18 Dec 2012

MA Interdisciplinary Art Theory Pau University (Southern France)

Call for Applications : Interdisciplinary Art Theory MA Program at the University of Pau (Southern France)

master-lc.univ-pau.fr/live/rhetoriques-arts/actualites (check the detailed information in the menu on the left)

Why choose 'Rhétoriques des arts'
The University of Pau 'Rhétoriques des arts' MA is a unique, research-oriented, two-year interdisciplinary and interartistic program that focuses on art theory. No comparable program is to be found in France.

It proposes students of diverse national and disciplinary origins various approaches to the arts with courses in aesthetics, semiology, art history, art theory applied to contemporary art, painting, music, literature, poetry, film and the performing arts. The MA's specificity is its exploration of the interrelations between the arts and of how new fields of research may be discovered and constructed by focussing on the possible cross-fertilization of the arts and of the various art discourses about them.

The courses are taught by a highly specialized faculty (semiologists, art historians, philosophers, aestheticians, art theorists, film theorists, musicologists, literary critics and authors) coming from various French and foreign universities (Pau, Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rennes, Zaragoza, Naples) who collectively participate in the active research program of the Centre Inter-Critique des Arts et des Discours sur les Arts (CICADA) which organizes yearly thematic conferences, and publishes an art theory and aesthetics journal (Figures de l'art) as well as a series of essays about art theory and aesthetics called 'Quad.' (www.presses-univ-pau.fr/)

The program is conceived as a two-year preparation for doctoral research. It favors original work and stimulates intellectual autonomy.

Students work with a research supervisor. They are expected to write five 3,000-word essays and a 30,000-word thesis during the first year and four 3,000-word essays and a 40,000-word pre-doctoral thesis during the second year.

The program comprises no art practice. However the students' research may be practice-related, as long as it has a coherent and more general theoretical aim.

Most classes are taught in French.
Essays and theses may be written in English. Individual arrangements may be made for part-time off-campus curricula, although no formal online teaching is available.

The University of Pau is located on a gorgeous campus in the South of France, 20 miles from the Pyrenees, 40 miles from Spain and from the Basque Country, 70 miles from the Atlantic coast (Bayonne, Biarritz, Saint Jean-de-Luz), 120 miles from Bordeaux and Toulouse, 160 miles from Bilbao, and only a 75-minute flight from Paris.
Check: www.univ-pau.fr/live/futur_etudiant

Admission Requirements
A BA or the equivalent of a French Licence in any relevant field of study. Personal or professional experience of art may also count in the selection process. The students should propose at least one viable research project for the first year, preferably with an interdisciplinary and/or interartistic dimension and with potential for further more advanced development in second year. The project may also be discussed with a member of the faculty before the application process is launched (see contact below).

Tuition fee
255 € (462 € with social security when not otherwise provided for).

Beginning of academic year
September

Application process
EU Students and Non-EU Students residing in France : Diplomas must be examined by an equivalencies committee (deadline : June or September at the latest)
Non-EU Students not residing in France must go through campusart.org or campusfrance.org* (deadline : February, so as to have time to apply for a student visa for the beginning of the academic year in September)

Contact
If you should have any inquiries please send an e-mail to : bertrand.rouge@univ-pau.fr


* On the CampusFrance website, 'Rhétoriques des arts' is to be found under the following heading : 'Master rech. Arts, lettres, langues mention arts, lettres, langues et civilisations spécialité langue française, poétiques et histoire de la littérature et des arts'