During the two foundation semesters (Grundstudium), professors introduce key media and culture theories. You will learn how to analyse texts, the fundamentals of media economics and view films that will then be discussed – so you’ll get to go to the cinema regularly, too! You will also look at the bigger picture and take modules from the Computer Science and Media as well as the Media Art and Design programmes. You will be familiarised with fundamental methods and content during the foundation semesters (Grundstudium) and receive preliminary orientation for your further studies.
You will then be free to select courses and projects from the fields of Media Studies, Cultural Studies and Media Economics. In line with the Bauhaus tradition, the faculty offers project-based study. This mixed format comprising lectures and seminars in small groups will allow you to consider specific content in greater depth. You are able to choose from the courses offered by our professors and to plan your own individual timetable.
The practical module in the fourth or fifth semester can be used for an internship or in-depth project in the artistic field. A semester abroad is also possible and encouraged. The faculty will gladly help you to organise this and offers a variety of attractive exchange opportunities.
The sixth semester is devoted entirely to completing your final project. We do not assign you a topic. Instead, you yourself must decide on both a question and your supervisor. For more information on the study formalities, please see the study and examination regulations.
Programme content
In the Media Studies Bachelor’s programme, you can choose from the courses offered by our professors. Here’s a brief overview of our professors’ key teaching and research interests:
Image theory
- What do images do – and what do they want?
- What effect do images have on people and how do people affect images?
- How do we conduct research about – and with – images?
- What forms of experience, reception and wishes evolve from the interaction with image media?
European media culture
- What are the historical and contemporary media of a specific European media culture?
- What knowledge of Europe do media produce or renounce?
- Before the backdrop of globalisation and migration, how do media cultures differ in the east and west, north and south?
History and theory of cultural technologies
- How does the understanding of culture change when it is not understood as an intellectual sphere but rather questions the techniques that generate culture in the first place?
- What does it mean to consider the materiality and use of media?
- How do cultural techniques establish and stabilise networks and infrastructures?
Organisation and Network Media
- Which new forms of work, coordination and employment arise in digital media?
- How do start-ups transform the media industry?
- What role does data play in the management of media companies?
- How do network media change the ways of cooperation in organizations?
Marketing and media
- What role do media play in marketing?
- What are the particularities of marketing for media markets, consumers, products and enterprises?
- How are new media influencing companies’ brand management?
Media management
- What is management and what are media?
- What are contemporary management tools?
- How were management and organisation perceived in the past and what can we learn from this?
Media economics
- How do media markets work?
- Why are there special rules for media markets?
- Why are some mergers between media enterprises permitted and others aren’t?
- What are sharing economy companies and how are they different?
Media philosophy
- What do media do?
- If media influence our thoughts, actions and feelings, how should we reflect on our handling of media to take this into account?
- If we do not allow ourselves to be led by the superficial talk of “the media” to the misguided assumption that we already know what media are: who or what is then described as a medium for whom or what in concrete media processes?
- Should media processes be considered reciprocal – and as media for one another?
- Is there such a thing as a life without media?
- Do only humans have media? Or can media also be considered from something other than an anthropocentric perspective?
- How can the relationships between humans, animals and technology be considered from a media perspective?
Media sociology
- How do people use media and what impact do media have on them?
- Under what conditions do (new) media evolve?
- In what society do we live?
Philosophy of audiovisual media
- How do media influence thinking on oneself and the world?
- When people themselves can be media, what does this mean for the distinction between humans and media?
- What is the difference between philosophy and media philosophy?
Theory of media worlds
- How do media influence the development and spread of scientific findings?
- What effect do innovative techniques such as visualisation, communication and the storage of scientific data have on research processes?
- Conversely, how does scientific research contribute to the development of new media?
Archival and literary studies
- Why and in which media formats do we archive – as individuals and collectively?
- Do we change when our archiving formats change – when we move them to digital spaces, for example?
- How can theories of archiving benefit from their direct cultural setting – the Weimar media theory of the town’s historical and cultural setting, for example – and vice versa?
Film and media studies
- How can I say what a film does?
- Is there a language of film?
- Is there a language for film?
- Is there a language for what I see?
- How can I express this?
Society and Digialization (Lecturer)
- How do communities form in and around digital media?
- How does digitalisation modulate society?
- What is the relationship between sustainability and digitalisation?
- Are digital environments media ecologies?
- How can digitally sustainable societies be constituted? How can we think and design them?
Please see the course catalogue for an overview of all seminars and lectures currently on offer. For general descriptions of the module content and learning aims, please refer to the module catalogue.