Vår 2025

HIF-3211 Arctic Images - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for språk og kultur

Type of course

This course is a flexible, hybrid online and campus-based course that welcomes participation from external as well as campus students.

The course is elective within the MA-programme in Art history. It may be taken as an elective course within other MA-programmes at UiT and by international students at UiT that hold a BA-degree, or equivalent degree, in the humanities.

Course overlap

KVI-3211 Arctic Images in Art, Visual Culture and the Museum, c. 1600-2020 10 ects

Course contents

The course has a broad perspective on art related to the Circumpolar North/Arctic. The empirical data includes visual arts from the 17th century to the present, as well as photography and other recent media. Through close study of works and projects, the course focuses on the significance and role of the Circumpolar North concerning connections between art, society and the environment. Questions about an Arctic iconography and historiography will be addressed. We will also discuss the roles of art in relation to consepts such as discourse, represention, narrativity, performativity, appropriation, colonialism, memory, monument, gender, identity, ecology and exhibition. Central to the course is an understanding of the Arctic as an arena for current national and global societal challenge.

Admission requirements

A bachelor's degree, or equivalent degree, in the humanities.

Application code 9371 - single courses at master's Level.

Objective of the course

You have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

You have:

a thorough knowledge of art related to the Arctic, from the 17th century to the present
a basic knowledge of arctic discourses and indigenous issues
a basic understanding of methods, concepts and interpretations related to art and society, visual representation

Skills

You are able to / can:

use the academic language confidently, both spoken and written
conduct analytical work at a level required by a major scientific work
discuss the syllabus literature and use relevant theoretical concepts in a precise and independent manner.
Use relevant critical approaches to develop independent insights about particular texts

Language of instruction

English, students may submit their exam paper in English, Norwegian or other Scandinavian language.

Teaching methods

All learning activities will take place online, in Canvas:

3 modules with 6 online lectures in total:

Arctic iconography.
The Arctic at the museum.
The Arctic in contemporary art.

6 online seminars:

the lecturer presents an introduction/ short presentation of the relevant topic/s in Canvas before the online seminar. Each seminar focuses on a selected work or topic, with relevant texts from the syllabus. Students write and publish a comment (scope: min.100-max. 300 words), which serves as a starting point for the exam/term papers. Active participation in the seminars is required.

All courses are evaluated once during the period of the study programme. The board of the programme decides which courses will be evaluated by students and lecturer each year.