13 - Contemporary Art Practices III - D

• To open up a field of life outside the mundane and self-explanatory understanding of everyday life, world, the students themselves, and their future profession.
• The student is placed in the centre of his own project's production process, in which he will need to use all the, up to that point, acquired knowledge and experience in leading an interdisciplinary working group (note: now matter how many colleagues the student needs in his working process, the creation of the practical diploma project will require a cooperation with a number of persons, even though this may include only the organisation of an exhibition setting, or of the camera team, and the like).
• At the same time, the aim of the subject is that the student is considered as an independent creative individuality, capable of setting his own objectives, finding a way and solutions, developing his own idea and creating his own complex creative project.

Within the module, the students will be able to obtain the following general competences: ability to apply knowledge in practice, ability to apply and connect specific types of knowledge in complex projects, development of communication abilities and competences, cooperative approach, working in groups, responsible approach towards a project, colleagues, and one's profession.

• Experience and proven activities within the key subject Contemporary art practices in years one and two.
• A student's wish to prepare his or her diploma thesis within the Contemporary art practice module.

The student who chooses the Contemporary art practice module is normally the one who is not attached to only one form of the media expressions; the student may perhaps initially choose one particular medium but then may shift to their key choice depending on the context of the project that is in front of them. The Contemporary art practice environment provides the student with the following dimensions: an experimental nest within a wide spectrum of contemporary arts, from an experimental use of digital technologies to space, social, action-oriented, and other projects in which digital technology is not in the foreground (yet it remains, sooner or later, a bearer of an artistic message, even if only in a documentation function).

Work in the module (4 ECTS): * Research of specific assignments based on the project given (if needed, the mentor may give additional exercises, seminar assignments, or mini projects)

Diploma work (16 ECTS): * Practical part of the diploma thesis: an independent creative project (the nature of this creativity is quite open in this module; it could be an intermedia or one media project, an exhibition, installation, visual/sound/space setting, site specific or context specific project, a web project, and other options). * Theoretical part of the diploma thesis:
Tthe theoretical part of the diploma thesis: here a research into the theme background (theoretical, historical or technical) is connected to the practical part of the thesis; the practical project is, at the same time, incorporated in the theoretical assignment, occupying a larger or smaller part of the thesis, depending on its key postulates.

• Defence of one's diploma thesis in front of the thesis committee.

The students acquires an ability to face a complex creative assignment and to solve real life problems by using artistic research methods and procedures. At the same time, the student develops skills and competences in the use of knowledge within the creative art field. The student also acquires additional knowledge, such as ability to face performance deadlines, solve administration hindrances occurring in public projects, communication with spectators, and other related skills.

Important: Literature is determined according to the selected theme thesis.

• Auslander, Philip: V živo - uprizarjanje v mediatizirani kulturi, Ljubljana: Mestno gledališče ljubljansko, 2007 Catalogue
• Eseji o video produkciji v različnih kontekstih ali v razmerju do družbenih in umetniških praks, SCCA-Ljubljana. E-version
• Goldberg, Roselee: Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present, Thames & Hudson, 2001 Catalogue Catalogue E-version
• Heathfield, Adrian: Live Art and Performance, Routledge, New York, 2004 Catalogue E-version
• Jones, Amelia: Body Art uprizarjanje subjekta, Maska, Ljubljana, 2003 Catalogue
• STRATEGIJE predstavljanja 2 in 3. Ljubljana : SCCA, Zavod za sodobno (Svet umetnosti) Catalogue
• Geopolitika in umetnost = Geopolitics and art / Tečaj za kustose sodobne umetnosti, leto 1999. Ljubljana : Zavod za odprto družbo - Slovenija, Sorosov center za sodobne umetnosti, 1999 (Svet umetnosti) Catalogue
• Teorije razstavljanja = Theories of display / Tečaj za kustose sodobne umetnosti, šolsko leto 1997/98. Ljubljana : Zavod za odprto družbo - Slovenija, Sorosov center za sodobne umetnosti, 1998 (Svet umetnosti) Catalogue
• URBANARIA / [urednik, editor Lilijana Stepančič]. - Ljubljana : Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, 1994-1997 Catalogue
• VIDEODOKUMENT : video umetnost v slovenskem prostoru 1969-1998. Eseji / [urednica Barbara Borčić]. - Ljubljana : Open Society Institute - Slovenia, 1999 Catalogue
• VIDEODOKUMENT : video umetnost v slovenskem prostoru 1969-1998 = video art in Slovenia 1969-1998. [Dokumentacija = Documentation] / [urednica, editor Barbara]. - Ljubljana : Open Society Institute - Slovenia, 1999 Catalogue

Exercises and group work 20%, Complex creative task 40-50%, The theoretical work 20-30%, Thesis defense 10% The ratio may be a bit different, depending on whether the thesis has theoretical rather than creative focus. Upon an agreement with the student, the mentor submits the thesis proposal, which is confirmed by the students' committee. The diploma thesis defence may considerably influence the student's final grade.

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)