Research Methods in Comparative Media Arts CA 821 (4)
This core course is taken in the first semester of the MA program. It develops thinking across the media arts in a comparative perspective that synthesizes the historical and theoretical approaches of art history, cinema studies, performance studies, and computer-based media studies. It establishes bases for understanding the relationships among the visual arts, visual culture, performing arts, and art forms that incorporate reproducible and digital media; these include cinema, video, photography, and computer-based media. In addition to this, the course investigates some of the useful emergent methods for making comparisons among media, across history, and across cultures. While other courses in the MA in Comparative Media Arts focus on the distinctive nature of specific media arts, this course considers what properties cross different forms of media arts. Prerequisite: Enrollment in MA in Comparative Media Arts or permission of the instructor. Students with credit for FPA 821 may not take this course for further credit.