Major Project Streams/Thematics

These thematics are active research areas within the school of Art, Design and Printing for information about research within the school see RADICUL
Text and Type
Clare Bell, Mary Ann Bolger, Brenda Dermody, Noel Fitzpatrick
Encouraging critique of typography as practice and as cultural artifact through visual and textual explorations students will reflect critically on their self-directed practice in light of seminar and tutorial discussion informed by course content. Students will also be asked to contexualise their practice in relation to current academic, cultural and professional paradigms.

Narrative and the Image
Noel Fitzpatrick, John Short, Tom Kelly, Brenda Duggan
This thematic stream will bring together various concerns relating to the construction of narrative within visual contexts. By investigating theories and models of narrative and narratology from within contemporary literary theory it is hoped to explore their relevance in relation to the image. The stream will look at non-linear narrative, interactivity, design strategies and digital formats. It will also focus on originating visual documentary methods, originating research gathering methods on location and will develop innovative creative techniques by exploring how temporality and sequence effect the construction of narrative meaning making of the image.

Design Participation and Usability
Robert Tully, Brenda Duggan, Barry Sheehan, Tom Raven, Mary Ann Bolger
This stream examines the impact of human, cultural and social factors on design with a particular focus on participatory culture, networks and ethnographicaly-informed practice.

The Dublin Project
John Walsh, Barry Sheehan
The Dublin Project is an initiative by Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Dublin City Council (DCC) and Design TwentyFirst Century (D21C) to make a positive change in the City of Dublin by bringing their resources and expertise together to solve challenging problems facing Dublin City. The project will prototype new models for solving important issues challenging 21st century cities.
The project centres on a one-year, three-semester Masters programme. The Dublin Project Masters programme will run for a four-year cycle focussing on different issues each year. In the founding year the Dublin Project partners will join with the Institute without Boundaries (IwB) from Toronto, Canada and produce a shared project with joint outcomes. IwB are coming to Dublin as part of their City Systems Project in October 2012 and IwB staff and students will work on the same problem as the Dublin Project Partners. This will culminate in a joint exhibition in 2013. 


Art and Temporalities
Brian Fay, Anita Groener, Noel Fitzpatrick, Tim Stott
This thematic stream investigates current debates concerning the temporalities of artistic practice and problems of time in the interpretation and criticism of works of art. Arguably the problems of time within artistic practice have been overlooked in favour an emphasis placed on site, context and medium. Yet to analyse the time-specificity of works of art is to raise fundamental philosophical questions about the nature of time and about the interpretation and distribution of works of art.

Semiotics and the Visual
Ronan McCrea, Tim Stott, Amy Walsh, Noel Fitzpatrick, Mary Ann Bolger
This thematic stream investigates the historical and linguistic presuppositions of semiotics insofar as it bears upon the interpretation and construction of visual material. It will contextualise and challenge semiotics as a predominant analytical paradigm of the visual in contemporary criticism and practice, with a particular focus upon contemporary practices.

Memory and Material Culture
Niamh Ann Kelly, Mary Ann Bolger, Tom Raven, Noel Fitzpatrick
This thematic stream explores the central tenets of the relationship between memory studies and visual and material cultures, in terms of personal, collective, private and public modes of remembrance. Students will engage with key philosophies of memory formation and the study of visual and material cultures (through a range of methodologies) within the context of contemporary debates.

Interpretation, Representation and Criticism
Tim Stott, Niamh Ann Kelly, Mary Ann Bolger, Noel Fitzpatrick
This thematic stream investigates the construction of ‘critique’, ‘criticism’, and ‘critical practice’ across disciplines. It will examine in particular the distribution of roles and values associated with these terms historically and at present, the development of criteria of evaluation and judgement, and the construction of publics and public representatives of culture.

Transdisciplinary Practices
Joe Hanly, Anna Macleod, Naomi Sex
This enquiry led thematic stream will investigate trans-disciplinary research and practice methodologies in current artistic discourse. It will examine participatory, interventionist, collaborative and dialogic modes of working including strategies of image-making and recent documentary practices in contemporary art.