Photography

This module provides the space where the four SODA research themes are investigated, explored. and applied. You will apply your advanced skills of transdisciplinary thinking and evaluation, collaboration with others and synthesis of your hybrid skills set. Within this module, you will critically select a Co-Lab theme that complements your creative practice. The module aims to develop your co-creative working skills, consolidate your knowledge of research methodologies, further develop creative thinking, scholarship, problem solving and ability to test your ideas.

In this module you will become familiar with the wide range of resources available in SODA and you will develop and broaden your technical skill set and explore the creative possibilities within the context of your own practice. 

You will also develop the skills to locate your work within historical and contemporary contexts and engage with critical debates and new perspectives on the ever-expanding territories of photography. You will develop a range of research and practice methodologies to explore concepts and test your ideas. Most importantly, this module provides you with the tools to work effectively and collaboratively across a range of specialisms within SODA that encourage exploratory and expanded understandings of new photographic practices. 

This module builds on Interdisciplinary Practice 1. You will develop a series of project outcomes that question and create relationships between ideas of the photographic and associated creative practices. It will provide you with opportunities to confidently generate ideas and critically assess research material and apply these in a way that informs your specific practice as a photographer. You will generate independent creative practical outcomes related to your specialist area of photography whilst growing your strategic network of emerging and established practitioners. The module focuses on collaboration with peers across the range of specialisms in SODA, sharing your skills with others along the way. 

Through this independent project module, you will have the opportunity to apply the contextual knowledge and interdisciplinary skills that you developed in the previous modules to produce a body of self-directed work. You will further hone your creative skills and practical methodologies and develop your discipline knowledge and creative problems solving skills. Shaped by independently defined interests, you will use your practice as an investigative tool, examining areas such as contemporary approaches to storytelling, the unique role of your discipline in the digital and creative sectors and the technological spaces that it occupies. Your work will adhere to industry standards while demonstrating a high degree of creativity, advanced problem solving, professionalism and critical analysis. 

In this module you will be introduced to storytelling techniques and narrative design concepts and skills for working across physical spaces and immersive digital media to engage audiences. Through hands-on sessions you will develop your core competencies and technical skills in designing a transformative immersive audience experience using a range of existing and emergent tools relevant in the creative and cultural industries including Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Spatial Audio production. With a focus on working collaboratively, you will begin to develop storytelling, design and research skills as a team following co-design methods that include ethical considerations as well as the competent use of individual skills in testing, fabricating, and concept design.

Humans make and rely on technologies, profoundly transforming the ways in we live, interact, and inhabit the world, and these can immensely vary between peoples and places, eras and ideologies. Shaping our world and our lives through technology comes with huge responsibility, and sometimes we fail to properly assess these changes against ethical, social, and ecological criteria. In this module, you will be given a comprehensive survey of technological developments, from traditional practices that are embedded in ecological processes, to the latest advances in computational automation. Borrowing methodologies from speculative design and fiction, you will research and assess a form of technology from humanity’s vast toolkit and imagine how this technology could be redesigned and reshaped, to be realigned with our changing world and principles, enacting new forms of interaction and interdependence.

In this module you will explore the application of an XR Immersive proposal through the lens of another discipline outside of the digital arts field. You will develop knowledge transfer skills by considering the function or role of the creative use of immersive technology in addressing complex societal or “wicked” challenges by addressing one or more of the issues articulated by the 17 United Nations Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) through the deployment of immersive arts practice. By considering experience as a primary way to create impact on audiences, you will develop and deliver a prototype creative piece and public programme proposal that applies immersive arts practice in a transdisciplinary way.

This module focuses on the myriad ways in which societies are embracing digital technologies, enabling new forms of sociality, governance, trade, services, distribution, cooperation, and community. Arguably, technology and society are inseparably entangled. As such, an advanced understanding and practice of ‘tech for social good’, requires us to consider social and technical development in parallel, towards new sociotechnical arrangements. We will investigate and critically evaluate sociotechnical concepts such as digital commons, cryptocurrencies, decentralisation, massive multiplayer games, and the sharing economy. Although these notions are primarily perceived as digital, they encroach on everyday life, and manifest in ways that lead to both challenges and opportunities. Networked technology can help societies self-organise, build new currencies, work from home, and distribute aid, for example. The module also addresses how aspects of social media have fractured society and undermined democracy.

In this module you will enhance your skills in academic postgraduate study. The module will equip you with the knowledge and understanding of advanced academic writing, including how to develop academic argument and critical commentary. You will build on and develop your confidence in academic and professional communication. During the module you will learn how to bring focused and coherent arguments, evaluation, theory and critical analysis to bear on your practice.

This module is intended to offer you an introduction to a world of playful and idiosyncratic ideas and provocations from contemporary thinkers. You will be offered the opportunity to explore a range of different perspectives on art and culture - in the widest possible sense - integrated with ways of thinking which will open out wider viewpoints on a range of themes that will impact on your own creative work.

As a postgraduate student in SODA, this module gives you the chance to consider the role of digital arts as a catalyst for sustainable futures. This is an opportunity to examine the cultural models and considerations surrounding sustainability and environmental awareness to create new, collaborative works that challenge, disrupt and engage.

In this module you will learn how digital art can be used to investigate and communicate social, political, and environmental issues. You will be introduced to interdisciplinary practices that use new techniques such as digital mapping and virtual reconstructions to expose, critique, and convey issues ranging from social justice to environmental degradation. You will identify and comprehensively research a specific scenario of enquiry. This will provide context, meaning and self-set challenges to your practice. By the end of this module you will be able to employ digital art tools and methods to examine and give voice to the pressing issues of our time.

In this module you will produce a finessed, critically informed Extended Reality immersive proposal and pitch deck aimed at an industry sector of your choice. Deploying both practical skills and research knowledge, you will develop an XR experience using iterative design and testing methods. You will be encouraged to work collaboratively and to develop a strong narrative that is supported by a realistic production pipeline with clearly defined milestones and outputs, and be encouraged to develop associated marketing, research and evaluation methods that demonstrates innovate thinking across the whole production process. Transdisciplinary by design, you will learn skills and techniques that can be applied across multiple industries and sectors where collaborative working towards a novel and immersive audience experience is key to success including artists, games design, therapeutic and other health services, theatre, music and marketing sectors.

This module focuses on developing knowledge, understanding and awareness of professional practice in your discipline and the wider associated industries. You will develop skills to enable the sharing of your work to reach appropriate audiences, collaborators and employers.