The aim of the EINA EHEA Official Master's: University Master's Degree in Research in Art and Design is to equip students with abilities related to skills for researching, thinking, rethinking, arguing and writing on current issues and problems in the theory and practice of art and design. It also promotes the production of creative processes through artistic research and the practice of design.

The MURAD is the EHEA University Master's Degree in Research in Art and Design of EINA and the UAB. Its aim is to open up an experimental space for study, work and exchange in which every student can undertake their design and/or art research project. Throughout the course, students are offered and given practice in the methodological and conceptual skills and tools they will need to undertake it with a level of excellence, respecting the individualities of each student. The course fosters skills in putting forward an academic argument, writing and publication, along with the creative processes of practice-based research. The thematic focuses are in the areas of visual creation, project culture and aesthetics applied to research in art and design.

The MURAD offers the possibility of continuing studies in the doctoral line of “Applied aesthetics in research in art and design” as an itinerary on the Doctoral Programme of the Department of Philosophy of the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Teaching sessions on the MURAD are organised into four types: A) Research Activities, B) Workshops, C) Seminars, and D) Visits/Interviews, and are primarily related to research projects and cultural institutions. The final aim of the sessions, and of the overall Master’s curriculum, is to benefit the personal production of each research project that will be submitted at the end of the academic year as the Final Master’s Degree Project.

Connections with National and International Centres of Creation, Production and Research.

The benefits of the experience gained from five editions of the Master's Degree in Research in Art and Design have been strengthened by the research agreements, collaborations and exchanges undertaken with various cultural institutions and universities. To date, students from the different editions have had the opportunity to undertake projects, take part in joint sessions and collaborate with the following institutions:

Barcelona Design Museum, EDIVI
Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona
Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, MACBA
CCCB. Centro de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona
Espacio exotérico, MACBA
La Escocesa. Centre of Creation, Barcelona.
Hangar. Visual Arts Production and Research Center, Barcelona
Fabra i Coats. Art Factory, Barcelona.
Idensitat, Barcelona
Cercle Artistic Sant Lluc, Barcelona
Carnegie Mellon University, CM

Experimentation and Multidisciplinarity

The Master's Degree in Research in Art and Design fosters experimentation in emerging fields of art and design, ensuring that the Final Master’s Degree Project is a construction of a unique and original itinerary where theory and practice are able to converge. Of paramount interest is the continuity between the two, which are always viewed as forms of knowledge production resulting from a process of enquiry.

To achieve this, the master’s degree has an extensive staff of lecturers and tutors who are experts in numerous aspects of innovative art and design practices and in current trends in thought and aesthetics. This multidisciplinarity is divided into five fields of research, with their convergences and developments:

Art and Design Research Methodology
Contemporary Art and Design Practices
Food Design, Edible Art and the Aesthetics of Taste / Transition Design and Contextual and Relationship Artistic Practices / Design, Art and Critical Cartography / Game Design and Design Fiction / Bioart and Biodesign / Sound Design and Art / Big Data & Social Media / Post-digital Design and Art / Sustainable Design and Art / Multiculturalism in Art and Design.
Critiquing and Curating in Art and Design.
Narrative in Art and Design: construction of pasts and futures. The project as a story.
Knowledge Design, Data Display and Interfaces

Modality:This course is offered onsite

Programme

Compulsory modules:

M1. Contemporary Thought I (6 ECTS, Obligatory)
M2. Contemporary Art (6 ECTS, Obligatory)
M3. Contemporary Design (6 ECTS, Obligatory)
M4. Artistic Research I (6 ECTS, Obligatory)
M5. Design Research I (6 ECTS, Obligatory)
M6. Critique Workshop (6 ECTS, Obligatory)
M11. Final Master's Degree Project (12 ECTS, Obligatory)

Optional modules:

Speciality in Project Culture

M7. Design Culture (6 ECTS, Optional)
M8. Design Research II (6 ECTS, Optional)

Speciality in Visual Creation

M9. Contemporary Thought II (6 ECTS, Optional)
M10. Artistic Research II (6 ECTS, Optional)

Module description

Module 1: Contemporary Thought I

Review of some of the theories and discussions on philosophy and the theory of art and design, of contemporary sociology and cultural anthropology, particularly the more relevant ones for a correct understanding and updating of the crossroads at which contemporary art and design find themselves.

Module 2: Contemporary Art

Critical examination of the most significant recent artistic phenomena and their relationship with the artistic practices and other cultural practices of the last century, especially those of design, and focusing all those that exemplify the passage of the experimentation of the avant-garde to contemporary artistic research.

Module 3: Contemporary Design

Research seminar on creation and innovation processes in relation to techno-cultural and socio-economic transformations that comprise current design. Particular attention will be given to the appearance of new fields within design practice, their presence in emerging economic sectors related to services and knowledge, and the hybridisation of design with cultural practices and the creative industries as a whole.

Module 4: Artistic Research I

Seminars and workshops with artists and about artists and contemporary art movements given by well-known creators and specialists. The main theme is art as a form of thought and research into all types of anthropological, political and social questions which provides students with an overall cartography of these kinds of cognitive practices and how they function.

Module 5: Design Research I

Critical analysis of new trends in design processes and their expansion into emerging fields and practices based on classification and valuation criteria constructed from institutions (museums, collections, publications).

Module 6: Critique Workshop

Art and design critique workshop run by professional critics, the curator's department and other professionals in the art of writing. During the workshop, art and design critique analysis exercises will be conducted by well-known professionals and, most especially, weekly critique writing and review practices by the students.

Module 7: Design Culture

Review of certain theories and authors, who, from the theory of design, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychology and other social sciences have helped enrich the theoretical frameworks of current design.

Module 8: Design Research II

Conferences, workshops and seminars which take a critical look at the new trends in design processes and their expansion into emerging fields and practices. Specific fields will be studied which favour the confluence of thought, scientific knowledge, artistic proposals and everyday practices. We will look at how these make us review aesthetic concepts and how they are creating new professional categories.

Module 9: Contemporary Thought II

A select and critical study of some of the discussions about the philosophy and theory of art and design that highlight the more distinctive traits of contemporary artistic practices, such as creativity, performativity, postmediality, intellectualisation and participation.

Module 10: Artistic Research II

Seminar on contemporary artists and artistic movements given by specialist creators and leading figures. The main topic is case analysis through which students learn how to distinguish when a project contributes to knowledge and to what extent.

Module 11: Final Master's Degree Project (FMP)

This consists of research work into art and/or design of a theoretical and/or practical nature with an original focus that may be considered to contribute to the knowledge about its subject.

The Final Master’s Degree Project is supervised by one of the master’s degree lecturers. The Final Master’s Degree Project will consist of the writing and viva voce of the result of an original research project. The Final Master’s Degree Project can be in two formats: ‘paper’ or project

‘Paper’ format
If it is a ‘paper’ project, it must focus on a specific research question and discuss the importance of this question in academic debates. This involves demonstrating:

knowledge and critical understanding of the academic debates about a subject
the capacity to focus the project on one specific question
the ability to establish connections between the theory and the examples or specific cases

The Final Master’s Degree Project must be submitted in the appropriate format to be presented as a ‘paper’ to an academic publication. Attached to this document will be a report detailing the research process followed, highlighting the contribution made by procedure and content that enable the quality of the research presented to be assessed. Overall, it will be a minimum of 30,000 words.

Project format

Given its nature, the Master's Degree in Research in Art and Design promotes artistic research and/or creative design research projects as Final Master’s Degree Projects with a level of completion and resolution that allow them to be displayed publicly. This work must be accompanied by a reasoned report on the project (including the proposal, the references cited and the detailed description of the production process) of a minimum of 17,000 words. Possibly, with the agreement of the Master’s Degree Coordinator, the project supervisor will decide the suitability and characteristics of the work chosen by the student.

Teaching staff in previous editions

Pere Castells, Oriol Castro, Fèlix Fanés, Christopher Green, Fréderic Lagarrigue, Antoni Marí, Yves Michaud, Antoni Miralda, Martí Perán, Josep Perelló, Francisca Pérez, Sevérine Rouillan, Ismael Vallvé