Fees

Early bird fee until 31st March: £2160
Regular fee from 1st April: £2,400

Dates

21 July - 8 August 2025

Location

Applications now open!
13 sessions over 3 weeks
4.5 hrs a day 11am – 3.30pm BST per day (with a 1-hour break included)

Vania Lin, Contemporary Art Summer School 2024

The interactive online Contemporary Art Summer School, led by performance artist and academic researcher Dr Despina Zacharopoulou since 2017, examines the rich array of positions, methods and materials that artists use, as well as exploring the questions raised by contemporary art and its production.

This three-week, online, practice-led short course provides a supportive environment for self-led independent practice and introduces participants to the study of contemporary art within the academic environment of the Royal College of Art.

The course is intensive and introduces participants to new ways of thinking and practicing, participants are encouraged to be challenged.

Taught online by RCA staff and supported by a broad range of prominent artists, academics, critics and curators, the course provides participants with the opportunity to develop their individual practice within an interdisciplinary, collaborative atmosphere.

The 2025 theme is ANA-META-MATERIALISMS: Contemporary art practice reinventing, rethinking and referencing itself

This year’s Contemporary Art Summer School theme suggests a reimagining of contemporary art practice via processes of redoing, repeating, mutating, self-referencing and rethinking, that might give birth to new artistic paradigms. By fostering non-rational, embodied and sensuous knowledge-generative methodologies, the RCA Summer School continues its focus on individual and independent practice.

This theme is treated loosely and as a framework within which the course evolves. Students are allowed to respond to this theme in any way they see fit and to the extent that they feel it contributes to the development of their work.

Living in an era dictated by the virality and mutation of information spread throughout social media, Artificial Intelligence and the internet in general, it has become more urgent than ever to rethink the role of feedback loops in the production of images and modes of thought in contemporary artistic practice. Feedback loops are closed systems indicating the repetition of a sole movement that turns back on itself, to repeat again and again. However, this obsessive turning upon itself, doesn’t happen without a trace or a glitch, always living a certain kind of remainder or residue every time it repeats itself, thus returning always reinvented and always different.

We are interested in investigating the fundamental question: “What might be the role of feedback loops in contemporary artistic practice?” How can an artist raise questions relating to contemporary art materialisms, ideas, practices and histories, via processes of repeating, redoing, rethinking and self-referencing [art referencing itself]?For the exploration of these questions, we will refer to artists and thinkers such as: Deleuze, Golding, Hirst, Warburg, Satie, Nail, Mandelbrot, among others.

The course will be an opportunity to hear from academic staff who touch upon these ideas in their work and research. Additionally, the lectures, crits, individual tutorials and film screenings you will attend will also be aligned to the Summer School’s theme.

View our case studies:

Case study: Contemporary Art Summer School 2024.

Case study: Contemporary Art Summer School 2023.

Case study: Contemporary Art Summer School 2022.

Case study: Contemporary Art Summer School 2021.

Image: Vania Lin, Contemporary Art Summer School 2024.

About the course

Course structure

Learning takes place in 13 live four-hour sessions over a three-week period. Each session includes a one-hour break.

A slot for networking will be available at the end of each session (optional to attend).

Week 1

Day 1

Welcome keynote lectures
Student presentations

Day 2

Individual tutorials

Day 3

Lecture and reading group

Day 4

Technical support workshop

Day 5

Film screening and discussion

Week 2

Day 1

Group crits

Day 2

Group workshop

Day 3

Technical support workshop

Day 4

Film screening and discussion

Week 3

Day 1

Individual tutorials

Day 2

Lecture, examples, readings and discussion around exhibiting one’s work online with a curating expert

Film screening and discussion

Day 3

Final presentations, crits and response seminar (part 1)

Day 4

Final presentations, crits and response seminar (part 2)

Course benefits

You will:

enhance your confidence in your practice, after discovering further nuances and making bolder decisions in your work
further develop your understanding on how to manage and edit all different elements contributing to the creation of a self-led contemporary art project
acquire new techniques and methodological tools to put into practice
experience critical, creative and insightful thinking
interact and network with peers from different backgrounds
RCA Certificate of Attendance

How will you learn?

You will:

rethink contemporary art within the current pandemic circumstances and expand your practice and knowledge through online presentations, discussions, lectures, readings and workshops
present your work and receive feedback and practical advice from the course leader, other RCA members of staff and a group of peers
problematise around your own practice and re-situate it after acquiring more theoretical and practical knowledge through lectures, film screenings, reading suggestions and workshops
be more decisive in your practice while working on your individual project to be presented at the end of the course
immerse yourself in a multidisciplinary environment
meet artists from all over the world.

Course contributors

The course is led by Dr Despina Zacharopoulou, performance artist and Dr of Philosophy & Fine Art (Performance), RCA.

Contributors and tutors for the 2025 programme will be announced soon.

Contributors and tutors for the 2024 programme were:

Prof Johnny Golding, RCA Senior Tutor Research, School of Arts & Humanities
John Slyce, RCA Senior Tutor Research, MA Painting, School of Arts & Humanities
Whiskey Chow, Tutor, MA Sculpture, School of Arts & Humanities
Tom Lovelace, Visiting Lecturer, MA Photography, School of Arts & Humanities
Sharon Young, Visiting Lecturer, School of Arts & Humanities
Daphne Dragona, curator, theorist and writer
Stefania Strouza, visual artist

Online delivery

RCA online courses are organised in synchronous sessions in a live virtual environment that combines various digital platforms and tools.

For this particular course the main tool of online delivery will be the Zoom Platform.

Zoom
Using the videoconferencing service Zoom, the RCA's esteemed academics and facilitators deliver a mix of:

live lectures
case studies
guided assessments
presentations

Participants interact with the faculty and peers in breakout rooms in real time.

Miro

Participants engage in cross-functional team work with the use of visual collaboration tools.

Through the online whiteboard platform Miro, participants get to:

interact with various formats and templates
plan and brainstorm ideas
create processes and workshop activities in the digital workspace.

Moodle

The College's learning platform Moodle is personalised according to the course's requirements to provide participants with a secure integrated system where they can access the course content.

The hub hosts a plethora of useful resources to enable the learning experience, including comprehensive timetables, pre-reading materials, course slides, curated videos, tutorials and session recordings.

Slack

Participants stay connected and communicate via the channel-based messaging platform Slack throughout the whole duration of the course.

In this space, the academics, facilitators and delegates get to network, plan the course activities, share documents and files during the live sessions or offline.

Course outcomes

You will:

expand your practice and knowledge on contemporary art through workshops, lectures, film screenings, tutorials and group crits
improve your presentation and discussion skills while presenting your work to RCA staff, visiting artists, and academics, in a professional and diverse environment
receive feedback and practical advice from RCA staff and experts in contemporary art
develop your work under the supervision of the course leader
get dedicated time for independent study in your own space
benefit from professional online technical support to develop your practice
immerse yourself in a multidisciplinary environment
meet artists from all over the world
have an online presence at the RCA short courses social media accounts and case studies, including final feedback from the course leader, other RCA members of staff and a group of peers.

Who should attend?

practising artists who wish to develop their own personal and professional fine art practice in a world-leading environment
postgraduate level students or undergraduates preparing for Master’s study
prospective MA, MRes, MPhil and PhD students interested in joining the RCA
career changers or those interested in contemporary art

Admission criteria

Participants must:

have a successful application
be fluent in English
be 21 years old or over

Application Process

Applications for 2025 places are live.

How do I apply?

To apply, you need to complete an online application form.

The online form requires you to submit a:

200-word statement explaining relevant professional and/or academic experience
200-word statement explaining your motivations for doing the course
200-word proposal for a project or studio work that you intend to undertake during the course
5 images or 5 web links to videos/web references of your work, max 10 MB file size
CV

Application notes

Please title the five references to your work using the following naming convention: Full Name_Title and Year of Work_2025 Contemporary Art Application
Please title the CV file before uploading using the following naming convention: Full Name_CV_2025 Contemporary Art Application
Once you submit your application, you will not be able to make changes.
Only applications submitted via the online form will be accepted.
Applications that are not complete or exceed the maximum file size will not be considered.

If your application is accepted, you will be emailed with a booking link. The email will provide a deadline for accepting and paying for your place. Your place will be held until this deadline. If you do not make payment by this date, your place will be released and offered to another participant.

Application deadlines 2025

Participants are advised to apply early to avoid disappointment as places are strictly limited.
We will start accepting applications from December 2024.
First round of applications will be assessed from the middle to end of January 2025.
The RCA course team will assess applications every two weeks from mid-January 2025 until early July 2025 or until the course is fully booked.
We will email all applicants within two weeks of their submission about whether or not they have been successful.
Unfortunately we do not provide further feedback information.
If the course is fully booked and your application is successful we will add your name to a waiting list.

How will I know that my place is confirmed?

After receiving the offer of a place, we can only secure this when the RCA receives 100 per cent of the course fee payment. Places are secured on a first-come basis on receipt of appropriate payment.

How can I pay for the course?

The course needs to be paid in full by one instalment and via the online payment system using a debit or credit card. Once you are offered a place on the course you will receive a secure online booking link. Please complete the registration and booking process to make the booking. Please ensure that you are using the most up-to-date version of your internet browser. We regret that it is not possible to pay the course fee by instalments.

“This course offers the unique opportunity to look at your practice differently and maybe even have a breakthrough! I really push students to get out of their comfort zone, to shatter their certainties. I want people to walk away with a new joy in their practice and a different way of looking at what they have been working on so far.”
Dr Despina Zacharopoulou, Short Course Leader
“I enjoyed having a class with Despina. She gave me lots of useful advice during the 1-1. I found it very inspiring when Despina shared her thoughts on the group's artworks. I enjoyed listening to her sharing ideas. Also, I enjoyed the artist talk from Charlie and Gertrude. Their practices are fascinating and inspiring. For the final presentation, I've learned so much from the groups and the comments from Professor Johnny Golding and Denys Zacharopoulos were very rich and on points.”
Vania Lin, Contemporary Art Summer School 2024
“It was great to have a cohort from such diverse backgrounds and practices, I think everyone's approach and willingness to share ideas and references made collaborating fun and greatly enriched the over all experience of the course.”
Aninda Singh, Contemporary Art Summer School 2024
“Life-changing course, introducing new ways of thinking - be open minded and prepare to be challenged!”
Kate Cameron Reid, Contemporary Art Summer School 2024
“Clichés aside, this course is life-changing. The course leader and RCA tutors create a safe space for you as an artist to try new things, share ideas and challenge yourself to create a high quality piece of work in a limited time. The workshops and lectures are so rich with current references and introductions to creative software. The individual tutorials and group crits offer genuine constructive feedback on your work which is priceless. Having the opportunity to directly ask questions to RCA's first class network of lecturers, artists, practitioners and curators was invaluable. This course has been integral to defining my own art practice and I finished the course feeling excited for the future.”
Amelia Cross, Contemporary Art Summer School 2023
“The course has been such a rich resource into so many diverse, creative possibilities. It has expanded my awareness of using a wider range of creative mediums in my work, such as sound and text to enhance meaning. I am really inspired to explore and experiment with the ideas I have gained in developing my work further.”
Rachel Ventom, Contemporary Art Summer School 2023 participant
“Despina is a phenomenal artist and educator. She critiques artworks with the most perceptive eye, giving comments, suggestions and references highly relational to every piece of work. In this course, not only did I receive valuable feedback from the tutors, but also authentic commentary from the rest of my talented course mates. Being in such a highly encouraging, motivating and active learning environment, I was truly pushed out of my comfort zone and realised my first independent experimental film in three weeks.”
Coco Ho Contemporary Art Summer School 2022 participant
“Meeting artists from all over the world, as well as the incredible leadership of Despina, was truly a wonderful experience. Each participant had a unique chance to progress in their own practice.”
Juliet Bankes Contemporary Art Summer School 2022 participant
“Despina and her RCA team held a virtual space where you felt that you could try out new skills and ideas, fail, succeed and learn in a very inclusive, focused and genuinely friendly environment. [...] This course enabled me to select, curate and present my work with much greater confidence.”
Caroline Macdonald, Print Specialist
“This course unlocked creative elements in my practice that I did not know were needed to push my work and myself, personally and professionally, to the next level. With empathy and discipline, this course has completely adjusted the way I approach my work and thinking overall [...] I have made genuine connections with my cohort, thank you for bringing us all together in this virtual world!”
Shaye Thiel, Netflix Manager UK
“CASS is the best short art course I have been on. I loved the fact it was online, so that I could benefit from the excellence of the RCA from my fully equipped, working studio. The level of talent and expertise of the tutors was world class, and the impact on my art practice has been staggering. This course is a prime example of why the RCA is ranked the no.1 art and design school in the world.”
Rebecca Odessa, Artist

Performance artist, Dr of Philosophy & Fine Art (Performance), RCA (Onassis Scholar), Niarchos Foundation ARTWORKS Fellow 202

Dr Despina Zacharopoulou is a performance artist working between London and Athens. She completed her practice-led PhD in Philosophy & Fine Art (Performance) at the Royal College of Art, with the support of an Onassis Foundation Scholarship. Despina has been the academic leader of the RCA Contemporary Art Summer School since 2017, while also leading school groups, tutorials and crits at the RCA MA programmes since 2016.

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