course-details-portlet

MUSV3141 - Björk: Humans, nature, and technology in experimental popular music

About

New from the academic year 2024/2025

Examination arrangement

Examination arrangement: Individual assignment
Grade: Letter grades

Evaluation Weighting Duration Grade deviation Examination aids
Individual assignment 100/100

Course content

Björk Guðmundsdóttir’s diverse career spans forty years, from its beginnings in punk rock bands in the 1980s to avant-garde electronic music in the 2020s. While based on popular music styles, her eclectic music often exceeds genre conventions, incorporating compositional techniques from modernist art music and an ongoing exploration of new music technology. Björk has always taken a conceptual approach to music, working with recent developments in feminist philosophy and theories of knowledge. In particular, her artistic output is defined by its exploration of the relationships between humans, nature, and technology. Studying Björk’s music we are confronted with questions such as: What does it mean to be human in a digital environment? Can experimental music transform categories of gender and identity? Can music promote more ecological ways of existence? In this course we will study Björk’s music as well as the audiovisual aesthetics of her award-winning work in music video and film. Analysis of recordings and videos will be combined with interdisciplinary readings and discussions on the broader cultural and aesthetic issues that pertain to Björk’s work. In sum, this course will give students specialized knowledge of one of modern music’s most unique artists.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Students who complete MUSV3141 successfully will have will have gained knowledge of

  • Björk’s career and musical output from 1980 to the present day.
  • Björk’s film music and audiovisual productions.
  • Vocal style and vocal production in recent popular music.
  • Compositional and formal traits of recent popular music.
  • The combination of avant garde and popular styles in Björk’s work.
  • The relation between musical aesthetics and posthumanist thinking on humans, nature, and technology.

Skills:

Students who complete MUSV3141 successfully will be able to:

  • Interpret and discuss musical and compositional choices in Björk’s work.
  • Present their knowledge of Björk’s music in oral presentation and written essay.
  • Do cross-disciplinary analyses that connect musical issues to broader cultural issues.
  • Do audiovisual analyses of music videos.

Learning methods and activities

The course will consist of lectures and a variety of seminar activities, such as group listening and analysis, discussions, and oral presentations.

Compulsory assignments

  • Weekly log (written comments about the literature for each week)
  • Oral presentation

Further on evaluation

Individual semester assignment (essay) submitted digitally in Inspera, as a pdf-file, at the end of the semester. The essay should have a length of 4000-6000 words. The course instructor will present the essay question in the first half of the semester.

If the course is not passed, the student must retake the whole assessment. If the candidate retakes the exam, there is no need to retake the compulsory assignments.

More on the course

No

Facts

Version: 1
Credits:  7.5 SP
Study level: Second degree level

Coursework

Term no.: 1
Teaching semester:  SPRING 2025

Language of instruction: Norwegian

Location: Trondheim

Subject area(s)
  • Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture
  • Music Theory
  • Aesthetic Studies
  • The History of Art
  • Media Studies
  • Musicology
  • Scandinavian Language and Literature
Contact information
Course coordinator: Lecturer(s):

Department with academic responsibility
Department of Music

Timetable

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Examination

Examination arrangement: Individual assignment

Term Status code Evaluation Weighting Examination aids Date Time Examination system Room *
Spring ORD Individual assignment 100/100 INSPERA
Room Building Number of candidates
  • * The location (room) for a written examination is published 3 days before examination date. If more than one room is listed, you will find your room at Studentweb.
Examination

For more information regarding registration for examination and examination procedures, see "Innsida - Exams"

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