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Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
International Professional Master's Degree Program in Audiovisual Media: (Curators, Programmers, Archivists, Restorers and Preservation Experts)
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Projects & Abstracts
2006-10-01
2023-10-10
2006-10-01
2024-02-14
Cinéma & Cie
2006/10/01
2036-461X
8
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International Professional Master's Degree Program in Audiovisual Media: (Curators, Programmers, Archivists, Restorers and Preservation Experts)
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/21414/19014
6
 INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL MASTER'S DEGREE PROGRAM IN
 AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA
 (FOR CURATORS, PROGRAMMERS, ARCHIVISTS, AND EXPERTS IN
 RESTORATION AND PRESERVATION)




Introduction


  The proliferation of video installations, performance documentations (on both film
and video), multimedia experimental works, and interactive audiovisual forms
reshapes the art market and expands the range of knowledge required by its profes
sionals. This rapidly changing scene raises crucial questions about the necessary crite.
ria for curating, programming, preserving, restoring, and archiving works of art. The
contemporary art gallery has become a space of multiplicity, fragmentation, and dis
semination, a condition that brings new problems to the fore: In what ways can media
coexist and interact in gallery space? How do diverse media perform differently? How
should these works be installed? What influence do new media have on conventional
notions of spectatorship?
  The traditional space of the museum is beginning to open up to new media in order
to experiment with alternative forms of exhibition by featuring retrospectives, film
series, and topical displays. However, those in the field continue to face structural dif
ficulties when dealing with networks, interfaces, and software applications.


Goals

   The International Professional Master's Degree Program in Audiovisual Media will
provide the technological training and up-to-date skills needed for the cultural com
prehension of contemporary exhibition. Courses and seminars will be led by art and
film historians, digital design analysts, museum and gallery professionals, and experts
and administrators who specialize in festivals and public events of all kind.
   Unlike previous plans of study, this program exposes students to a unique interna
tional perspective by providing the opportunity to study with scholars from different
but interrelated European and American institutions, develop a network of contacts
from diverse schools of thought, and gain access to the global job market. While the
program is committed to the international mobility of students and professors, its
directors also plan to include practical internships to facilitate hiring, spring and sum-
mer schools for scholarly debate, intensive workshops on leadership and management
skills, and one-on-one training adapted to the intellectual profile of each student.




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                                                            CINEMA & Cie, no. 8, Fall 2006
                        INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL MASTER DEGREE PROGRAM AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA


Cinema and Contemporary Visual Arts

  As a result of successful editions of MAGIS Gradisca International Film Studies IP, we
learned that future media professionals will think and work by weaving together ele
ments from the field of film studies, the contemporary visual arts, and new media; thus,
the International Professional Master's Degree Program will pay special attention to the
intersection of film theory and contemporary art. Preservation and restoration have
allowed the best universities in the world to teach the history and aesthetics of the cin-
ema, the most important art of the twentieth century. With the number of degrees
awarded in film studies increasing by the day, it is now clear that the ability to read and
analyze cinematic texts is essential for achieving an audiovisual literacy of the present
 moment.
    In addition, the cinema continues to furnish ideas and provide problems for the prac-
 tice of contemporary art; for example, multimedia and performance artists both use
and interrogate the cinema in order to locate a future for their creative output.
Furthermore, the fascination with early film has encouraged avant-garde practitioners
to work with cut-and-paste methods and make use of found footage. It is evident that
the cinema serves as the new cognitive map of cross-cultural relations in our increas-
ingly global society.
  The participants in the master's degree program will be both fully competent in the
field of film studies and able to apply the legacy of the cinema to new professional envi-
ronments and artistic situations.


The Video and Digital Preservation Issue

   The International Professional Master's Degree Program will devote significant atten-
tion to the question of how to conserve contemporary audiovisual art. Answering this
question requires serious debate in order to define the shared theoretical models and
operational practices that will allow us to design the conservation and restoration
methods needed to preserve the video heritage of the last thirty years. To this end, the
University of Udine, DAMS Gorizia, in connection with A.S.A.C, La Biennale di Venezia
(Historic Archive of Contemporary Arts), is already involved in a video art preservation
project working toward the digital conservation of the art/tapes/22 catalogue.
   Included in every contemporary museum collection, video has been firmly estab-
lished as a mainstream medium for the production of contemporary art. Art works
using new electronic media challenge the conservator not only to keep track of rapid
developments in these technologies, but also to redefine his or her position as an inter-
mediary between artists and technicians. In contrast to the skills required by the tradi
tional archivist, these changes make obligatory the acquisition of additional know-
 edge and abilities. For instance, the first step in preserving video art is to document it
 accurately; therefore, the development of new procedures for cataloguing the registra-
 tion, insurance, appraisal and loan of artwork is an urgent task. Furthermore, conser-
 vators must construct decision-making models, choose preservation strategies, and
 define access modalities for both the specialist and the general public. This new philos-
 ophy of research, creation, and information access will allow new and multimedia
 works to flourish in the gallery and remain secure in the archive. The international
                                                                                       265
  INTERIATIONAL FROFESS IONAL MASTER DEGREE PROGRAM AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA



 focus of this master's degree program opens the door to a professional future for a wide
 range of individuals while ensuring that students acquire the skills necessary to adat
 to the changing conditions of art preservation.


 Skills and Areas


   Each student in the International Professional Master's Degree Program will caroll in
 pedagogical and laboratory activities in all of the following four major arcas:

      •Theory of contemporary visual art (cinematic ex perimentation, vidco art, the histo
       ry of computer graphics, art criticism)
      -Technology and tools
  - Design, implementation, and interaction of models
      -Preservation of video and digital art


      Because it is a crucial part of a student's work, the program will require the comple
 tion of occupational experience in each of the above four arcas.

  The Master's Degree Program is promoted by Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle.
 Paris IlI and Università degli Studi di Udine. in cooperation with Universiteit van
 Amsterdam, GeorgiaTech Atlanta, Ruhr Universität Bochum, Université de Liège.

  Next Appointment of International Network: 2007 MAGIS Gradisca Film Studies
 Spring School




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