Art History and Visual Culture

Art history and visual culture is the study of how human beings have made and interpreted images, objects and spatial environments across time and cultures. It is a discipline that demands both close visual analysis, the careful reading of individual works in terms of their form, content and material, and broader historical, cultural and theoretical understanding of why and how visual art has been made and what it has meant in different contexts. Visual culture extends this outward to include photography, film, advertising, design and the full range of ways in which images shape contemporary life.

At the University of Brighton, this three-year full-time programme focuses on global art history and visual culture from the eighteenth century to the present, covering modern art, photography, multimedia and contemporary practices from a genuinely international perspective. It includes a sandwich year and a work placement, connecting your academic study to the professional world of arts, culture and visual communication. The placement might be in a gallery, museum, auction house, design company, publisher or cultural organisation, giving you direct professional experience alongside your critical and historical learning.

You will study the history of art and visual culture across periods and media, develop skills in visual analysis and art historical writing, engage with the major theoretical approaches to visual culture and explore how images and objects circulate and signify in contemporary society. Brighton's lively creative scene provides an engaging context for studying contemporary visual culture.

Graduates go on to careers in galleries, museums, auction houses, heritage organisations, arts administration, cultural journalism, publishing, education, advertising, graphic design and the wider creative industries. Some go on to postgraduate study in art history, museum studies, visual culture or arts management, including curatorial training and doctoral research.