Looking at contemporary art
Explore and discuss contemporary art on show in London. Each week we’ll visit 1-2 commercial galleries or a public gallery and examine specific exhibitions of contemporary art across a range of media including painting, works on paper, photography, new media and sculpture.
Choose a starting date
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: 04 Jun 2025End Date: 09 Jul 2025Wed (Daytime): 14:00 - 16:00In PersonFull fee £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £103.00
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?
This is a site-based course which aims to explore London’s contemporary art scene through visits to a range of galleries, from the public to commercial and artist-led spaces. Sessions focus on how to read and engage with contemporary art exhibitions in a range of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, new media and installation.
A full list of meeting places will be emailed to you a week before the course begins.
What will we cover?
-Artists’ techniques, materials and approaches when making their work.
-Specific themes related to each artist’s work.
-The role and impact of how an artist’s work is curated and how a display is constructed.
-How an exhibition space or venue influences the presentation and theme(s) of artworks.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
By the end of this course you should be able to:
-Gain confidence in analysing a range of contemporary artworks by participating in discussions with fellow students and your tutor.
-Develop your visual analytic skills in identifying different media used by artists in the work observed.
-Identify at least two different processes and/or techniques used by the artists discussed.
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, handouts, and health and safety information.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
You will be taught with lecture and discussion around and within gallery spaces and some handouts. This course uses a Google Classroom to post optional reading & resources in advance of each week. You will be sent an invitation to join the Google Classroom within a week of the course start date.
This course takes place offsite in galleries around London. Offsite courses take place during public access hours. Tutors are not able to control sound levels or behaviours of visitors outside of the course group, gallery closures or fire alarms. Unless you are a wheelchair user, and have confirmed access details with us (as levels of access can vary between buildings), you will need to be able to walk between sites and stand for some time while looking at them (you may bring your own portable stool if you have one, but we cannot guarantee access to seating offsite.) If you feel you may be impacted by these environmental variations, please inform the department on humanities@citylit.ac.uk before the course begins, to discuss reasonable accommodations we can make to assist your learning in offsite.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
Students are expected to pay for their own travel costs to the galleries. You might wish to purchase a notebook for taking notes.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
You can take this course multiple times. Because gallery shows change frequently, we visit different shows each term. It is never the same twice.
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Francesca Laura Cavallo is a curator, art historian, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies at the University of Kent, with whom she organises the annual festival Brazil Footprint oo. Her work combines research and practice to explore how the arts can be mobilised to transform public perceptions and attitudes towards risk, ecology, health and sustainability. She has curated exhibitions and public programmes at the Science and Industry Museum, the Barbican, Turner Contemporary and the ICA; and internationally at Manifesta 11, Zurich; Cabinet, New York; 98 weeks, Beirut, and Andersen Museum in Rome, among others. Cavallo has a PhD in Art History from the University of Kent, where she has taught various courses in Art History, Curating and Aesthetics. Previously, she was a research associate for the Organising Disaster project at Goldsmith and taught at the London College of Communication and Royal College of Art. She has also worked in community development and art-related projects in the UK, US, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Lebanon and Uruguay.
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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