X - Selective Courses I

The objective of the module to give the student an opportunity to make an independent choice and thus to encourage and develop his ability to create his own individualised programme of study.

The following are objectives for the (additional optional) practical development:
As with the practical, contextualised project within the Contemporary arts practice module, the objective here is similar: to contextualise knowledge, skills, abilities and creative inclinations of the student through the practices which are present within the field of contemporary arts or within the creative industries.

To give the student an opportunity to have an experience of a variety of contextual environments in which his knowledge can be applied; to encourage the student to seek ways, methods and contents which they would be able to further develop through similar projects and environments;

To place the student into an interdisciplinary working environment, where he would need to establish creative working relationships and to involve himself as a creative, equal member. Again, the objective is to take the student away from the study world into the external, physical or virtual public space, so that he may be faced with working on a “real” project or in a real life working situation.

The specific competences naturally emerge from the optional contents themselves (the contents are described in individual professors' study plans within the Digital arts and practice programme, when we are concerned with the contents within the programme).

Prerequisities: one's willingness to actively take part in developing one's individual study programme; ability to plan, follow and reflect upon one's own choices; to be in a position to choose additional contents, the student must complete the basic level, that is, he must to a certain degree master skills that are required for practice work, for instance.

The selected contents within this module are external, which means that the student can also do them outside the Digital arts and practice study programme. It is recommended that the student selects contents which would, in a variety of ways, support his work in his creative assignments, or to take lectures that would widen his horizons within his field of choice.
At the same time, the student has an opportunity to take the contents as a selection of optional contents within other modules of the Digital arts and practice programme. In this way, he has an opportunity to take and pass the contents from the other support module (Nm2), additional creative-technical contents or additional historical-critical contents.
Hence the Selected contents I module gives the student an opportunity to choose: * among the contents of the Digital arts and practice programme, * among the contents of other study programmes, * additional selected practical development (up to 2 x 4 ECTS)
(2 x 4 ECTS, and not 1x 8 ECTS, so as to ensure a diversity of experience and thus discourage routine-based work in one and the same environment, with one and the same assignments).

• The specific study results emerge from the optional contents themselves (the contents are described in individual professors' study plans within the Digital arts and practice programme, when we are concerned with the contents within the programme).
• The student is aware how important it is to do his own independent research which is close to his desired aims, the latter being related to his studies and his professional path.
• The student is capable of independent planning, and of reflecting upon his choices when it comes to developing his individual study programme and acquiring his own competences.

The relevant literature and resources are defined based on the selected contents.

Procedure on how the student confirms his choices: The student is asked to inform professors of his choices in advance; concerning possible changes, the student is asked to talk to the coordinator of optional contents and, if needed, to submit an explanation for his change. If the student has decided on the optional subjects within the Digital arts and practice programme, the whole academic procedure of assessment is done, as usual, via the internal system of grading. When it comes to external optional subjects, the student is asked to prepare a report on each individual content unit (describing which subjects the student has chosen, and his role, assignments, experience within these subjects); the student is also required to submit appropriate official documents (the report is confirmed by the mentor and the academic institution). A student's report (compulsory in the case of external optional choices) With internal (i.e, Digital arts and practice) optional subjects, the methods of assessment are described in individual professor' study plans.

Rene Rusjan is the programme head and »Contemporary Art Practices« module leader in Digital Arts and Practices BA programme at the School of Arts of University of Nova Gorica. She was the co-founder of KD Galerija GT and Famul Stuart School of Applied Arts and was its programme head since 1994. She initiated and led numerous projects in collaboration of the school and other partner organizations, nationally and internationally.
She received a diploma from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. She works in the field of contemporary art, as an artist in her own projects as well as a co-author in various artistic collaborations. Her work is context-specific and interdisciplinary. Scope: visual, performing arts and intermedia, graphic design, set design, concepting and curating exhibitions and complex art projects; teaching activity in the fields of contemporary art, co-author of several study programmes.

SELECTED PROJECTS AND EXHIBITIONS 2012 – 2007
2012 - Faraway, So Close! (Distance Conversations_012) – intermedia work in progress
- The Same Wind, The Same Rain, Chiang Mai Art Centre, Thailand (residency and exhibition)
2011 - Videovečer / Videovečerja, Videosupper, Galerija Photon, Ljubljana
- Kdor sam do večera potuje skoz svet (Simon Gregorčič), theater set design (with Bostjan Potokar), author and director: Neda R. Bric, production SNG Nova Gorica theatre
2010 - Communication project at Postaja Topolove / Stazione di Topolo, Topolo, Italija
- VideoSupper with Rene Rusjan, Kulturni inkubator, Maribor
2009 - TheOneMinutes Trains, svetovni izbor, Rietvelt Arsenale Venice (v izbor prišla z video deloma Train Taveling – Egypt in Train Taveling – Tokyo), Arsenali Novissimi, spremna lokacija ob bienalu v Benetkah
2008 - WorldOneMinutes Video & Literature, svetovni izbor, Beijing Today Art Museum (v izbor prišla z video delom Wake Me Up if I Fall Asleep), premierna razstava v Pekingu, Kitajska, nato Šanghaj, Lisbona, Zagreb, Paramaribo, Bruselj, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Amsterdam in Groningen
- Mother:Earth – mednarodna delavnica žensk iz arabskih in evropskih dežel, Wd8 Art Center, Walkensdorf, Avstrija
2007 - Zbudi me, če zaspim, video, One Minute_São Paolo, SCCA, Videospotting
- Connected, Wd8 Art Center, Walkensdorf, Avstrija (projekt: spletna umetnica Cym)
- Čitalnica SCCA 2007/ Reading Room SCCA 2007, SCCA-Ljubljana, Zavod za sodobno umetnost, Projektna soba
- Danes nimam časa za politiko. Danes nimam časa za umetnost . Danes.., Fotografski projekt; Politično (razstava po izboru članov Društva slovenskih kritikov), Velenje
- Pri meni na vrtu – Cikel Štirje letni časi, Vrt na Komenskega 8, DLUL, Ljubljana (samostojen projekt, vanj sem k sodelovanju povabila kolegice umetnice: Natašo Skušek, Aleksandro Gruden, Eleno Fajt, Cym, karierno sodobno umetnico Mileno Kosec, ter svoje študentke, Evo Nino Cajnko, Martino Černetić, Urško Debevc, Saro Lovrec, Matejo Abram in Bojano Križanec)
- Pogledi / Looks - Home '07, Ljubljana work-in-progress, ulična intervencija (skupaj z Boštjanom Potokarjem)
- North-South Postcard diary, Station Nord, Honefoss, Norveška
- U3 trienale slovenske umetnosti, Moderna galerija, Ljubljana (zbornik, z Boštjanom Potokarjem)