MA Art in Science

About this course

The MA Art in Science programme explores the rich and complex intersection of disciplines through meaningful collaboration between artists and scientists.

Art and science are often seen as two different entities with very separate ideas of what constitutes research. Increasingly, collaborations between artists and scientists are a feature of our cultural landscape. Traditionally this relationship has been perceived as art in the service of science, whereby artists use their skills to visually interpret or communicate complex scientific ideas, objects or forms. However, a hybrid form of research has emerged over the last 30 years where artists and scientists are interested in the creative possibilities and speculative futures of the intersection of these two cultures.

The MA Art in Science programme is an exciting opportunity for artists and scientists to explore the boundaries of art and science, and encourages students to consider, adopt and implement a range of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary methods, to refine, extend, develop and critically reflect upon their own practice, enhancing the skills that they bring with them to the programme and those that they develop during their studies.

• Enrol on an innovative programme, collaboratively developed with academic experts across a number of disciplines that include: Art and Design, Sports Science, Microbiology, Forensics, Public Health, Astrophysics, and Botany.
• Explore the relationship between art and science, including the historical and theoretical connections between art and science as cultures and practices, and understand how these ideas translate into contemporary experiences.
• Develop real world skills and decide which areas of art and science you wish to investigate as you progress through the programme.
• Design and deliver art-science practice-based or practice-led research projects in unexpected forms.
• Enjoy access to a number of different established art and science research centres across Liverpool John Moores University.
• Take advantage of the generous Michael Pugh Thomas and Julia Carter Preston Legacy £1000 scholarships offered to postgraduate applicants.
• Apply for postgraduate Susan Cotton travel funding to expand your research and cultural experience.
• This programme is also available in part-time study mode.

The programme fosters an inquisitive approach whereby the focus is on encounters with new practical skills and ideas to develop the student's art-science praxis. By acknowledging the specific relationships within, between, beyond or across conventional disciplines, and by working as individuals or in groups, or establishing new relationships and collaborations, students will produce innovative, visionary and speculative practical outcomes in the context of one or more disciplinary contexts. Outcomes will be creatively driven and evidence critical reflection.

Learning takes place predominantly through workshops lectures, seminars, reading groups and studio crits. You will study themes related to art-science interactions; studio/lab practice at the boundaries of disciplines; visualising the unseen and objectivity/subjectivity; ethics of display of human remains; anatomical and medical art; arts in health and graphic medicine; bioart, biohacking and bioethics; transhumanism and digital bodies; working with humans in research, and art-science public engagement.

Alongside your fellow Art in Science students there will also be several opportunities to collaborate with students and staff from the MAs in Cities, Exhibition Studies, Fashion Innovation, Fine Art, Illustration, and Immersive Media, particularly during two modules shared by all the postgraduate taught programmes.

You will be able to access a number of different research centres and cultural institutions across Liverpool to support your learning experience, including the World Museum Liverpool, Liverpool Medical Institution, Astrophysics Research Institute, Research Institute for Sports and Exercise Sciences, Public Health Institute, Forensic Research Institute, and Institute of Art and Technology. 

Guest lecturers working across art-science disciplines will expose students to critically engaged making and design practices, and learning from and interacting with globally renowned practitioners and researchers; students will receive a rich and diverse introduction to a range of international collaborative practices that are at the root of cutting edge art-science collaborative research.

Collaborative opportunities enable you to specialise throughout the programme and, on graduation, you will leave with a portfolio of practical skills in areas such as visual interpretation and presentation of complex scientific ideas. You will develop an understanding of the research skills required to be employed as an artist in a scientific field, including an understanding of ethics and public engagement. As a graduate you will be able to apply critical and practical skills, research techniques and understanding of art-science praxis in your chosen career.