Introduction to contemporary art: ideas and origins
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Learning modes and locations may be different depending on the course start date. Please check the location of your chosen course and read our guide to learning modes and locations to help you choose the right course for you.
- Start Date: 13 Oct 2025End Date: 17 Nov 2025Mon (Evening): 18:30 - 20:30OnlineFull fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £116.00
Please note: We offer a wide variety of financial support to make courses affordable. Just visit our online Help Centre for more information on a range of topics including fees, online learning and FAQs.
What is the course about?
Contemporary Art sometimes seems a little disorientating; this course aims to provide some background, helping you form a clearer picture of the key historical ideas and practices behind some of today’s most interesting and controversial artworks.
Giving coherent shape to Contemporary Art’s often baffling variety, we’ll examine important practices and demystify some of its more confusing jargon. Putting its development into historical context, this course will enable you to describe and interpret what you see in galleries in an increasingly constructive and engaged fashion.
What will we cover?
The history and development of key concepts within Contemporary Art, including:
- Conceptualism
- Appropriation
- Performance and Body Art
- Site-Specificity and Installation
- Video Art
- Just what is Contemporary Art? – introducing some theoretical approaches.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- List a number of important 20th Century art movements that have significantly influenced Contemporary Art
- Question what makes Contemporary Art distinct from what came before it
- Analyse key works and participate in discussions about them
- Identify and describe some of the important characteristics and pieces of terminology associated with Contemporary Art.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
This course is suitable for all levels.
You should be able to follow simple written and verbal instructions, demonstrations, hand-outs and health and safety information as well as basic functions of Zoom, specifically microphone and camera.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
You will be taught online with slide presentations and group discussions. Handouts will be provided by your tutor to support your learning on the course; these handouts will be available online/digitally for download, not printed out for you. You will be invited to join the Google Classroom within a week of your course start date.
This is a live lesson course - sessions are not recorded or available on demand for reasons of copyright, data protection and digital infrastructure.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
You might wish to buy a notebook. You might wish to buy some of the books on any reading list given out in class.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
You might also be interested in:
Contemporary art in London.
Christopher Collier trained as an artist, before gaining an MA in Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths and a PhD in Art History and Theory from the University of Essex. He has taught at institutions including the University of Essex, Cambridge School of Art, and Winchester School of Art, as well as presenting internationally at a range of workshops and conferences, including at the ICA, London and CCA, Glasgow. His broad range of interests includes the intersections of art and the more-than-human world, along with art's relations to wider political economy and cultural theory. He is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.
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Iconography and iconology: secrets of the old masters revealedFull fee £179.00 Senior fee £143.00 Concession £116.00
