STUDY PLAN

Digital Interactive Arts

A professional master program that offers a comprehensive, multidisciplinary and innovative approach to media arts production.

Digital interactive technologies have seen a rapid expansion and development. Working, creating and communicating with digital technologies has become the new common mindset for the changing, contemporary society. This masters program foregrounds practical work with digital tools and equipments, although every module in the program offers a theoretical perspective on a great variety of related subjects.

Master students can select from a broad range of specializations included in the performing, visual, and cinematic arts. Graduates of this masters program will have the knowledge and skills to express themselves as intermedia artists or will have better opportunities to enter the labor market of the information age in specific positions that require creative abilities.

Focusing on intermedia digital arts, new media documentaries, interactive design, sound design, management in media arts sector or creative industries, our faculty members are national and international renowned academics, artists and media specialists.

Master: Digital Interactive Arts – English [Arte Digitale Interactive]
Accredited by the Minister of Education, Bologna system,
Full time studies, 4 semesters

Program description:

The master’s program addresses graduate students in visual arts, architecture, music, theater and film, as well as graduates from other fields who are interested in a theoretical and practical interdisciplinary approach to new digital technologies in visual, performing and cinematic arts. Each semester, under the coordination of national and international artists and specialists, students will conduct interactive artistic creation projects, collaborating with other graduate students from the  performing arts and documentary filmmaking master programs.  In order to graduate, next to the dissertation thesis, students will prepare a practical individual interdisciplinary project.

The thoretical courses and practical projects will help to understand the most important trends and developments in the field of interactive arts in the context of the new media platforms and will develop transdisciplinary artistic expression skills in professional contexts.

Students at DIA use RoboDK for simulation and offline programming of industrial robots and are integrating it into their artistic projects.

THE EXAM WILL BE HELD IN ENGLISH

  • The candidate will partake an interview in English based on an individual artistic creative project, in which the candidate will prove his interest in using interactive technologies in the artistic creation.
    • The argumentation of the assumed perspective should demonstrate the candidate’s capacity of managing and materializing an artistic creative project and also, the candidate’s openness towards transdisciplinary approaches. The interview will test the candidate’s general knowledge of the domain.
    • The written project, sustained orally, will be accompanied by a portfolio with artistic achievements/realizations, either in relation with the proposed project, either from previous projects.
    • Registration will be considered completed only after confirmation of receipt of the project and portfolio.

The exact scheduling of individual exams will be displayed on the notice board.

 

ADMISSION CALENDAR JULY:

LINK TO ADMISSION: https://admitere.ubbcluj.ro/en/

July 11-15: Registration of the candidates

July 16: List of registered candidates

July 25: EXAM

July 26: Results of exams

 

All information regarding international students (status, grants, admission criteria, diplomas, etc.) can be found on the International Cooperation Center (CCI) page of Babes-Bolyai University. http://cci.ubbcluj.ro.

For any additional information regarding this specific program, please contact:
Assistant Professors Cristina Pop-Tiron or Adelina-Laura Bulibasa at

cristina.pop-tiron@ubbcluj.ro
adelina.bulibasa@ubbcluj.ro

COURSES

INTERACTIVE DIGITAL PERFORMANCE

The course will present an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for analyzing performative artistic productions that incorporate digital technologies, to equip the artists with the skills and competencies needed in a multidisciplinary team that creates intermedia productions. The theorizing of intermedia / multimedia artistic expressions will make the premises for developing new creative expression models aligned with European and international standards.

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

The management of the course describes, based on the specific methodology of execution, the solutions for managing the creation/production process, the specifics and challenges of realization of an interactive digital artifact, on the broader context of the media and art landscape, described by the development in new technologies

The course contains theoretical topics, practically exemplified, and practical assignments ​​for each student, by applying the acquired theoretical concepts.

CREATIVE PERFORMING ARTS PROJECT

Understanding the new platforms provided by digital media, the democratization of communication and information through the use of the Internet, and the increased access to audio and video digital devices foster the development of new types of performance genres.

This course will cover a digital interactive performance production process by developing individual and group interactive projects.

VISUAL CULTURE (opt.1)

By completing this module, the students will be able to describe and understand the critical meanings of visual culture, both as a field different from art history and to interpret graphical objects. They will know how to explain the fundamental mechanisms of seeing and the main theories concerning our visual abilities, perception, and visual brain.

SPECTATORSHIP STUDIES (opt.1)

The course’s objective is to familiarize the student with the study methods on the recipient of cultural products and the forms of coagulation of audiences in the contemporary world. The student will be involved in the self-analysis of its cultural consumption processes to build later a grid of coherent analysis of the cultural consumption of the various categories of audiences.

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

The course offers students an overview of creative industries: theories and research paradigms. The study also helps students analyze creative industries in terms of the socio-cultural and new technologies context and the creative economy.

CURATORIAL MODELS IN DIGITAL MEDIA

The course’s main objective is the study of the new media arts phenomenon from a historical perspective and the investigation of the aesthetic mechanisms and the artistic tools employed in new media art practice and theory. New media redefines to a great extent the means and the meaning of art and its relationship with location and the spectator, challenging most of the traditional artistic vocabulary and methods of production, presentation, documentation, and distribution. This course will provide students with advanced knowledge about the history and theory of media art practice and engage students in developing an interactive digital media project.

CREATIVE VISUAL ARTS PROJECT

Students will explore and critically apply their awareness and understanding of new technologies in a visual arts performing project. In this project-based studio course, students will work individually and in a group on allstages of producing an interactive artwork. Students will be encouraged to create interactive systems that enhance viewers’ experiences, facilitate participation, convey information, connect people and communicate stories. Students will use computers and digital media, develop software, manipulate material objects, design and manufacture spatial arrangements.

VIRTUAL REALITY IN ART (opt. 2)

The course will provide students with a thorough understanding of Virtual Reality (VR) through its history and current practices. It will facilitate students to gain practical experience by developing a VR project. The interest in VR is rapidly growing: major festivals, online platforms are making VR more and more accessible to the general public.

The course format will combine lectures (dedicated to the history and theory of VR), guest lectures, research activity, field trips, student presentations, and final project development.

LOCATIVE MEDIA AND USER-GENERATED CONTENT (opt.2)

This course explores locative media and interactive public art practices focusing on architecture, local history, public sphere, and narrative. Locative media is defined as the digital media applied and developed concerning real places, thus triggering fundamental cultural and social interactions. Locative media radically changes the spaces we inhabit — concerning public and private, local and global, behavior, expectations, and cultural access. The course provides a context within which students can develop a more profound knowledge of the creative possibilities associated with locative media.

NEW MEDIA DOCUMENTARY

The course explores how the digitization of information, the Internet, and the possibility of instantaneous global communication allows the aggregation of the old media formats with the completely new ones, creating the conditions for the emergence of new media genres. Students will analyze documentary models illustrating these aspects.

INTERACTIVE MOVIES

Technology and interactivity are becoming distinct and predominant in our lifestyles, culture, and society, triggering demand for interactive experiences, and the delivery of more personalized entertainment content becomes noticeable. The course introduces students to the concept of interactive storytelling and digital narratives. For this course, the term “interactive movie” will refer to animated, filmed, video game-based, and any other kind of movies following the main story that enables user interaction.

 

CREATIVE TRANSMEDIA PROJECT

This studio-based course will analyze how the new platforms provided by digital media, the democratization of communication and information through the use of the Internet, and the increased access to audio and video digital devices foster the development of new media film genres. The course introduces students to the production process of an interactive documentary by developing individual and group interactive projects.

MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS (opt. 3)

The course aims to make a general introduction to the concepts of cultural management and marketing in audiovisual artistic production. Students will study the basic principles of strategic management, ways of financing the cultural product, the structure of the budgets according to the project’s needs, and the specific categories of marketing strategies. The course leader will give special attention to developing and implementing cultural policies and the most critical public and private institutions relevant to implementing a cultural management project, from local to European.

VISUAL NARRATIVES (opt.3)

Visual Narratives is an exploration of the vast territory of visual storytelling; either static or dynamic, but also in the presence of the contemporary interactive dimension of what we call today the sub genres of visual narratives. From feature films to documentaries, from comics and animation to narrative painting and pictorial narratives, the course is a quest through the world of images and the various ways in which they can tell stories. And this type of exploration also calls for a consistent practical experience for the students, contributing a great deal to the fascination of this challenge.

ACADEMIC ETHICS

DIRECTED READING AND DISSERTATION WRITING

The course offers students an overview of the ethical practices in research and academic writing and the fundamental supervision of the individual research project. The course leader will guide students in reading, editing, and methodology for writing the final dissertation.

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND ART (opt.4)

The course will provide students with an understanding of the fundamentals of digital arts through its history and current practice, focusing primarily on the needed tools for creating artworks related to this domain.  By developing a functional project (dissertation project can count as a suitable project to this course), students will gain practical experience. The course format will combine lectures (dedicated to the theory and general knowledge from digital arts), research activity, workshops, open discussions, student presentations, field trips, and help with their final project development.

SOUND DESIGN FOR DIGITAL MEDIA (opt.4)

In this course, students explore and learn the basic elements of audio editing and develop an understanding of how to start editing each element. Defining the roles and importance of each audio element is necessary to complete the complex soundscapes of today’s films and television shows.

Sound Design involves preparing all aspects of a soundtrack including dialogue, ambience, sound effects, Foley and music. You will learn about the film industry and the film production process, and gain expertise in creating, recording, editing, mixing and mastering audio using industry-standard software.

TEACHING STAFF

RODICA MOCANU

Rodica Mocan , Ph. D.
Professor
rodica.mocan@ubbcluj.ro

Rodica Mocan is Associate Professor at the Department of Cinema and Media and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Theater and Television. She earned a PhD in Sociology, with a theme related to the impact of technology on education, and a PhD in Theater and Performing Arts, with a research on interactive digital performance. Her research focuses on the impact of digital technology on different aspects of life, particularly the relationship between reality and digital interactive arts. She specializes in digital media practice and researches emerging artistic genres such as interactive documentary and intermedia performance.

Her publications include: eLearning – A Sociological Perspective (Cluj-Napoca, Risoprint, 2007), Emerging Media Genres – New Media Documentary(Cluj-Napoca, Risoprint, 2013) and Critical Paradigms in Interactive Digital Performance (Cluj-Napoca, Cluj University Press, 2017).
She teaches courses on: eLearning, Multimedia în performance, Cinematic Sociology, New Media Documentary

DORU POP

Doru Pop, PhD
Professor
doru.pop@ubbcluj.ro

Doru Pop is Full professor at the Faculty of Theater and Film, Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj.

He recived his Master’s Degree in Journalism and Communication from Chapel Hill University, North Carolina, in 2002, and a Doctorate in Philosophy from the Babeș-Bolyai University in 2003, with a thesis on the philosophy of visual culture. He was a Fulbright and Ron Brown scholarship student in 1995-96 and 2000-2002. He has taught a course on Romanian film at Bard College, New York in 2012. He was visiting professor at Columbus State University, Georgia in 2017.
Among his recent books are: The Age of Promiscuity. Narrative and Mythological Meme Mutations in Contemporary Cinema and Popular Culture (Lexington Books, 2018)șiRomanian New Wave Cinema. An Introduction (McFarland, 2014).

He teaches courses on: Communication Theory, Visual Culture, Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Mass-media, Mass-media and Politics

HOREA AVRAM

Horea Avram is an art historian, media theorist and independent curator. PhD in Art History and Communication Studies at McGill University, Montreal. He researches and writes about art and visual culture in relationship with media technology.

He teaches at the Department of Cinema and Media, Faculty of Theatre and Film, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.Courses: Introduction in Visual language, Experimental Film and Video Art, Curatorial Models in Digital Media, Management and Marketing in Audiovisual Production.

He is the author of the book Perspectiva negociabilă. Eseuri și comentarii despre practici artistice actuale. [Negotiable perspective. Essays and Comments on Contemporary Artistic Practices]. Bucharest: Eikon Press, 2021.He is the editor of the book Moving Images, Mobile Bodies. The Poetics and Practice of Corporeality in Visual and Performing Arts. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018.

He has contributed to: Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, (Oxford University Press, 2014), Theorizing Visual Studies: Writing Through the Discipline (New York: Routledge, 2013) and Encyclopedia of the imaginaries in Romania. Historical patrimony, and cultural-linguistic identities (Iaşi: Polirom, 2020).

He publishes essays in periodicals: CaieteleEchinox, Cultura: International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology, M/C Media and Culture Journal, International Journal of Arts and Technology, Kinephanos, Ekphrasis. Images, Cinema, Theory, Media, Idea. Art + Society, Arta, etc.

He was research fellow of the New Europe College Institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences, 2017-2018. He has presented papers at international conferences in Romania, Sweden, USA, Canada, France, Italy, Slovakia.

He is the president of AICA-Romania (International Association of Art Critics), President of the Council – Administration of the National Cultural Fund – Romania, and member of ISIS (International Society for Intermedial Studies) and UAP (Union of Visual Artists, Romania).

Independent curator since 1996. He has curated most notably for Venice Biennale in 1999. He was the project manager of the projected ECCA (European Center for Contemporary Arts) in Cluj-Napoca (2018-2019). He organizes exhibitions for: National Museum for Contemporary Arts Bucharest, InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre Toronto, Society for Arts and Technology [SAT] Montreal, Art Museum Cluj, Art Museum Arad, NAG10 Bucharest, Plan B Gallery Cluj, Spațiu Intact Cluj, Jecza Gallery Timişoara, Atelier 35 Bucharest etc.

ILEANA NICOLETA SĂLCUDEAN

Ileana Nicoleta Sălcudean, PhD

Associate Professor Habil
nicoleta.salcudean@ubbcluj.ro
https://ubbcluj.academia.edu/NicoletaIleanaS%C4%83lcudean

Ileana Nicoleta Sălcudean holds a PhD in sociology (2012) at Babeș-Bolyai University with a thesis entitled Cultural Policies and Identity Constructions in the European Context, and a habilitation degree (2019) in the field of Cinematography and Media with the thesis: Film and Creative Industries.

Her research interest is focused on: cultural studies, sociology of culture, creative industries.

Her recent peer-reviewed publications include (selection): ”Occhio – Human Existence in Tangible form. Portal to a Dual Chronotope”, Millennium Film Journal, 74/ Fall, 2020”; ”The Transnational Identity of European Film Festival. New Media and Cultural Branding Employed at the Transilvania International Film Festival”, Metacritic Journal of Comparative Studies and Theory, 3.1, 2017; ”Outrunning the Past: European Influences in Building Cultural Policies in Romania and the Role of the Romanian Cultural Institute”, The Journal of Arts Management, Law, and Society, 46:5, 2016; ”The Convergent Motions of the Social Dimension and the Cultural Dimension. National and European Blueprints”, Studia Europaea, 60/ 2015; “Sexuality in Comedy. Controversy and Clichés”, Ekphrasis 14, 2015; “Creative Industries – Art and Commerce; Entrepreneurship and Creativity”, Ekphrasis 13, 2015; “New Aesthetics and New Technologies: Global Challenges to the Future of Cultural Organizations and Management”, Ekphrasis 11, 1/, 2014; “Art and Vandalism. Crossbreeding of Street Art: (re)Interpretation of Street Art from Sociological, Aesthetical and Interactivity Perspectives”, Journal of Media Research, Volume 5, Issue 1 (12)/ 2012 etc.

Books: Cultural Policies: from Bucharest to Brussels, Cluj-Napoca: Risoprint, 2016; Industriile creative în România. Film, video, fotografie/ Creative Industries in Romania. Film, Video, Photography, Editura Muzeului Literaturii Române, București, 2015; Handbook of Creative Writing, co-author, Cluj University Press, 2014; ‘Social’ and ‘Cultural’ in the European Context, Cluj-Napoca: Risoprint, 2013.

Awards/ Professional Associations: From 2014 she is a CreArt Ambassador, Municipal Foundation of Culture. Valladolid City Council (ES). She is a member of the European Network Association (January 2018 – present), of the Ekphrasis Research Center (2016 – present), as well as an associate member of the Center of Applied Philosophy (CAPH), Faculty of History and Philosophy, UBB (2015-present). Furthermore, she was the director of the Center for Continuous Education and Lifelong Learning, Babeș-Bolyai University (2012-2014). She holds the UEFISCDI Research Award, 2017. She has received numerous grants and research internships (Wheaton College; Venice Biennale; University of Valencia; Otto-von-Guericke Universität Magdeburg; Institute of Higher European Studies in The Hague; Sidney Sussex College Cambridge University Cambridge etc). Also, she was engaged as a project manager or a team member in national and international projects (POCU, STARUBB, AFCN, UEFISCDI, POS-DRU, Inside Europe). Additionally, she participated as a guest, trainer, expert or evaluator in important international conferences, teaching mobility, professional exchanges.

She teaches courses on: Creative Writing, Creative Industries, Cinematic Sociology.
CV: https://ubbcluj.academia.edu/NicoletaSalcudean/CurriculumVitae

ADELINA LAURA BULIBAȘA

Adelina Laura Bulibașa, PhD student
Assistant Professor
adelina.bulibasa@ubbcluj.ro

Adelina Laura Bulibașa is a multimedia artist, specialized in digital art, also working in the field of new media arts, directing and producing films, photography and theater. She also manifested an interest in different domains like robotics, human-computer interaction and light-art.

She finished her master degree in the field of Interactive Multimedia at Theater and Film Faculty, Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca and her bachelor degree in Photography-Video-Computerized Processing of the Image at Arts and Design Faculty, West University of Timișoara. Now, under the coordination of Associate Professor PhD Rodica Mocan, Adelina studies to get her own scientific PhD in the area of new media arts.

Her multimedia/digital arts focused projects were exhibited at national and international festivals like Electric Castle (New Media Castle), CreArt, Cluj Never Sleeps, Amural, RADAR, eXplore Festival, +/- International, MAFA and so on. Adelina Bulibașa also worked as an assistant director for the feature film Bodrog, which was nominated for the international competition at Dracula Film Festival and as a director and co-producer for the short film Libelula which won the Best Short Film Award at altcineAction festival in Greece, the debut award at Ceau, Cinema! in Timișoara, while also participating in festivals like Fear No Film in Utah, USA; fArad; Cluj International Short Film Festival and so on.

Adelina is teaching for Digital Interactive Arts (DIA) and Documentary Filmmaking master programs the following courses: Transmedia Creative Project, Digital Technologies and Art, Interactive Movies and New Media Documentary.

 

CRISTINA POP TIRON

Cristina Pop-Tiron
Assistant Professor
cristina.pop-tiron@ubbcluj.ro

Cristina Pop-Tiron specializes in interactive digital art, interactive performance art and production of interactive digital art (artistic installations, interactive performance pieces)

She is a PhD candidate at the Theater and Performing Arts department at Babes-Bolyai University,  with the theme of interactive spectatorship and intermediality in Interactive Digital Performance Art.

Her research is focused on performance art, spectatorship and interactive digital art (performance art and installation).

Her artistic practice and technical expertise are rooted in the creation of interactive installation art, interactive digital performance art and New Media curatorial projects. Her projects include production of film festivals and New Media Art.

She is the co-author of “Aurora – Connecting Senses: A proposal for a representation of an interactive art installation”, Nordlit journal, special volume Conceptualizing the North, co-author Signe Kjaer Jensen, in print 2020

Her productions have been presented in  international festivals such as HÄMEENLINNA STREET AR(T) festival, Hämeenlinna, Finland; European Researcher’s Night, Växjö, Sweden; Lights On Festival, Cluj Never Sleeps Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

She worked on the realization, organization and production of several festivals, events and exhibitions: New Media Castle, 2019, Cluj-Napoca; Transylvania International Film Festival, 2016-present, Cluj-Napoca; Binary Worlds Colliding, 2019, Cluj-Napoca.

She teaches courses on: Graduate Courses, Creative Performance Art Project (semester 1, 2019, 2020), Creative Visual Arts Project (semester 2, 2020, 2021), Project Production Management (semester 2, 2020), Production Management and Audiovisual Legislation (semester 2, 2021), Directed Reading and Dissertation Writing (semester 2, 2020), Academic Ethics and Dissertation Writing (semester 2, 2021)

Undergraduate Courses: Photography (semester 2, 2020), Photo process – Analogue photography and the darkroom developing process (semester 1, 2017, 2019, 2020)

Link CV https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:3c6e8616-49ac-4585-9373-650fc4a2b995

 

KLAUS OBERMAIER

Klaus Obermaier
Visiting Associate Professor
klaus.obermaier@ubbcluj.ro

 

Klaus Obermaier is media-artist, performing-arts director, choreographer and composer.
Klaus Obermaier creates innovative works with new media in performing arts, music and installations, highly acclaimed by critics and audience.
His inter-media performances and artworks are shown at festivals and theaters throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America and Australia. Many of his projects, such as D.A.V.E, Apparition, Le Sacre Du Printemps, Dancing House,andEgo, are considered groundbreaking and genre-defining for the development of new artistic forms of human interaction with digital systems.

Obermaier is visiting professor at the University IUAV of Venice, Italy and at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania teaching interactive arts and multimedia performance.

He taught as an adjunct professor for composition at the Webster University Vienna and held courses for choreography and new media at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza di Roma. From 2016 to 2018 he was co-director of the Master for Advanced Interaction at IAAC (institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia) in Barcelona/Spain. He gives lectures at international conferences and institutions.
Klaus Obermaier lives in Vienna and Barcelona.

http://www.exile.at/

 

ADMISSION ARCHIVE / 2021