VART4035 Research and Practice for Visual Artists is an interdisciplinary course in which senior students of the BA in Visual Arts programme apply their cumulative disciplinary expertise to focus on interdisciplinary research in the visual arts, centred around a self-generated practical creative investigation. The course establishes an academic framework to enable students to produce substantial self-directed research work as their outcome, which will form the basis for students’ subsequent Honours Project.

The course guides the student to recognise thematic, formal and conceptual connections between creative outcomes from various medium-based studies the student has previously undertaken and encourages an interdisciplinary cross-media approach that combines methodologies from various discrete disciplines. Through review and critical reflection, each student will be supported in identifying and articulating their individual core research interests and in laying foundations for the building of a self-sustaining professional studio practice through the subsequent Honours Project and beyond.

A series of workshops will aim at consolidating, combining and extending the wide range of cross-disciplined research methods, cross-media creative approaches as well as work documentation and presentation skills that students of the programme have acquired in their previous studies so far. Participation in these workshops will help the students to independently pursue their investigations and experimentations within their personal projects in this course. These activities will also establish a time and workload structure to give guidance to the students and provide opportunity for feedback and criticism. A series of guest-speakers chosen for their advanced practice and industry experience will impart professional advice and practical skills to the students.

The three main assessment components of Portfolio with Self-Reflection, Interdisciplinary Research Paper, and Practical Development will together constitute a formal Interdisciplinary Project Proposal. This will serve as a solid foundation and preliminary research track for students to subsequently develop into their self-directed studio practice leading to their Honours Project.