Overview
Reinventing print
Key details
- 180 credits
- 1 year programme
- Full-time study
School or Centre
Understand the field of print through making, exhibiting, publishing, discussion and writing.
Still accepting applications for 2022 entry. See the Key Dates webpage for round 4 details.
This programme is subject to validation
The MA Print programme positions Print as an expanded field which situates the printing press as the prehistory of computing and the web. We collectively explore the many ways technically mediated images alter and expand the world. Students work from a range of positions, some working through print, making prints directly and others work with print, using archives, broadcast media, collage and installation to explore the rich cultural legacies of printed matter. We aim to develop the potential of each student in ways appropriate to their concerns and consciously select an extremely diverse group of students to creatively expand the field.
Seminars, visiting artists, publishing projects and the wider environment of the School, College and London help to provide a critical framework to question the nature of expanded Print practices. The multiplication of images always raises questions of originality, authenticity and value. Print includes industrial production and craft processes. Its history is inextricably linked to commerce, entertainment and education. As the demand increases for all Fine Art practices to be replicated and transmitted digitally, the difference between hard copy and screen-based images grows ever more complex as evidenced by current debates about NFT’s and the role of social media. How do shifts in the registers of different media affect our lives, ways of communicating and the stories we tell?
Engaging with a wide range of artists and archives places debates within the programme in a state of dynamic flux.
The faculty are all practicing artists working in a wide range of media who share a fascination with the centrality of print and replication to contemporary culture. Students have access to well-equipped technical workshops across the college. However, the programme is not primarily about technical skills, but about how technologies are used to communicate and distribute images, ideas and understandings.
Explore further
Visit 2022.rca.ac.uk to view graduate work by our students, 2021.rca.ac.uk to view work from the class of 2021.
Catch the replays from our November 2021 virtual open day.
Gallery
Facilities
The School of Arts & Humanities is located across our Battersea and Kensington sites.
View all facilitiesAll full-time students on fine or applied arts programmes are provided with studios or workspace, and access to specialist workshops. There are a number of bookable seminar and project spaces across the site available to all Arts & Humanities students.
Our alumni
Our alumni form an international network of creative individuals who have shaped and continue to shape the world.
- Faisal Abdu’allah
- Christiane Baumgartner
- George Eksts
- Haris Epaminonda
- Serena Korda
- Katsutoshi Yuasa
More details on what you'll study.
Find out what you'll cover in this programme.
What you'll cover
How will I learn?
This programme is subject to validation
Learning and teaching activity on the programme may include, but may not be limited to: briefings, lectures, seminars, tutorials (individual and group), critiques, technical inductions and negotiated technical learning, workshops and public dissemination of work.
Programme structure
This programme is subject to validation
The programme is delivered across three terms and includes a combination of programme, School and College units.
Term 1
The Orientation, Induction and Experimentation unit introduces the programme with a series of orientation sessions and technical inductions. Seminars and external visits to exhibitions and archives will help you understand the expanded field of Print in the context of the broad field of contemporary art. You will be encouraged to experiment with new ways of making to challenge existing models of thinking and demonstrate this through studio practice.
Across Terms 1 and 2, you will participate in the College-wide unit. This unit aims to support students to meet the challenges of a complex, uncertain and changing world by bringing them together to work collaboratively on a series of themed projects informed by expertise within and beyond the College. These projects will challenge you to use your intellect and imagination to address key cultural, social, environmental and economic challenges. In doing so, you will develop and reflect on the abilities required to translate knowledge into action, and help demonstrate the contribution that the creative arts can make to our understanding and experience of the world.
Term 2
The aim of the Development and Context unit is to focus on deepening an engagement with both producing work and through discussion, understanding the ways in which it might be read, displayed and contextualised. To this end the holding of a group exhibition/event, and a publication project give you deadlines and experience of professional contexts.
In term 2 all School of Arts & Humanities students will participate in the Urgency of the Arts, School-wide unit. Through this unit we ask: what does arts and humanities research and practice have to offer in our current socio-political climate? The unit introduces students to a diverse range of perspectives, approaches and practices relevant to contemporary practice and thought in the Arts & Humanities. The delivery is devised to help you identify and query your own practices and disciplinary assumptions through encounters with others and within the various practices undertaken by students in the School, and to raise awareness around contemporary concerns. You will be supported in understanding the ramifications of your own work and practice within a broad cultural context, and to recognise its many potentially unintended readings and consequences.
Term 3
Independent Research Project
You will have submitted a plan for your independent research project at the end of term 2 based on the experience of the exhibition and publications projects in term 2. The Independent Research Project emphasises the sharing of work with an audience. The focus is on completing work which synthesises and builds upon the work of the last two terms. You will be expected to make, curate and exhibit in the context of a group exhibition. Most MA Print students would work in exhibition though a few may choose publication as the principal form. The shift is towards identifying forms of presentation and understanding individual needs in terms of future professional development. In the closing weeks of term, professional development activities, applying for grants, setting up studios, self- employment and residency applications are the focus of school-wide events. MA Print students are required to participate in a public ‘Print Out’ panel discussion with invited guests.
Requirements
What you need to know before you apply
Candidates are selected entirely on merit and applications are welcomed from all over the world. The selection process considers creativity, imagination and innovation as demonstrated in your portfolio, as well as your potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve high MA standards overall.
You’re expected to have completed a BA degree. In recent years, students have come from fine art, printmaking, painting, sculpture, photo media, conservation, illustration, design, textiles, architecture and interactive arts courses. While many students enter the course after years of independent work, we also accept students directly from undergraduate courses.
We are looking for candidates who are excited about the potential of engaging with the College-wide peer group, and making the most of the educational opportunities the Programme offers. You may not have made prints before but should have a keen interest in the nature of the multiplied image and the desire to investigate the ideas we engage with.
What's needed from you
Portfolio requirements
Your portfolio is a showcase of your work as an artist or designer and can be made up of images, videos or writing examples. Your portfolio helps us to better understand your application and allows you to show evidence of your ability and motivation to undertake a given programme.
Generally, we’re looking for you to demonstrate your:
- Creativity, imagination and innovation
- Ability to articulate the intentions of the work
- Intellectual engagement in areas relevant to the work
- Technical skills appropriate to the work
- Potential to benefit from the programme
The MA Print offers an inclusive space in which to engage with current issues and debates surrounding print as an expanded field and a vital part of contemporary art practice. Our curriculum is designed to develop a student’s professional practice through, making, thinking research, and critical reflection on their studio work. This is achieved through student participation in tutorials, seminars, workshops, exhibitions, and discursive presentations to others. In this portfolio, please submit documentation of the work you make, including title, date, size, and media. You have five slots and each can accept four supporting items. You may use these slots to show how a work developed and evolved from start to completion. Please use all available slots and limit the time of moving image works to five minutes maximum.
We want to learn about:
- How you approach the making and development of your work.
- How you position your practice in a contemporary art context and in relation to Print.
- What ideas, issues, concerns, or themes you explore in your work.
English-language requirements
If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country you will need the equivalent of an IELTS Academic score of 6.5 with a 6.0 in the Test of Written English (TWE) and at least 5.5 in other skills. Students achieving a grade of at least 6.0, with a grade of 5.5 in the Test of Written English, may be eligible to take the College’s English for Academic Purposes course to enable them to reach the required standard.
You are exempt from this requirement if you have received a 2.1 degree or above from a university in a majority English-speaking nation within the last two years.
If you need a Student Visa to study at the RCA, you will also need to meet the Home Office’s minimum requirements for entry clearance.
Fees & funding
For this programme
Fees for new students
Fees for September 2022 entry on this programme are outlined below. From 2021 onward, EU students are classified as Overseas for tuition fee purposes.
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Overseas and EU
Deposit
New entrants to the College will be required to pay a non-refundable deposit in order to secure their place. This will be offset against the tuition fees.
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Overseas and EU
* Total cost is based on the assumption that the programme is completed in the timeframe stated in the programme details. Additional study time may incur additional charges.
Scholarships
Scholarships
Scholarships are awarded for a specific programme and entry point and cannot be deferred without consent from the academic Programme and scholarships panel.
More information
External funding
There are many funding sources, with some students securing scholarships and others saving money from working. It is impossible to list all the potential funding sources; however, the following information could be useful.
Payments
Tuition fees are due on the first day of the academic year and students are sent an invoice prior to beginning their studies. Payments can be made in advance, on registration or in two instalments.
Start your application
Change your life and be here in 2022
The Royal College of Art welcomes applicants from all over the world.
Before you begin
Make sure you've read and understood the entrance requirements and key dates
More information about eligibility and key datesCheck you have all the information you need to apply.
Read our application process guideAsk a question
Get in touch if you’d like to find out more or have any questions.
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