also be considered.

Can I apply if I do not have a BA qualification?
Applicants with professional experience at an advanced level (by which is meant extensive experience of, and achievement in, professional work in the visual arts field) may be considered for admission through Accreditation for Prior and Experiential Learning (APEL) provided they can demonstrate Honours Degree equivalence. An APEL application will provide supporting information to demonstrate the correlation between their experience/professional work to the Level 8 indicators of the National Framework of Qualifications. (http://www.nqai.ie/docs/framework/determinations/determinations.pdf) A framework tool that should be used in a MAVIS APEL application can be downloaded here.

What do I need to include in my application?
Applicants should submit: (1) a completed application form, (2) a 1000-1500 word project proposal. The proposal should outline a specific project that you are interested in pursuing, if accepted to the MA programme. In addition;
If you are applying for the criticism pathway you must submit two examples of written work.
If you are applying for the artmaking pathway you must submit a portfolio of images (maximum 12) of recent work on CD or DVD
If you are applying for the curation pathway you must submit a 500 word curatorial statement indicating how your project proposal relates to the broader context of contemporary visual arts practice.

How do I find out more?

Click on the following links to view the current Application Form, Frequently Asked Questions, Prospectus and Accreditation for Prior and Experiential Learning (APEL) documents.

The application submission falls annually on the last Friday in September, in 2010 is Friday 24th September, and should be received by the Office of Student and Academic Affairs by 4pm. The annual Open Day is the second Saturday in September, in 2010 is Saturday 11th September, from 2-5pm at The LAB, Foley Street, Dublin 1, where you can meet current students and lecturers on the programme, discuss any questions you have regarding the experience of being a student on the programme and discuss any queries you have regarding the application process. Please note that fees for Non-EU and EU students are charged the same.

If you have a query about Fees, Application Forms, Admissions Procedures contact:
Eoin Kelly, Admissions Officer, Admissions Office, Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Phone: + 353 (0) 1 214 4626, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

If you have a query about the next MA in Visual Arts Practices Open Day please contact Celine Blacow, School Administrator, + 353 (0) 1 214 4600 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For any further information on the programme please contact:
Amanda Ralph, MA in Visual Arts Practices Programme Director,
Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
+ 353 (0) 1 239 4716 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Appendix - indicative annual schedule:

Code to abbreviations:

MAVIS Staff List: Amanda Ralph(AR) Maeve Connolly (MC) Tessa Giblin (TG) Sarah Pierce (SP) Valerie Connor
(VC) Julian Myers (JM)
MAVIS Modules: Research Methods in Practice (RMIP); Visual Cultural Research (VCR): Contemporary Arts Practices (CAP); Curatorial Seminar (CS);Final Project (FP)

2009 Schedule SEMESTER 1 (January-June)

Fri 23rd Jan
10am-11.30 Programme begins for all students: Induction at The LAB with Registrar, Head of Department, Dublin City Council Arts Officer and Assistant Arts Officer.
11.30am– 5pm  RMIP Assessment Presentations by Part Time Yr 2 students – all students to attend.

Thurs 29 Jan (Full Time) 10am -4pm RMIP Tutorials with AR and MC (with break for lunch)

Fri 30 Jan (all students)
10am-12.00 The LAB Exhibition planning meeting for all students with AR
1-5pm RMIP and FP Tutorials AR and MC, followed by Criticism Mentoring Session with MC

Thurs 5 Feb (Full Time) 10-5 CAP lecture and reading group with SP

Fri 6 Feb (All students) Induction/Registration at IADT main campus
10-10.30 IT Induction with Pat Moffat. A018
10.30-1 Introduction to Electronic Journals with Systems Librarian and MC, followed by library tour
2- 5pm Photography workshop with Ian Mitton

Th 12 Feb (Full Time) 10-5 RMIP workshop and discussion with AR

Fri 20 Feb (All students) 10-5 CAP lecture and reading group with SP

Thur 26 Feb – Sun March 1, International Study Trip (All students)
Situations at Bristol. Lectures by Dr. Paul O'Neill, Claire Doherty. Tour of Spike Island with Marie-Anne Mcquay, curator. Visit to Plan 9 with Sophie Mellor, artist/curator. Visit to Arnolfini, talk by Nav Haq, curator of exhibitions.

Th 5 Mar(Full Time) 10-5pm CAP lecture and reading group with SP

Fri 6 Mar (All students)
10-3 VCR Lecture and workshop with MC
4.30-7pm  IMMA lecture on James Coleman with Christine Van Assche, Luke Gibbons, Mick Wilson

Thur 12 Mar (Full Time)
10-1pm Lecture by Joanna Shepard, Head of Conservation, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane.
2-4pm The LAB, Lecture by Padraic Moore, Curator at Hugh Lane on "Context-responsive" Curating.
5pm Artists Talk at the Hugh Lane, Mark Garry and Hayley Tompkins discuss the current exhibition Frequency: Vibrarions, Optics & Acoustics.

Fri 13 Mar(All students)
10-4 VCR Lecture and workshop with MC
4.30 Lecture by Terry Fagan, Historian, on Dublin’s inner city.

Thur 19 Mar (All Students)
10-5pm Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Crit @ Broadstone, with AR and MC
5.30pm Venue GradCAM. Simon Sheikh, curator, critic, and Assistant Professor of Art Theory and a Coordinator of the Critical Studies Program, Malmö Art Academy, Sweden.

Fri 20 Mar (All Students) 10-5pm Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Crit @ Broadstone with AR and MC, and briefing by Roisin Donnelly (education specialist) from DIT Teaching and Learning Centre.

Thur 26 Mar (Full Time) Venue IMMA Lecture Room
10.00 -1pm. RMIP with AR and JM. Lecture by Sophie Byrne, IMMA Education Dept., on logistics of organising seminars and symposia.View IMMA documentation of Museum21 symposium.
2-4pm RMIP with AR and JM. Lecture by Marguerite O' Molloy, Curator of Collections, on IMMA Collections.

Fri 27 Mar (All Students)
10-11 Curatorial Seminar (CS), lecture by TG on her curatorial practice
11-1 Lecture by art historian Julian Myers on his current research
2-4pm CS student presentations, with TG and JM

Thur 2 Apr (Full Time)10am-4 RMIP Tutorials with TG and JM

Fri 3 April (All Students)
10.30-12 Planning for Curatorial Session event and The LAB Public Gesture event, with AR
1-5 RMIP Tutorials with TG and JM

EASTER BREAK

Th 23 Apr (Full Time) 10-5pm CAP lecture and reading group with SP

Fri 24 Apr (Part-Time 2 and Full Time) 10-5pm CS workshop and presentations with TG

Thur 30 Apr (Full Time)10-5pm RMIP workshop with Jay Koh (artist)

Fri 1 May (All students)10-5pm RMIP workshop with Jay Koh

Sat 2nd May (All students)
10-12  International Curators do studio visits, accompanied by assigned MAVIS students
1-5pm Curatorial Session at Project Arts Centre Space Upstairs, with Tessa Giblin (Chair), Bart De Baere, Tone Olaf Nielsen, Raimundas Malašauskas, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

Thur 7 May (Full Time) 10-5pm RMIP, Dublin Gallery Visits

Fri 8 May (All Students) 10-5pm  SuperCRIT @ Broadstone with AR, MC, and visiting lecturer Alan Phelan (artist, curator)

Thur 14 May (Full Time) Speaking in public and presentation skills workshop with Russell Academy.

Fri 15 May (Part Time) Speaking in public and presentation skills workshop with Russell Academy.

Thur 21 May (Full Time) 10am-5 RMIP Tutorials with MC and AR

Fri 22 May (All Students)
10-11 RMIP Public Gesture event planning meeting
11-12 Curatorial Session project file review with AR. Analysis of budget, grant application, studio visit administration, selection process, professionalism and confidentiality.
1-5 RMIP Tutorials with AR and MC for Full Time students, followed by MC Criticism Mentoring Session 4-5pm.

Th 28 May (Full Time) 9am - 6pm FT Students Research Methods in Practice Assessments – all students invited to attend.

Fri 29 May
10-12.30 MAVIS Programme Board Meeting with MC, AR, Head of Department and Student Reps.
1-3pm  CS workshop for Part Time 2 and Full Time, with TG

Mon 1 June – Mon 8 June (All Students) Planning and preparation for Public Gesture, The LAB, with AR

Tues 9 June – 19 June, Public Gesture opens at The LAB, continuous programming of exhibitions, events and projects by students from MAVIS and the Master's programme at the Dutch Art Institute.

2009 Schedule SEMESTER 2 (Sept – Dec)

Fri 11 Sept (All Students) 10-5pm PBL Crit @ IADT, with MC, AR and Alan Phelan (artist)

Sat 12 Sept (Student Volunteers) 2-5pm MAVIS Open Day at The LAB with Liam Doona (Head of Dept of Art and Design) AR and MC.

Thur 17 Sept (Full Time)
10-1 Workshop on online professional presentation with AR
2-5 Workshop on Critical Reception (critical and historical contextualisation in art reviews) with MC.

Fri 18 Sept (Part Time Students)
10-1  RMIP and FP Tutorials with MC and ART
2-5 Workshop for all students involved in VCR publication project with MC

Th 24 Sept (Full Time) 10am-5pm FP Tutorials with MC, AR

Fri 25 Sept (Part Time 2 and Full Time) 10-5 CS Seminar with TG

Thur 1 Oct – Sun 4 Oct International Study Visit to Istanbul (All Students)

Thur 8 Oct (Full Time)
10-1pm FP Clinic focusing on any problems in Final Project work, with MC, AR.
2-5pm CAP lecture with Valerie Connor

Fri 9 Oct
10.30 – 12 MAVIS Programme Board with Student Representatives,  MC, AR and Liam Doona.
2-5pm Reflection on the Istanbul Biennale with Rana Ozturk (curator) and AR

Thur 15 Oct (Full Time) 10-4pm FP Tutorials with MC and Mark O'Kelly (artist)

Fri 16 Oct
10-2 FP and RMIP Tutorials for Part Time students with MC and Mark O'Kelly (artist), followed by Criticism Mentoring session with MC
3-5pm CAP lecture with Valerie Connor (Full Time)

Thur 22 Oct (Full Time)2-5pm. CAP lecture with Valerie Connor, with visit to Visual in Carlow.

Fri 23 Oct (Part Time 2 and Full Time) 10-5 CS seminar with TG and Amalia Pica (curator)

Thur 29 Oct (Full Time) 10-5 CAP lecture with VC

Fri 30 Oct (All Students)
10-1 Critical Writing Workshop with MC.
2-5pm IMMA workshop with Lynda Benglis

Thur 5 Nov (Full Time)
10-1 Clinic, with focus on meeting learning outcomes of Final Project, with MC, AR.
2-5 CAP lecture with VC

Fri 6 Nov (All Students) 10-5 Doctoral Research Workshop with MC and Lucy Reynolds (artist, researcher) and Mark Curran artist, researcher)

Thur 12 Nov (Full Time) 10-5pm. Final Project tutorials with MC and AR

Fri 13 Nov (All Students)
10-12MAVIS coffee morning: Discussion on Lecturer Course Evaluations, review of Former West conference at Witte de With, with AR, MC.
1-5 Tutorials for Part Time students with AR and MC, followed by MC Criticism Mentoring Session 4-5pm.

Th 19 Nov (Full Time) 10-5pm RMIP/Final Project SUPERCrit @ Four Gallery SUPERCrit @ Four Gallery, with Lee Welch (artist, gallerist) MC and AR

Fri 20 Nov (All Students) 10-5pm RMIP/Final Project SUPERCrit @ Four Gallery SUPERCrit @ Four Gallery, with Lee Welch (artist, gallerist) MC and AR

Th 26 Nov (Full Time) 10am-5pm FP Pre-Assessment Tutorials with MC, AR

Fri 27 Nov (Part Time) 10am-5pm RMIP and FP Pre-Assessment Tutorials with MC, AR, followed by MC Criticism Mentoring Session 4-5pm

Thur 3 Dec (All Students) 10-5pm Final Project assessment @ Room 2 and Room 5 The LAB. Panel MC, AR and Maxine Kopsa (critic, curator). In attendance, Leigh Markopoulos, Chair of the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice, California College of the Arts (MAVIS External Examiner)

Fri 4 Dec(All Students)
10-1pm Final Project assessment @ Room 2 and Room 5 The LAB. Panel MC, AR and Maxine Kopsa (critic, curator)
2-5pm External Examiner to meet sample of students from each pathway to discuss key teaching and learning experiences.