“New Department of Digital Arts and Cinema at the University of Athens” presented by Charitos, Rizopoulos and Poupou
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Art schools
Presentation Title:
- New Department of Digital Arts and Cinema at the University of Athens
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
The Department of Digital Arts and Cinema of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece is a new department that focusses on the common ground between the hybrid field of film practices and cinema studies, on the one hand and electronic, digital, immersive and interactive arts, on the other. It was founded in 2019. The creation of this new department addresses the need for the provision of quality education, artistic innovation and practice-based research in the multidisciplinary field of interactive arts, working at the intersection between film and cinema studies and digital art in Greece.
The primary aim of the department is to fill a need for audiovisual and film production in Greek higher education by being one of the first departments to bridge the gap between established film-making practices, combined with the use of digital tools for high-quality artistic production. Its innovation lies at the fact that it transcends the boundaries of a traditional film school as it brings forward the interconnection with a wide range of contemporary digital forms of expression and multimedia. In order to appropriately support the above, the department’s infrastructure includes five educational laboratories focusing on supporting the following creative activities: Multimedia technologies lab, Film-direction and audiovisual production, Film and video editing, Sound recording and editing, Digital Art and installations, Virtual and extended reality laboratory, Ubiquitous, physical computing and 3D printing.
The curriculum provides students with both a theoretical grounding and a practical skill set pertaining to the above-mentioned fields. The two main corollaries of the curriculum are cinema studies and digital arts; a key identifying characteristic of the department is the interplay between these two basic pillars in an attempt to provide a holistic coverage of this emerging area.
