Elective Courses in Liberal Arts & Sciences
Art and Costume Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
Please check the departmental website for description
College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
CORE-UA 725-000 (19742)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon,Wed8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Cohen, Jean-Louis
CORE-UA 725-000 (19743)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by
CORE-UA 725-000 (19744)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by
CORE-UA 725-000 (19745)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by
CORE-UA 725-000 (19746)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Fri12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by
Interdisciplinary Seminars (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks
This course will be an introduction to studio art for students, to traverse both cultural and temporal barriers of visual arts. Students will examine the content of artwork, and build various skills to translate ideas into reality. Class time will be devoted to individual projects and critiques, lectures, and group discussions. This course is open to all students with or without an art background. Note that attendance in the first class meeting is mandatory, otherwise you will be dropped from the course. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective
Art (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 14 Weeks
ART-SHU 310-000 (17746)02/07/2022 – 05/13/2022 Wed5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Edelstein, Barbara · Zhang, Jian
Language of Film is an introduction to the craft, history and theory of filmmaking and film-watching. The main challenge facing all filmmakers is to show the story: in other words, to visualize the drama. Over the past century, narrative, experimental and documentary filmmakers have developed a variety of creative strategies and techniques designed to give their audiences compelling, multi-sensorial experiences. The goal of this class is to explore how filmmakers in different historical and cultural settings have contributed to the evolution of film as a powerful, complex and captivating art form.. This course allocates as History & Criticism for Film & TV majors.
Painting is an incredibly versatile medium and its dynamic evolution across cultures and through millennia continues up until the present. The medium’s relevance and capacity for reinvention are evidenced in the work of a number of contemporary painters who have incorporated inventive materials and/or methods into their practice to both push its limits and explore contemporary concerns. In this class, students will get an introduction to the fundamental technical, formal, and conceptual principles of painting. Using watercolor, gouache, and acrylic, students will explore color theory, composition, texture, form, and surface using a wide range of techniques. Through selected readings, students will also examine the theoretical questions and historical precedents that have informed painting’s development, see how they relate to or have been challenged by the work of contemporary painters and be able to connect select concerns to their own practice. In addition to acquiring basic technical skills and conceptual know-how, students will also gain competency in art critiques and writing artist statements. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective
Art (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks
ART-SHU 211-000 (19569)02/07/2022 – 05/13/2022 Mon1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Early afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Kramer, Maya
This class used to be called History of Dance. This course explores why and how dance acts as a vital participant in cultural practices around the world. Looking back through the perspective of present research, we will examine how dance is inherently a reflection of the culture it represents. A wide overview of dance and its myriad purposes will be covered, from a means of worship in India, Turkey, and Haiti; its inclusion in the rituals of Bali; noh and kabuki theatrical traditions of Japan; fertility and death ceremonies of the Wodaabe, Yoruba, and Dogon tribes of Africa; the healing zar dances of North Africa, and the rituals/activism of Native American tribes. The presentation of court dance as a symbol of power will be examined in Hawai’i, Java, and Cambodia, as well as in Catherine de Medici’s Renaissance pageants and in the French Baroque spectacles of Louis XIV’s Versailles and the Paris Opera. The inevitable impact of politics on dance will be examined in viewing the bloody genocide of Cambodia’s Royal Dancers; the propagandist works of China’s Cultural Revolution; the French Revolution’s influence upon Romantic ballets such as La Sylphide and Giselle; and how the repression of a Gitano culture led to the emergence of flamenco in Spain. In addition to written texts and video documentation, we will review examples of related art forms (visual arts, music, and drama).
Open Arts Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
OART-UT 701-000 (14352)09/01/2022 – 12/14/2022 Mon5:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Beaman, Patricia
The traditional understanding of media industries reminds us of mass media such as TV, radio, newspaper etc. Digital technologies, however have reshaped how media is made, consumed, and comprehended by increasingly fragmented audience groups. Self-made public accounts, search-based video streaming platforms, and social media apps refreshed our vision of media and challenged the existing ways of running a successful media. How to develop a thorough understanding of the rapidly changing market? This course is an introduction to the media industries, with a particular focus on the institutional forces (i.e., market structures, law and regulation, technological advancement, and audience dynamics) that shape the content and forms of emerging media. Combining lectures and guest talks, this class will make sense of the key concepts, professional terms, and business logics embedded in the production and operation of the global media industries. Furthermore, we will take case studies approach to examining the economic and social influences of media companies in specific contexts, particularly China, U.S., and U.K. These knowledge, together with the analytical skills that the students will acquire through in-class discussions, will allow them to comprehend and cope with the interplay among technology, market forces, and regulators in a wide array of media companies, including television, film, news, social media, video streaming, and the media-related tech businesses. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: IMB major Emerging Media Foundation course or IMB major IMA/IMB elective.
Interactive Media and Business (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
IMBX-SHU 106-000 (21279)02/03/2025 – 05/16/2025 Mon12:00 AM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at ShanghaiInstructed by Froehlich, Fabian
Provides a comprehensive introduction to the traditional and contemporary music of the Celtic areas of Western Europe: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, and Galicia. Recordings and live performances present the extraordinary range of singing styles and the musical instruments employed in each culture, including harps, bagpipes, and a variety of other wind, free reed, keyboard, and stringed instruments. Forms and musical styles are explored in depth, along with a study of their origin, evolution, and cultural links.
Music (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
MUSIC-UA 182-000 (9098)09/02/2021 – 12/14/2021 Mon,Wed12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Moloney, Michael · Roman, Danielle
The Renaissance, like classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, is a major era of Western civilization embracing a multitude of styles. It is, however, held together by basic concepts that distinguish it from other periods. Main developments of Renaissance art both in Italy and north of the Alps: the Early and High Renaissance; relation to the lingering Gothic tradition; and Mannerism. Emphasis is placed on the great masters of each phase. The survival of Renaissance traditions in Baroque and Rococo art is examined in art and architecture.
Art History (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
ARTH-UA 5-000 (10110)09/02/2020 – 12/13/2020 Tue,Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Majeski, Anna · Bolte, Quinn
Majors Only:This course will introduce incoming Master’s students to some of the concepts, terms, and theoretical genealogies that they can expect to encounter in Performance Studies. What makes performance studies performance studies, and why do it? In considering this question we will consider the specificity of performance as an object of study, a mode of inquiry, a practice of self-hood and sociality, and as an aesthetic practice; we will also focus on the specific challenges and potentialities in writing about/as performance.
Performance Studies (Graduate)
4 credits – 14 Weeks
PERF-GT 1000-000 (15996)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Wed9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Moten, Fred
PERF-GT 1000-000 (15997)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Thompson, Nora
PERF-GT 1000-000 (15998)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Abhulimen, Jackie
PERF-GT 1000-000 (15999)09/02/2025 – 12/11/2025 Thu3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Lee, Juyoung
What exactly is this thing we call mysticism? As the general, secular public treats religion, so does the mainstream religious public treat mysticism, a special case, replete with mystery and the repository of great potential. Mysticism has served as the space for the bleeding edge of religion, where destabilizing forces have emerged but reactionary, regressive forces as well. Mystical religious communities have been both the most tolerant and the most exclusive, the most libertine and the most abnegating. Is there such a thing as mysticism? Can it be elicited from the religious frameworks in which it resides, or is it merely a modern, academic convention? In this course, we aim to work out some answers to those questions.
Religious Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 3 Weeks
RELST-UA 240-000 (1544)01/04/2021 – 01/22/2021 Mon,Wed,Thu10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by Russ-Fishbane, Elisha
Designed for BFA (Studio Art) students, this course is an introduction to the global history of art, exploring the meanings associated with “art.” The class is a series of linked test cases involving specific art objects & the context of their creation. By working closely with a range of materials –– art history & theory, artist’s writings, & documentary film –– we will survey how artists have contributed to the history of art and question how this history matters for contemporary artists.
Art Theory & Critical Studies (Undergraduate)
2 credits – 14 Weeks
ARTCR-UE 58-000 (13090)09/03/2019 – 12/13/2019 Mon4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Fresko Madra, Lara · Harouni, Shadi
ARTCR-UE 58-000 (13091)09/03/2019 – 12/13/2019 Mon4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Harouni, Shadi · Fresko Madra, Lara
ARTCR-UE 58-000 (13092)09/03/2019 – 12/13/2019 Mon4:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Late afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Harouni, Shadi · Fresko Madra, Lara
La Belle Époque, that period in the life of France’s pre-World War I Third Republic (1871-1914) associated with extraordinary artistic achievement, saw Paris emerge as the undisputed Western capital of painting and sculpture; it also was the most important production site for new works of musical theatre and, arguably, literature. It was during these decades that Impressionism launched its assault on the academic establishment, only itself to be superseded by an ever-changing avant-garde associated first with the nabis, then with fauvism and cubism; that the operas of Bizet, Saint-Saëns, and Massenet and the plays of Sardou and Rostand filled the world’s theatres; and that the novels of Zola and stories of Maupassant were translated into dozens of languages. Finally, this was the society that gave birth to one of the greatest literary works of all time, Marcel Proust’s Remembrances of Things Past, the first volume of which appeared just as the First World War was about to bring the Belle Époque to a violent end. Sources include reproductions of paintings, recordings of chamber music, opera and mélodies, and several of the most significant novels of the period.
College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 16 Weeks
CORE-UA 9761-000 (24742)01/25/2021 – 05/14/2021 Mon,Wed11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at NYU Shanghai (Global)Instructed by Hackney, Melanie
CORE-UA 9761-000 (24743)01/25/2021 – 05/14/2021 Tue10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at NYU Shanghai (Global)Instructed by
CORE-UA 9761-000 (24744)01/25/2021 – 05/14/2021 Thu10:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at NYU Shanghai (Global)Instructed by
CORE-UA 9761-000 (24745)01/25/2021 – 05/14/2021 Tue4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at NYU Shanghai (Global)Instructed by
CORE-UA 9761-000 (24746)01/25/2021 – 05/14/2021 Thu4:00 PM – 5:00 PM (Late afternoon)at NYU Shanghai (Global)Instructed by
For course description, please consult the College Core Curriculum website: http://core.cas.nyu.edu
College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
CORE-UA 720-000 (8657)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Mon,Wed2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Silver, Kenneth
CORE-UA 720-000 (8658)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Fri9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by
CORE-UA 720-000 (8659)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Fri8:00 AM – 9:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by
CORE-UA 720-000 (8763)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Fri12:00 AM – 1:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by
CORE-UA 720-000 (8764)01/28/2021 – 05/10/2021 Fri11:00 AM – 12:00 AM (Morning)at Washington SquareInstructed by
College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
The location of Israel at the geographic junction between the West and the East, between the Arab world and the Western world, against the background of the long historical complexity of this piece of land provides a panoramic view of Israeli culture and art by examining thematic crossroads and ideas, via problems and social conflicts which lie at the heart of those art works and are reflected by them. Themes include: religion and secularism, universalism/globalism versus localism, Jews and Arabs, Ashkenazic and Sephardic cultures, multiculturalism in Israel, Zionism and Post-Zionism, right and left political world views, questions of gender, historical perspectives on war and peace and the Holocaust. Students explore the way different forms of art—visual, literary, and performance—reflect and shape the understanding of the “Israeli mosaic” while learning about the way the artists and writers internalize, consciously and unconsciously the complex Israeli reality.
College Core Curriculum (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
CORE-UA 9764-000 (19273)08/27/2025 – 12/09/2025 Tue9:00 AM – 11:00 AM (Morning)at NYU Tel Aviv (Global)Instructed by Livnat, Aviv
Computer Science (Undergraduate)
3 credits – 15 Weeks
This class is an overview of the field of games that approaches them from several theoretical and critical perspectives. No special theoretical background or prior training is needed to take the course, but to have had a broad practical experience with and basic knowledge of games is a distinct advantage. Also, an interest in theoretical and analytical issues will help. You are expected to actively participate in the lectures, which are dialogic in form, with ample room for discussion. The course will prepare the student to: Understand and discuss games from a theoretical perspective, as well as the components of a game; Apply new theories and evaluate them critically; Assess and discuss game concepts and the use of games in various contexts; Analyze games, and understand and apply a range of analytical methods.
Performance Studies — An Introduction explores the wide world of performance – from theatre, dance, and music to ritual, play, political campaigns, social media, and the performances of everyday life. Performance studies also ranges across cultures — Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas. And it spans historical periods from the art of the paleolithic caves to YouTube and the avant-garde. This course is devised by Richard Schechner, one of the pioneers of performance studies, in dialogue with more than a dozen expert scholars and artists. Performance Studies — An Introduction puts students in dialogue with the most important ideas, approaches, theories, and questions of this dynamic, new academic field. Performance Studies — An Introduction is a “flipped” course: students will read and watch lessons online, blog about the material, and participate in a weekly interactive seminar guided by Professor Erin B. Mee — a theatre director and scholar — who has worked with Schechner for years.
Performance Studies (Undergraduate)
4 credits – 15 Weeks
PERF-UT 200-000 (15424)01/27/2020 – 05/11/2020 Thu2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Early afternoon)at Washington SquareInstructed by Mee, Erin