The Master's degree course in Art Studies in Kassel is a wide-ranging postgraduate course in the history and theory of art, which can be combined with a Bachelor's degree in Art Studies or Art History. The aim of the Master's degree course is to deepen your basic knowledge and to provide you with skills relating to the various professional fields open to graduates of art studies. The Master's degree course also qualifies you for a doctorate.
The course is designed in such a way that you will be able to set your own individual focus. Against the background of current specialist discourse, the fields of research represented by the professorships include modern art history, in particular North German painting of the 15th century and Dutch painting of the 17th century, core questions of aesthetics and art theory as well as the development of the visual arts in the 20th and 21st centuries, which also includes the theory and history of exhibitions. Questions relating to strategies of art mediation and art criticism, cultural conditions of artistic and curatorial action, questions relating to artistic research and topics of the history of art history are also researched. The Master's degree in Art History concludes with a Master's thesis on a topic of your choice.
The active involvement of students in research, cooperation with other faculties at the University of Kassel or national and international institutions enables students to gain practical experience in the context of project seminars, in addition to a research-oriented deepening of the respective thematic focus. In addition, excursions to international exhibition venues are just as much a part of the Master's course as the opportunity to spend time abroad, which is supported by various funding and scholarship programs at the University of Kassel.
The art studies course is based at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, which not only promotes individual support for students in their academic work, but also the exchange with the neighboring courses in fine arts, visual communication and product design.
As a study location, Kassel offers optimal conditions for art academic research with its numerous specialized libraries. These include the Departmental Library of the Kunsthochschule, the State Library and Murhard Library of the City of Kassel with a prominent manuscript department, the documenta Archive as a special library for 20th century and contemporary art and the Wilhelmshöhe Museum Library. The attractiveness of the location is complemented by the third highest density of museums in Germany, a lively, young art and culture scene and the documenta, which takes place every five years as one of the most important exhibitions of contemporary art in the world and a platform for current art-theoretical discourse.
