Information on the Master Studies “Scenographic Design and Communication”

The Master Studies “Scenographic Design and Communication” are design studies for post-graduates. Teaching and learning are focussed on the design and staging of real and virtual rooms and environments. Scenographic designers portray and exhibit. They conceptualise performance and design exhibition rooms. They bring rooms to life as a narrative context. For a while they stage and dramatise the performance on the most different stages and create an ambience for the stories’ and messages’ communicative and emotional effect. Understood in such a manner Scenographic Design is Communication Design.

The project course of studies “Scenographic Design and Communication” focusses its commitment on theatre and stage rooms, museum and exhibition rooms, media and hypermedia rooms, on the public rooms of commercial and institutional communication, on the temporary rooms of brand staging and corporate appearance.
The graduates of the Master Studies “Scenographic Design and Communication” have learned to combine expert with multidisciplinary interests, theoretical knowledge with artistic intuition, performative and moderative with management and organisational competences. In their understanding, the effectiveness of planning and implementation is subject to both an artistic/creative and a social sense of responsibility.

Module Overview

1st year:

• Media strategies, media competence and media techniques
• Dramaturgy
• Narrative and presentation strategies as well as performance history
• History and academic studies:
• Theatre, literature and text,
• Arts, architecture and environments,
• Forms of expression and media,
• Theory and aesthetics
• Experimental room design and staging
• Concept and design for the scenography of real and virtual rooms:
• Stage, theatre, exhibition,
• Museum, exposition, event, campaign,
• Media, film, television, new media

2nd year:

• Project planning, project development,
• Scenographic design
• Presentation, marketing and documentation of scenographic projects
• Project practice/management Scenographic Design
• Master project with thesis, presentation and colloquium

The final module relating to the Master thesis consists of courses mainly dedicated to the first part of the Master exam, i.e. they deal with the Master project assignment and the corresponding thesis. Their central subjects are the aspects of production, stage direction, design, organisation and presentation. They comprise the discussion of conceptual, dramaturgical, production-oriented and technical issues within the framework of the students’ Master projects and each have a different focus according to requirements: on theoretical and conceptual issues, problems of the narrative structure or dramaturgy, aspects of aesthetics and design of the rooms, on methods, technologies or techniques in detail.

The Master Studies “Scenographic Design and Communication” are so-called consecutive studies. This means they are post-graduate studies requiring a relevant first degree. After a successful graduation, the University of Applied Sciences awards the degree of Master of Arts (MA).
The Master Studies are internationally oriented. The practical projects during the studies intend to promote international exchange and to contribute to the formation of a global network for scenographic design.
The Studies “Scenographic Design and Communication” take two years in four terms. Students can obtain 120 credit points according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).
The Master Studies “Scenographic Design and Communication” qualify their graduates to take on responsible employment at theatres or in museums, in the exhibition or trade fair business, in the film and media industry, in the field of corporate communication, in cultural, academic and scientific institutions, and last but not least as freelance scenographic designers.
“Scenographic Design and Communication” was accredited sucessfully in 2006. The requirements for enrollment and admission can be found on the website of the Design Faculty of the University of Applied Sciences in Dortmund under www.design.fh-dortmund.de