New courses

Do you ever get the sense that things are constantly speeding up? Well, you’re not the only one! Since industrialisation, writers and artists have explored the accelerating effect of technological advancement. From the new perceptions of space and time produced by the railways to Marinetti’s Manifesto of Futurism, art and culture has always been in dialogue with new technologies, and the new subjective experiences they produce has likewise influenced literary and artistic form. In this course we will explore a range of materials (literature, art, photography, film) from the last 200 years to consider how cultural representations of gathering speed continue to help us to negotiate the now.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

This online course will look at the unique style of writers who emerged at the end of the nineteenth century. We’ll explore fin de siècle writers who were grappling with new questions of modernity. Using the exciting backdrop of the 1890s, this course explores the cultural innovations of the period alongside the works of Oscar Wilde and other writers of this period.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

In contrast to American science fiction (SF) cinema of the same period, British SF cinema of the 1950s and 1960s often adopts a low-key and realist approach, with narratives featuring small groups, or communities, under threat from aliens or technological disaster. Explore a range of films and the way in which they constitute a distinctive branch of the genre, and of British cinema more generally.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Explore the artistic practice of contemporary artist Ellen Gallagher and how the research of history is at the core of the art she creates. This lecture will focus on her drawing practice, emphasising works in the collection of the British Museum and shown recently in London at the Tate, Hayward Gallery and Royal Academy.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Have you ever wondered how works of art and cultural objects have been collected for public museums and galleries in Britain? Who collected these objects? What functions have public collections played in society? Why ‘collect for the nation’?



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

From creation to distribution, the explosion of digital technologies has transformed artmaking in a myriad of ways. In this session, we will journey across the Great Firewall to explore contemporary, new media art China.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

In this course students will be introduced to theories of posthumanism that suggest ways we can embrace ‘monstruous’ identities and ‘mutant’ forms of knowing. Through popular science fiction films and literary texts, we will contemplate the complex coming together and apart of bodies-minds-worlds in contemporary culture and explore experiences of hybridity and metamorphosis.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

The 2016 referendum result was one of the most significant events in recent British history. How can novels, written in that moment, shed light on the run-up to the vote and its immediate aftermath?



On this course we’ll study three fascinating and powerful novels, by Ali Smith, Anthony Cartwright and Adam Thorpe, exploring their stories and the backdrop they present of Britain’s divisions and connections.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Discover the types of women who don't conform to social rules, who wield a supernatural power that destablises the status quo. From the threatening type to the empowered woman, join us for an exploration of the femme fatale in early modern and modern European art.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Create a live website using Framer, no coding knowledge required. This covers technical aspects of Framer (software) and how to design visually compelling webpages by learning UI design and brand principles.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Explore the work of Van Eyck in relation to Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelites more generally; consider how this 15th century painter influenced artists some 300 years later.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.

Join us for a close reading of the works of Fra Filippo Lippi and Fra Angelico, two of 15th century Italy's most influential artists. We study their techniques, their subject matter and how they communicated narratives in painting. Explore all the wonderful tactile visual details they added to the works.



This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.