Research Module: Site & Context

Undergraduate course

Course description

Supplementary semester information

Clay Matters - the art of fire

Focus area: Ceramics and Clay

This workshop engages situating materiality in indigenous practices, methodology and clay knowledge. We will work with the site, the process and community of making objects through local approaches.

This pro- emne will retrace the clay and ceramic process, known and developed by humans globally and locally as the starting point of ceramics. Centered around pit and mile firing we will experiment with the art of fire, community practices and fundamental firing methods. As well as work with clay/ceramic with the aim to shed new light on local, indigenous, skills and form. We will be situating practice, materiality and skill into 'the site' and its engalements. We will work outdoors in Bergen.

Students develop an individual or group project within the module and are introduced to relevant techniques and approaches through lectures, readings, presentations, tutorials, and/or workshops.

This emne takes shape within the framework of COMMON GROUND, a large-scale exchange project between KMD and Makerere University. As part of the module, four students will travel to Kampala, Uganda for a two-week workshop in weeks 45 and 46. Working in collaboration with students and staff from Makarere University, Kampala, workshop participants will engage with local designers, artists, artisans, studios and craftspeople, exploring regional approaches to clay, experimental ceramic materials, and low-firing glazes. Airfare on accommodation will be covered by NORPART.

Students wishing to participate in the excursion will be selected by lottery. (Please note that only students interested in traveling to Kampala will be entered into the lottery, this is not mandatory.) Students remaining in Bergen, will have time to continue developing their individual projects.

Students must have completed MEME102 Ceramics and clay or document basic knowledge about clay, handbuilding tecniques and how to fire ceramics. (for MA1 please contact anne.mydland@uib.no for approval by 31 July).

Objectives and Content

This is a project-based module with a focus on the relationship between site, context, and artistic expression.

PRO modules are designed to enrich your artist development (as explored in the ART modules) through activating skills, connecting communities of practice, and investigating disciplinary territories. PRO modules allow you to focus on a specific project critically connected to your own practice within a context established by the module leader(s).

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge

  • Develop awareness of site-based and site-sensitive approaches within contemporary art

Skills

  • Explore approaches in relation to the creation of site-based works
  • Enhance and broaden your own skills and processes through the creation of a self-initiated project

General Competence

  • Identify your own learning needs in relation to the subject area(s)
  • Develop and present new work

Level of Study

Bachelor.

Semester of Instruction

Autumn

Place of Instruction

University of Bergen
Access to the Course
Dette emnet har krav til studierett i¿Bachelorprogrammet i kunst
Teaching and learning methods

Methods may include:

  • Project development
  • Individual research
  • Group work
  • Lectures
  • Presentations
  • Group discussions
  • Tutorials
  • Assigned readings
  • Writing exercises
  • Workshop-based instruction

See info text above for semester-specific details.

Forms of Assessment

Submission of artwork(s), either physical or digital, as assigned by the module leader.

Assessment criteria:

Research

Subject knowledge

Experimentation

Realization

Collaborative and independent work

Grading Scale
Pass / Fail.
Assessment Semester
Autumn.
Course Evaluation
The module is evaluated every third year in accordance with UiB's Quality System