Visual Arts and Film

Visual arts and film brings together studio-based practice and critical inquiry into moving image, creating a programme for students who want to make things, think carefully about how images work, and engage with the long conversation between visual art and cinema. Fine art and related disciplines have always had a complex relationship with film, from the avant-garde cinema of the early twentieth century to contemporary video installation and the influence of visual artists on narrative filmmaking. Studying them together develops both a practical making capability and a sophisticated critical language for talking and writing about visual culture.

At Durham, which combines a strong tradition in fine art with an internationally recognised film studies department, this three-year full-time degree develops your studio practice alongside your ability to engage with film history, theory, and criticism. You will make work across a range of media, including video, while also studying the history of cinema, approaches to film analysis, and the critical theory that surrounds both visual art and film culture. A sandwich year and year abroad are both available within the programme, and work placement activity is embedded throughout, connecting your academic and studio experience to professional contexts in galleries, film, and the creative industries.

Graduates move into careers in the visual arts, film, and creative industries more broadly. Some work as practising artists or filmmakers, often alongside teaching or other creative work. Others move into gallery and museum curatorial and educational roles, arts administration, film criticism and journalism, arts marketing, and the growing range of roles in the digital and interactive media sector.

Durham's reputation and the rigour of the programme support strong graduate outcomes. Postgraduate study in fine art, film studies, or visual culture is a common route for those who want to pursue research or develop their practice at an advanced level.