Concept Seminar — Introduction

During the upcoming two weeks, we develop further our Bachelor thesis and project proposals. The course will be led by two of our professors, Dr. Joëlle Bitton and Prof. Jürgen Späth.

Prelude

By mid December, we had to deliver a 2-page essay and a related project map that described our initial concept. Let me share the abstract of my text to put you in context:

In my thesis I explore the expression of beauty in context of groups (tribes, workplaces, social networks, LMBTQ+ communities, etc.). My beauty definition relies on the individual’s set of alternative selves — physical and ideal ones — in relation to their communities’ beauty standards. I extrapolate these relations into the near future where people can make conscious decisions about how to manifest themselves in radically diverse ways in the physical and virtual world.

Check out the full essay here.

Before we left to the Holidays, we got a very brief feedback from our professors. The reaction to my essay was in general positive, however my definition of groups is way too broad. I agree with the feedback and narrowing down my focus is probably the biggest task of the seminar.

My expectations to the course

First of all I hope that the seminar brings my thoughts back to the Bachelor Project. Though I spoke about my concept with a few family members, there were more important topics around the dining table :)

As said before, narrowing down my scope is on top of my to-do list. When I wrote my essay I tried to be as specific as possible, however I wanted to leave a bit of space to explore a few options and not stuck into a very concrete direction. I am looking forward to completing the exercises described in the syllabus as they all help to think about our topic from different angles. I am happy that the course structure includes mentoring sessions and presentations leaving space to further feedback from the professors and peers. I want to make sure to include all these insights to my v2.0 essay and prototype.

The BA Thesis Concept Seminar starts tomorrow, stay tuned!