Comparative Arts and Media Studies (Ma)

The Programme of Comparative Arts and Media Studies focuses on "intermedialities" in relation to visual arts, film, television, and the digital media. By "intermedialities" is meant the kind of crossovers and interrelations between the arts and the media, but also within and between various media, that have been intensified with the arrival of the digital (hyper)medium insofar as the latter works through the interplay of words, images, and sounds on the screen, but also through the convergence of film, television, radio, news writing, e-books, photography etc. on the web. Students will have the opportunity to focus on different media and art forms, or to study intermedialities in relation to a specific dominant medium. The Master's programme positions itself within the latest developments in visual and media studies while it also has a strong theoretical profile in the tradition of cultural analysis and cultural theory. From 1 September 2010, the Department of Comparative Arts and Media Studies at VU University Amsterdam will offer the first fully accredited, internationally-oriented Master’s programme in Design Cultures. The MA in Design Cultures is all about the study of product design, graphic design and fashion in a broad cultural context. Central to the programme is the diversity of cultural processes where design has evolved as a practice, a product, an environment and a discourse in recent decades.

The Master's in Comparative arts and Media Studies is a one-year programme and consists of core seminars (30 ec), electives/tutorials/internships (10 ec) and a thesis (20 ec).

The Master Design Cultures is a specialization within the master consists of core courses (30 ec), individual scope (10 ec) and a thesis (20 ec).

Overzicht van de opleiding (pdf)