Step off the beaten track. Challenge yourself. Discover how valuable it is to hone your artistic vision in an academic context at university.
Are you open to new perspectives on your artistic practice? In your master's year, you will have the opportunity to take an academic elective at the university. You will study in an environment where you will collaborate with students from other disciplines. Not artists, but students with a different language, different questions, a different way of looking at things. This can be confrontational, but above all refreshing and inspiring. The course you choose will be related to your field of interest, but at the same time it will be theoretical in nature, academic in design and demanding in terms of commitment: attendance, curiosity and a willingness to really get to grips with complex material. Some courses are completed with a paper, others with a traditional knowledge exam – that is also part of the challenge. What do you get in return? New ways of thinking, critical insights, unexpected connections – and perhaps a completely new way of looking at your own work.
We have highlighted a few courses from the University of Antwerp's programme offering. If you are interested, please contact the programme coordinator (Jana Maes or Dieter De Wilde):
1. DIGITAL MEDIA FUTURES (Master Communication Sciences): How digital media shape our world – and how you can help shape theirs. In this course, you critically explore the promises and problems of digital media and emerging technologies. While once seen as tools for social progress, platforms like Meta and Amazon now raise concerns about monopoly power, democracy, privacy, surveillance, disinformation, and environmental impact. You gain theoretical and conceptual tools to engage with these challenges, exploring frameworks on ethics, social justice, and media policy. Topics include platformisation, algorithmic politics, AI ethics, data governance, and the ecological footprint of digital infrastructures—encouraging you to think about how digital futures can be actively shaped. (Check Brochure Electives)
2. MEDIA AND DEMOCRATIC DEBATE (Master Communication Sciences): How can you critically assess media representations of social issues? In this course, you explore how media shape public debate and how to assess whether they truly support democratic dialogue. Drawing from political philosophy and media sociology, you engage with concepts like democracy, pluralism, objectivity, ideology, and (de)politicisation. You apply these ideas to case studies on topics such as climate change, new technologies, social movements, and austerity, analysing how both mainstream and alternative media represent them. A research guide helps you evaluate these debates, and the course concludes with a guest lecture and open discussion with a journalist or international expert. (Check Brochure Electives)
3. THE DOCUMENTARY IMAGE (Master Film Studies & Visual Culture): Explore the evolving world of documentary images
In this course, you explore the evolution of documentary images—from traditional practices to contemporary, experimental, and interactive forms like VR. After a brief reflection on documentation in photography and film, the focus shifts to documentary cinema. You examine both classic and new formats, gaining insight into key debates and learning to distinguish between genres and modes—seeing documentary as evidence, art, advocacy, information, or entertainment. Through a mix of lectures, screenings, and discussions, you actively engage with the documentary as a dynamic and multifaceted medium. You are expected to attend all lectures, read the required texts, and actively contribute to the discussions. (Check Brochure Electives)
4. VISUAL AESTHETIC AND ANALYSIS (Master Film Studies & Visual Culture): This course consists of two parts. In the first part (VISUAL CULTURE), you will be introduced to the meaning of visual aesthetics from a historical and cultural perspective. You will learn to critically engage with concepts such as aesthetics, visual culture, image, representation and vision, and discover the social, cultural and political implications of these terms. This forms the context for the second part of the course (IMAGE AND FILM ANALYSIS), in which you will receive a basic introduction to important concepts and approaches to film analysis. You will learn about narrative, editing and sound. (Check Brochure Electives)