AMSC42114 Theory and methods 3 - Positions (Autumn 2025)

The course is connected to the following study programs

Mandatory course in the Master's Programme in Scenography.

Absolute requirements

Passed all exams in the 2nd semester

Lecture Semester

3rd semester (autumn).

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

The student

• can, by observing physical objects and through plans, drawing and other visual material, understand and analyse contemporary and historical work in the performing arts, architecture, film and visual art, and place his or her own artistic work in context.

• can develop his or her own project-specific work methods for conceptualisation, initiation, development and implementation of artistic projects in cooperation with other artists from other artistic fields and others with different professional expertise.

• has increased his or her theoretical and technical knowledge relating to scenography, for example concerning current developments in technology, materials and their characteristics, and to construction principles in architecture and scenography.

• can draw up descriptions, schedules and budgets for funding applications for complex, artistic projects, seminars and workshops, and present them.

• is familiar with different professions relating to scenography, and with their characteristics, and knows whom to contact to solve different types of problems.

Content

T&M 3 Positions consists of 1) a series of lectures, 2) a course in formulating artistic positions, 3) group work on and the organisation of a seminar with external guest presenters.
The learning outcome for T&M 3 consists of theoretical knowledge about and skills in the development of aesthetic positions relating to artistic practice as an individual process and as a public event.  

As a coursework requirement this semester, the student must curate and organise an open seminar with external speakers. The topics at the seminar must be related to theoretical, artistic and technological problems the students find relevant in relation to their Master's Productions. Through their work on the public seminar, students will learn to identify and recruit relevant professional expertise for collaboration on cooperative ventures, assignments and networks.

The public seminar with relevance to problems relating to the students' Master's Productions is intended to increase their professionalism in communication, dissemination and cooperation across conceptual, technological and artistic problems, methods and theories 

The course will focus on continuous reflection on the results of students' own artistic research work. The students will further develop their ability to express themselves precisely - visually and in text - about their own and others' artistic work, also with a view to their Master's Critical Reflection, practical production challenges and the drafting of applications to, for example, the Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme.

The students will have access to and will participate in developing the academy's library of materials, and they will learn how to utilise knowledge bases of this kind.

Theory and Methods 3 will further develop the students' ability to understand contemporary performing arts expressions and to analyse them precisely in relation to their own professional specialisation, particularly in relation to their own Master's Production.

The students' work will to a large extent be related to their activities in the two other subject areas: Laboratories and Productions.

Students submit a portfolio containing documentation of their work and reflections on their attainment of the learning outcomes, and a revision of their Master's Production seen in relation to the course

Forms of teaching and learning

Independent planning, curating, organisation, marketing and implementation of an open seminar with external speakers that addresses topics that are relevant to the students' Master's Production.

The work methods will otherwise consist of independent work, tuition, lectures and discussions, viewing performances and exhibitions of performing arts and investigations of other architectural and artistic spaces.

Workload

Approx. 300 hours

Practical training/internship

None.

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

As a coursework requirement this semester, the students must curate and organise an open seminar with external speakers.

Each of the first three semesters students deliver, as a collected work requirement for all semester’s courses, a portfolio documentation containing a reflective text with references, images, models etc, reflecting on the development and progress of the student's Master's Production in the context of the topics taught in the course.

The student shall also reflect on his or her own attainment of the defined learning outcome for the course.

Delivery: no later than three weeks prior to the course assessment.

The required submitted coursework must be approved by the course coordinator before the student can put him or herself forward for course assessment.

Examination

Oral exam
The assessment of the student's attainment of the learning outcome for the course is carried out at the end of the semester, following a structured discussion between the student, the student's supervisor and one lecturer who is a member of staff, based on the material in the portfolio documentation submitted by the student for Theory and Methods 3 and the student's participation in the public seminar.

Permitted aids: Portfolio documentation.

Oral feedback is given.

The grades Pass / Fail are used.

Examiners

The student's internal supervisor and one lecturer who is a member of staff.

Conditions for resit/rescheduled exams

Failure to pass the exam in one or more courses will only be given one new exam attempt. New examination paper is formulated by programme coordinator in collaboration with the student's supervisor during the course of the semester's 3rd last week.

In continuation assessment, the programme coordinator must in addition to supervisor and staff teacher, who normally assess the student, appoint one additional employee teacher to this sensor array.

The Programme Coordinator, Head of Studies and student must sign that new exam paper is announced and received.

A new course evaluation (continuation assessment) takes place during the last week of the semester.

Course evaluation

In order to assure and develop the quality of the programme and the individual courses, anonymous surveys are carried out every semester. The academy's management evaluates the programme of study and the individual courses every semester on the basis of the anonymous student evaluations and an open dialogue with students and teachers during the semester.

At the end of each semester the students are invited to an open dialogue to give feedback on the programme and the direction on future study activities.

Literature

References to relevant literature, video material, websites, theatrical productions and exhibitions, art catalogues, films, music, art and theatre criticism in the media and other relevant references are provided by the Programme Coordinator and the tutors.

An individual syllabus is drawn up in the first semester that is relevant to the work on the student's master's project and critical reflection. It is based on the general literature list for the programme. The individual syllabus is developed further during the course of the programme until submission of the Master's Critical Reflection in the fourth semester.