MA in Visual Communication and Media Studies

Overview

Communications and Media are an ever growing and changing part of the world we live in. Be it Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, your favourite online game, or an interactive installation you just saw in a museum, media messaging is a part of your life. Today, these messages are formulated around narratives. In all forms of media, we see the shaping of messages through the narratives of branding. We will investigate these concepts of media through this framework of narratives. We will look at how contemporary media has developed narratives as an organising principle and what that means for society.

In this programme, you will learn how messages are formed and how they affect our society and culture. You will be able to analyse how various media determine and define how messages are transmitted. You will understand how new technologies affect the messaging we receive. You will learn this through a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Finally, you will develop a research-based thesis project. This is an approach to research that combines creative and academic research practices. It supports the development of knowledge and innovation through artistic expression, scholarly investigation, and experimentation. The research-creation process results in an original artistic work with a scholarly component.