A continuously expanding view of culture: BA Culture Criticism and Curation at 20
- Written byCat Cooper
- Published date 30 April 2025
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Coinciding with the twentieth year of BA Culture, Criticism and Curation (BACCC) at CSM, the TRANSCESTRY exhibition at the Lethaby Gallery reminds us of the cultural currency this course community feeds into the public domain.
TRANSCESTRY is curated by BACCC Stage Leader E-J Scott. The trans-inclusive guidance for cultural institutions that is its ethical framework is embedded into the course curriculum, with live student projects exploring what it looks like to evolve culturally accessible exhibition design.
At its core, BACCC’s spirit is its openness to what is counted as culture, which in turn enables the broadest possible breadth of perspectives to be tested, questioned and analysed in an academic context.
Zoning in on how culture is mediated to audiences, BACCC is an ever-shifting space that generates and exists within the diverse and eclectic practices of its students and staff teams. Student outputs include zines, exhibition proposals, video essays, public cultural events, and exhibitions in London. An incubator for collaboration, students critically dissect subjects, challenge assumptions and debate with one another. Many of them find their collaborators within the programme and go on to co-produce cultural and social value on a wider scale within the creative and cultural industries.
Founded in 2004 by Professor Caroline Dakers, BACCC emerged came on the scene to offer a multi-disciplinary degree that expands contemporary understanding of art history and practice and curatorial studies. Two decades on, it continues to build on this legacy. Today, with Course Leader Nathalie Khan, the course community is one of interdisciplinary scholars who believe in the transformational power of education, one where students and tutors can co-produce learning environments built on equity.
Embracing design, fine art, architecture, fashion, film, performance and literature, BA Culture, Criticism and Curation offers a fluid space for navigating, communicating, challenging and curating the unfixed and ever evolving dimensions of culture.
Catching up with alumni in the industry
“The course appealed to me because it's multidisciplinary and I wanted something that felt very broad. You don't have to stick to art history or journalism specifically – you can get a sense of lots of different subjects and figure out what you're interested in. CSM really helped with refining my writing skills because BACCC is an essay-based course. It also really helped with critical thinking – being able to analyse different things and approach them from a slightly different perspective.” Adeola Gay, The Other Art Girl, Senior Curatorial Manager, Artsy. 2019 graduate.
Read our interview with Adeola from April 2025.
“My time at Central Saint Martins was transformative—both professionally and personally. What began as a research project during my BA in Culture, Criticism, and Curation evolved into a deeply personal journey of self-discovery. I had arrived in London from Germany at 17, and CSM became the place where I truly grew up—where I found not only my voice, but the confidence to own it. What made this growth possible was the unwavering support and insight of the professors—mentors who treated learning not just as instruction, but as a shared, living experience. Their guidance challenged and inspired me, and shaped the way I engage with the world as a critical thinker and cultural practitioner.” Lili-Maxx Hager, Assistant producer at Artangel. 2018 graduate.
The course gave me a solid understanding of the art world in general, across the art market, curating, communications and many other facets, which has been so useful throughout my career so far.
Aside from the obvious learning about journalism and arts communications on the course, definitely my writing skills. I write and proofread lots of copy in my role, including press releases and communications strategies. The research skills I honed on the course are very useful too. Before I put together a press strategy, I always do a deep dive into the artist and their past press coverage, seeing who has written about them." Emma Vooght, Associate Director of Communications, White Cube, 2014 graduate.
“I work a lot with different curators and educators and being able to bring their words to life and social media posts in a kind of short and snappy way has really evolved from my writing here on the course. I didn't know that you could be taught how to curate art shows or be taught how to write about art, and I just think that is such an amazing skill to have.” Ellie Wyant, Senior Communications Manager, Social Media and Communities, National Gallery. 2012 graduate
Shelf Life
In collaboration with Camden Council and Camden Art Collection, BA Culture, Criticism and Curation final year students have curated the Shelf Life exhibition showing 16 April to 29 May 2025 at Swiss Cottage Gallery, Swiss Cottage Library.
Still life paintings from the Collection by artists including David Hockney, Robert Macbryde, Rigmor Hansen, Leonard Applebee, Daphne Sandham, and Martin Fidler feature alongside newly commissioned artwork by Ela Kazdal and Matthew Dardart.
Composed of objects commonly found in local markets, such as packaging crates and cardboard boxes, these new works subvert and reimagine the traditional still life genre. Everyday items are transformed into dynamic, 3-dimensional pieces that capture and reflect the precarious yet persistent communal energy of Camden's local, council-supported markets and the objects that uphold them.
Matthew Dardart
In his sculpture, Matthew Dardart explores themes of transformation, mythology, and materiality, inviting consideration of how objects carry histories and how myths persist despite shifting cultural contexts. His work, constructed from cardboard sourced exclusively from local Camden markets, is a direct reference to an Egyptian-sarcophagus-turned-bathtub, once described as a floating basin that transported people across the Nile, then as a ritual bath, then as holding supernatural markets where food would mysteriously turn into gold. Dardart plays with the legacy of appropriation and reinterpretation of this vessel, at once mundane and sacred.
Ela Kazdal
Composed of a tower of plastic crates, Ela's scupture serves as both a sculptural framework and a display mechanism for a video piece. This footage, captured on her iPhone at various Camden markets, mimics still life imagery to document damaged and discarded fruit in the surrounding area, emphasising cycles of urban consumption and decay and the overlooked vestiges of commercial exchange. This piece reflects on the poetic and political dimensions of everyday materials; what is preserved and what is discarded, what is still and what can never remain so.