BA (Hons) Visual Culture

The Visual Culture BA programme offers an opportunity to go on a 3 day study visit each year. In spring 2022 we went to Venice and in spring 2019 we went to Berlin. A copy of the Berlin programme and photographs by Pádraig Cunningham appear below (scroll down).

Visual Culture Study Visit to Venice, May 2022

Visual Culture Study Visit to Berlin, May 2019

MONDAY 13th MAY

7.20 RYANAIR flight to Berlin (FR 8556) arriving 10.35 AM at Berlin Schoenefeld

We will take a local train to Ostbahnhof, the station nearest to our hotel.

Our accommodation is at Schulz Hotel, Stralauer Platz 36, 10243 Berlin. 

Meet in reception of hotel at 11.30 to walk / take U/S-Bahn through the city to see Cold War landmarks - Karl Marx Allee / Alexanderplatz / Television Tower / Mauerpark / Hansaviertel

c. 16.00 Visit to Bauhaus Imaginista exhibition at Der Haus der Kulturen Der Welt, John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin.

bauhaus imaginista narrates the international histories of the Bauhaus. Since its foundation in 1919, the school was in contact with other avant-garde movements worldwide. bauhaus imaginistaproposes a rereading of the Bauhaus as a cosmopolitan project with global resonances: A major exhibition and two conferences trace transnational relations, correspondences, and narratives of migration, going beyond the years the Bauhaus was active as a school (until 1933). For the first time, the project tracks the translation of Bauhaus concepts into different political and geographical contexts.

TUESDAY 14th MAY - LONG DAY!

c. 10.00 AM Neues Museum

The Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island was built between 1841 and 1859. Extensive bombing during  the Second World War left the building in ruins, with entire sections missing completely and others severely damaged. Few attempts at repair were made after the war when the building found itself on the Eastern side of the Wall, and the structure was left exposed to nature.

In 1997, David Chipperfield Architects won the international competition for the rebuilding and sought to find ways of exposing this history in the design. It is a brilliant example of what is sometimes called ‘The Poetic Museum’.

There is a slide show about the reconstruction on David Chipperfield’s website. There is a good summary article on Dezeen here.

You can then use your museum pass to visit one of the other four venues on the ‘Museum Island’ – the Pergamon Museum, Bode Museum, German Historical Museum, Altes Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie (including its VR response to German Romanticism – see here - as well as its major collections of C18th and C19th paintings)  

LUNCH – this is a popular district with tourists and so can be pricey. Best options are to walk over to Hackescher Markt.

Meet at the entrance of the Neues Museum at 15.00 to head west.

c. 15.30 Hamburger Banhoff - Museum of Contemporary Art – details here. (Nearest station Hauptbanhof).

There are various displays but the main show is on Emil Nolde. A German Legend. The Artist during the Nazi Regime.

c. 18.00 Akademie Der Kunste Pariser Platz. There is presently a small installation of Eileen Gray – E.1027 Master Bedroom  

19.30 We are booked in to visit the Reichstag Dome, an extension added to the German parliament by architect Norman Foster in 2004.

WEDNESDAY 15th MAY

10.00 am Jüdisches Museum (Jewish Museum) - details here. (Nearest station Kochstraße)

Designed by Daniel Libeskind, the Jewish Museum is one of the most celebrated works of architectural deconstruction of the late C20th. The architect sought to find ways of reflecting the presence and loss of Jewish society in Germany.

For a strongly argued piece on the problems of holocaust memorials and tourism, see here.

12.00 midday Berlinische Galerie (Alte Jakobstraße 124–128 10969 Berlin) - range of temporary shows plus permanent collection on Art in Berlin 1880-1980. Details here.

Lunchtime …

If you want, you can walk to Checkpoint Charlie from Berlinische Galerie to get lunch – 15 mins walk. Very touristy!

If you are interested in the history of the Third Reich and in particular the way in which it used violence against what it perceived as its enemies, you can visit The Topography of Terror exhibition at Niederkirchnerstraße 8, 10963 Berlin – 15 mins walk from Berlinische Galerie. It is free.

Between 1933 and 1945, the central institutions of Nazi persecution and terror – the Secret State Police Office with its own “house prison,” the leadership of the SS and, during the Second World War, the Reich Security Main Office –  were located on the present-day grounds of the “Topography of Terror” 

16.00 In the Blink of A Bird, exhibition at nGbK, Oranienstraße 25, 10999 Berlin (Nearest station Moritzplatz)

The project »In the Blink of A Bird« was initiated by the artist collective Sis*. Working collaboratively, Sis negotiates themes of freedom of expression, bureaucracy, and immigration. In Turkey, print and radio media in particular are increasingly subject to regulations that restrict freedom of speech. To demonstrate the subversive potential of these media, the artists of the collective chose techniques from these fields for their work. More details here.

18.00 Performance at nGbK, Oranienstraße 25, 10999 Berlin,  Post Truth Spa Center - seance02 by Turkish artist Şafak Çatalbaş.

Nearby … the daadgalerie (Oranienstraße 161) shows the works of international artists who have been given opportunities by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) to come to Berlin to make their art. DAAD recipient in 2003, Mexican artist Minerva Cuevas is showing her work related to the history of children’s play. See here and a piece on Cuevas here.

THURSDAY 16th MAY

11.00 AM Visit to ‘Bauhaus and Photography. On Neues Sehen in Contemporary Art’ and Alan Sekula exhibitions at the Museum für Fotografie (Jebensstraße 2, 10623 Berlin) – details here (Nearest station Zoologischer Garten)

The Bauhaus is not just a key figure in the history of twentieth-century design and art, but also of photography. How are the innovations that were made then still influencing the evolution of the visual language of today’s photography and contemporary aesthetic concepts? What role does the photographic avant-garde of circa 1930 play for contemporary artists? This exhibition juxtaposes works by artists such as László Moholy-Nagy, Lucia Moholy, Man Ray, Jan Tschichold, Hedda Walther, Florence Henri, Hans Robertson and Erich Consemüller with groups of works by Thomas Ruff, Dominique Teufen, Daniel T. Braun, Wolfgang Tillmans, Doug Fogelson, Max de Esteban, Viviane Sassen, Stephanie Seufert, Kris Scholz, Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs, Antje Hanebeck and Douglas Gordon.

Lunch … the area around Kurfurstendamm has lots of cafes and shops.

The temporary Bauhaus Archive is nearby (while the building is being renovated) at Knesebeckstraße 1-2, 10623 Berlin. It looks more like a shop than a museum presently but the building itself designed by Paul Schwebes in the late 1950s is worth seeing. More details can be found here.

Also, nearby is the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche which was destroyed by the bombing of the city during the Second World War and was rebuilt by architect Egon Eiermann in the 1950s can be visited. It is a landmark of West Berlin, particularly before the fall of the wall.

OPTION 1

15.00 Museum Berggruen (Schloßstraße 1, 14059 Berlin) to see works by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Georges Braque and Henri Matisse. More details here (nearest station Richard-Wagner-Platz)

The Charlottenburg Palace nearby is open until 17.30 and your museum pass will give you entry. It is the former home of Prussian kings and is has many lavish Baroque and Rococo interiors for those who like that kind of thing.

OPTION 2

15.00 The Applied Art Museum /  Kunstgewerbemuseum (Matthäikirchplatz, 10785 Berlin) has many collections but the dress and fashion collection is particularly significant. The building is also a striking work of late modernism designed by Rolf Gutbrod. (Nearest station Potsdamer Platz – 10 mins walk)

Evening … Markthalle (Eisenbahnstrasse 42/43) is open late on Thursday evenings selling street food. This is about 15 mins walk from our hotel.

FRIDAY 17th MAY – FREE DAY

Suggestions of places to visit …

The Deutsche Kinematek is between exhibitions and so might not be worth visiting. If you are keen to see what is on, please look here.

Martin Gropius Bau

Niederkirchnerstraße 7, 10963 Berlin 
U2 (Potsdamer Platz) and U6 (Kochstraße)
S-Bahn S1, S2, S25 (Potsdamer Platz or Anhalter Bahnhof)

This is a major temporary art and design exhibition pace in the city. These are the shows which are on:

And Berlin Will Always Need You Art, Craft and Concept Made in Berlin

Gropius Bau explores the concept of crafts and handmade processes in Berlin’s contemporary art scene, taking its history as a former museum for decorative arts and educational institution as a starting point.

Museum in My Head – contemporary artists’ books

Coinciding with the reopening of the Gropius Bau in March, the Walther König Bookshop curates an exhibition of artist books focusing on collecting and archiving. The artist book is acknowledged as an art object in and of itself that produces special forms of knowledge and creation. Many of the books were published by the Verlag der Buchhandlung Walter König, whose bookshop is a long-standing partner of the Gropius Bau.

The Black Image Corporation - Theaster Gates

With The Black Image Corporation, Theaster Gates has conceived a participatory exhibition which explores the fundamental legacy of Johnson Publishing Company archives. Featuring more than four million images, they have contributed to shape the aesthetic and cultural languages of African American identity …

The Museum of Capitalism (Köpenicker Str. 172, 10997 Berlin) – here.

Contemporary art galleries

• KW Institute for Contemporary Art  (Auguststraße 69, 10117 Berlin) – details here.

• Boros Collection – a contemporary art collection in a Berlin Bunker in the Mitte District. Group visits only – booked in advance – 9 euro (Reinhardtstr. 20, 10117 Berlin-Mitte) – details here

• Bathanien Kunstlerhaus (Kottbusser Straße 10, 10999 Berlin) – here.

• Contemporary Fine Arts (Grolmanstraße 32/33 10623 Berlin – Charlottenburg) details here - Tal R show (worth seeing)

• EIGEN + ART (26 Auguststraße, Berlin) - details here

• KW Institute for Contemporary Art (118 Alexandrinenstraße, Berlin) – details here.

• Galerie Max Hetzler, 45 Bleibtreustraße, Berlin, Germany – details here

• Galerie Max Hetzler, Goethestraße 2-3, 10623 Berlin – details here

• Capitain Petzel (45 Karl-Marx-Allee, Berlin) – details here

• KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art (Am Sudhaus 3, 12053 Berlin) – details here (3 Euro) - featuring three shows: Jonathan Monk - Exhibit Model Four / Behind the Screen
  Group exhibition / Thomas Scheibitz Plateau mit Halbfigur

Dublin is an ideal setting for the study of Visual Culture. As the national capital, it is home to many of Ireland's major galleries and museums such as the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Ireland with its main specialist collection of decorative art at Collins Barracks. Major touring exhibitions from around the world come to the National Gallery of Ireland and the city's Hugh Lane Gallery. 

There are also many small museums with unique collections and lively exhibition programmes such as the Little Museum of Dublin and 14 Henrietta Street, a museum which takes visitors on historical journey through everyday life of the rich and the poor in the city in the last two centuries. The Visual Culture programme has strong links with these institutions and our students are encouraged to research their collections. Many also provide placement opportunities.

There is a thriving arts scene in the city with exhibition openings and talks every week in its many galleries and artists run spaces (many of whom are graduates of NCAD). The curatorial programmes of the Project Arts Centre and the Douglas Hyde Gallery regularly feature the work of major international artists. NCAD contributes to this lively community with its own gallery and public talks. Key publications are also published in the city including Paper Visual Art.

Specialist cinemas screen the best films from around the world including the Irish Film Institute, also home of the Irish Film Archives. Based in Dublin AEMI supports artists' moving image work.

Design is also well served in Dublin by professional groups who organise talks and other social events including the Irish Architecture Foundation and the Offset conference. The city's Science Gallery has been an important host of design exhibitions in recent years, many exploring mind-stretching themes like the future of food or the design of homes for life in inhospitable environments like space.

Please see the Study at NCAD and CAO for full application details.

All Undergraduate applications for Year 1 entry and Advanced entry through the CAO.

Year 2+ Advanced Entry Application Information 

NCAD Minimum Entry Requirements

Professional Practice

Professional practice is a core component of the BA in Visual Culture. In each year of study students undertake several professional practice modules, often delivered in collaboration with external professionals from Dublin’s leading museums, galleries and cultural organisations.

Partners include: Irish Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Ireland, National Gallery of Ireland, National Craft Gallery, Office of Public Works, Science Gallery, Little Museum of Dublin, EPIC: The Irish Emigration Museum, Museum of Style Icons, Centre for the Study of Irish Art, Irish Film Institute Archives, Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Project Arts Centre, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Oonagh Young Gallery, Whytes Auction House, Adam’s Auctioneers, A4 Sounds, Visual Artists Ireland, Russborough House, Ardgillan Castle, Mermaid Arts Centre, Bloom Advertising, Offset.

Year 1

In Professional Practice: Mediation students are introduced to the art world’s sites of display, production and dissemination, such as the studio, the gallery, the auction house and the art magazine. They learn about the economies of the art world and the differences between its public and the private sectors. This module includes a number of visits to Dublin’s museums and galleries to meet cultural professionals and a series of workshops where students learn how to write about art and design for different audiences.

In Materials, Processes and Technology students learn about ways and methods of making that span creative practices in craft and design. They look at techniques and processes that range from long-established practices such as weaving and printing to digital production using 3D printing. They also consider the materiality of making through a combination of taught classes and visits to workshops and studios across NCAD.

Year 2

Professional Practice: Institutions is an opportunity to immerse in an intensive period of research specifically focussed on institutional archives. The module collaborates with Ireland’s leading ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art (CSIA) at the National Gallery of Ireland, with additional visits to NCAD’s National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL). Working closely with professional researchers, students learn how to conduct research in an archive, how to use web-based platforms to track research, and how to speculatively write about and contextualise their findings. This challenging module includes a number of research visits and reading seminars, and culminates in a group publication.

Professional Practice: Exhibitions  sees students working with industry professionals to learn about the various aspects involved in delivering a thematic group exhibition for a museum or gallery, from research to curating, installing, interpreting and marketing the exhibition for different audiences. In 2021 the module was delivered in conjunction with the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). As 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of IMMA – celebrated with the Collection exhibition, The Narrow Gate of the Here and Now – students devised thematic exhibitions drawn from IMMA’s Collection in response to the anniversary.

In 2021 we introduced a new optional Professional Practice module on podcasting. Students learned how to record and edit audio, conduct interviews and write scripts on a topic or theme relating to Visual Culture of their own choosing. Expert radio specialists including Frank Sweeney of Dublin Digital Radio and Luke Clancy of Culture File (RTE Lyric) introduced studeents to their own practices.  

Year 3

The Placement Module sees students undertaking a 12-week long accredited work placement in a cultural organisation of their choice where they work closely with mentors to learn how different organisations are run. To date students have worked in museums, galleries, heritage sites, civic arts offices, archives, libraries, magazines, events promotion, advertising agencies and as artist and curator’s assistants.

Collaborative Practices sees students working with self-selected collaborators on a real-world project, utilising professional skills and academic learning to produce new work in a range of forms. Past outcomes have included photobooks, cafés, social media projects, exhibitions, zines, events and e-commerce initiatives.

Professional Practice: Situations is a research-orientated module which explores how Dublin has undergone political, cultural and economic change since the Celtic Tiger with an emphasis on the spaces and organisations which have shaped culture in the city.