Study

About the Programme 

The content of this MSc reflects current debates that are impacting the way in which we conserve, steward, and care for contemporary art and media, with a critical attention to the values, biases, assumptions, and histories that underpin conservation practice, and the urgent challenges facing the sector more broadly. This thinking underpins a programme that is fundamentally grounded in hands-on training for real-world situations. 

Across two years of full-time study students acquire a foundational knowledge of conservation theories and ethics; the diverse materials, media, and practices employed by contemporary artists and creative practitioners; and the array of scientific, technical, analytical, interpersonal, and decision-making skills and methods used to care for contemporary artworks and safeguard their supporting ecologies. 

While the programme allows for a degree of medium-specific specialisation according to students’ interests and career aspirations, the curriculum is aimed at equipping students to be well-rounded conservation professionals able to work across disciplines, in diverse contexts and professional settings, and with both an awareness and sensitivity towards the variety of materials, media, and forms of creative practice that they are likely to encounter in their careers. This is delivered through combinations of seminar, lecture, lab-based practicals, core skills sessions, individual and group project work, work placements, and dissertation research, and further supplemented through additional workshops, guest lectures, lab and studio visits, and other training opportunities. 

This MSc programme is purposefully small by design, enabling close mentorship from staff to support students’ acquisition of the complex range of skills needed for them to become part of the professional community caring for contemporary art and media. Students benefit from the varied and complimentary range of expertise from our teaching and support staff, and the close mentorship they receive over two years. 

How is the programme structured?   

Because our students come from a range of different academic and cultural backgrounds with diverse experiences, skillsets, and professional aspirations, we work hard to support students in their own personal trajectory building the expertise and knowledge necessary to enter or develop within this profession. During the two-year programme you will develop a critical understanding of the practice and theory of conservation working on a range of conservation challenges.    

Year 1 

In the first two terms of the MSc you will be introduced to the diversity of media and materials employed in the production of contemporary art and the common methods of their examination, analysis, and preservation. In our first-year core module Examining and Analysing Artworks —through a mix of seminar, lecture, and practical sessions—you will learn some of the common tools and methods employed by conservators to characterise and care for time-based media (TBM) artworks, including works involving video, sound, slide and film, software, and live performance. In the second term you will learn about tools and methods of examination and analysis used to characterise and care for contemporary sculpture, installation, and the variety of materials employed in contemporary artworks.  

Through our other first-year core module Conserving Complexity you will gain an understanding of the development of the field, and the key principles and debates underpinning current practice for conserving complex contemporary artworks. You will learn about how ethics and politics intersect with the conservation of contemporary art, including consideration of issues of climate change; legacies of colonial practices within conservation; and approaches to working with artists, their representatives, and broader communities. You will also build skills and knowledge related to methods of documentation, risk assessment and preventive conservation, copyright law, digital preservation principles and practices, disk imaging and emulation, and conservation workflows for digitising and preparing video artworks for display. By the end of Term 2 you will be able to undertake independent research to develop and carry out conservation plans for a range of contemporary artworks and objects.  

Accepting that students will have different levels of chemistry, you will learn about the deterioration of contemporary materials through practical lab classes aimed at helping you develop the skills to recognise visible signs of deterioration and an understanding of various degradation mechanisms and phenomena.    

In our core module Communicating Conservation you will reflect on the place of conservation within society, and develop the skills to advocate for conservation, and communicate its relevance to diverse audiences in varied settings. Through a mix of lectures, seminars and practical work you will become acquainted with how conservation intersects with a range of broader societal challenges. Practical work will translate our learning and our thinking about audiences through a collaborative project resulting in a creative output, which might be realised in a variety of different ways including video, a game, podcasts, a zine or in the creation of a display at the UCL Marshgate building.   

In the third term of the first year you will attend an Advanced Seminar in the Conservation of Contemporary Art and Media. This problem-led module—developed collaboratively with the conservation team at the V&A—is designed to expose you to a range of real-world conservation challenges facing objects in museum settings.  

Students also enrol in one of our Studio Practice modules in the third term focusing on either Sculpture, Installation, and Contemporary Materials or Time-Based Media. Working with loaned in artworks and collection objects (see Conservation Loan Partners on our Partnerships page), you will build on the skills acquired in the previous two terms to assess their current status and the conservation risks they face; propose and carry out a conservation treatment; and create thorough documentation of your actions and interventions with the view towards building your decision-making, hand, and technical skills, as well as your portfolio for future employers. Students may elect to enrol in a different Studio Practice module in their second year. 

You will also have the option to enrol in an intensive, week-long module on a special topic which varies year on year; to date these have focused on the conservation of performance art and the conservation of kinetic art.  

During the first year there will also be optional modules in art history and archival practice. UCL East also offers a range of modules for all students for example to develop your business skills or to explore sustainability and decision making. You will also be able to opt to study a language, or develop your academic English for international students. 

Year 2 

Central to the second year is a work placement at one of the many institutions with which the programme has a partnership, and typically occurs during the first term over several weeks or months. This work placement will uniquely prepare you for workplace contexts while developing your practical skills and portfolio. For more on our placement hosts visit our Partnerships page.  

Students also carry out their dissertation research in Terms 2 and 3 of their second year. Your dissertation project may build on work carried out during your placement, artworks or objects treated in your Studio Practice module, or other relevant research topics related to contemporary art conservation. You will receive close mentorship and supervision from the programme’s teaching and support staff. 

In the second year you will have the opportunity to join MA History of Art students at the Bloomsbury campus to study key debates in art history as well as programme specific modules and UCL East electives.  

For more information on core and elective modules please visit our Prospectus page.