Comparative Arts and Media Studies

The programme in a nutshell

Core courses

The programme is built around four main courses: Reading Concepts of Intermediality, Cross-Media Storytelling, Crossmedial Exhibitions, and The Art of Comparison: The Cinematic City.

The first semester consists of two introductory courses on core theoretical frameworks of intermediality studies:

Reading Concepts of Intermediality; Period 1+2+3 (9 points)
will help you to come to grips with the major concepts used in contemporary debates on the synergy between the arts and the media, such as intermediality, intertextuality, and (re)mediation. This course also involves a close reading of installations, art works, texts, sites and sights. 

Transmedia Storytelling; Period 1+2+3 (9 points)
focuses on the different ways in which stories are told across media (including film, television, comics and games) as modes of niche-marketing and creative consumption. You will look at narratological issues and at the contexts of production and consumption. 

In the second semester you will get acquainted with intermedialities in present-day practice. You will analyse crossmedial exhibitions and approach the city as an intermedial phenomenon.

Crossmedial Exhibitions; Period 4 (6 points)
deals with processes of intermediality in present-day practices of curatorship, sponsoring, policy-making, designing and criticism. Examples of exhibitions that we have looked at in the past include The Art of Fashion (Museum Boijmans, 2009) and Illusions of Reality (Van Gogh Museum, 2010). 

The Art of Comparison: the Cinematic City; Period 4 (6 points)  
compares media and architecture from a historical perspective. You will focus on the European city as a material, experienced and visualized place. Linked to the new EYE Film Institute building, you will research cinemas in Amsterdam, in past and present.

Deepen your individual scope with electives or internships

You can customize your programme by selecting subjects from a broad range of interdisciplinary electives in the fields of visual arts, architecture, literature or history. For example:

Literature Visualized (sem. 1, 6 ects)

Visual Art and the American Poet (sem. 1, 6 ects)

Fiction and Film (sem. 1, 6 ects)

Renaissance literature and visual culture (sem. 1, 6 ects)

Literature and Society (sem. 1, 6 ects)

The Gothic Gaze (sem. 2, 6 ects)

Screenwriting (sem. 2, 6 ects)

Creative City (sem. 1, 9 ects)

Art Criticism [Kunstkritiek 1800-heden] (sem. 2, 9 ects, in Dutch)

Museumconservator, verzamelen en presenteren (sem. 1, 6 ects, in Dutch)

Design, History and Culture (sem. 1, 9 ects, limited availability)

Methods of Design Analysis: The meaning of Design (sem. 1, 9 ects, limited availability)

Or you can choose an internship with a research dimension if you would prefer to gain practical experience in the field of media and arts. For more information, please consult the Internships page on our website.

Thesis (18 EC)

The programme culminates in the Master’s thesis, which gives you the opportunity to demonstrate your research skills, your competence as a critic, and your ability to systematically gather, select and interpret information and to argue a case in an independent, objective and responsible manner. Your thesis plan is due on February and you give a public presentation of your thesis in May. More information about the thesis can be found in the Thesis Manual.