Cooperational project with MEDIT

MEDIT

Established in 2015, MEDIT is BFM’s Tallinn University Centre of Excellence in Media Innovation and Digital Culture at Tallinn University. Serving as the central hub, it consolidates, orchestrates, and facilitates all research activities within BFM.

Co-led by Professors Ulrike Rohn and Professor Katrin Tiidenberg, MEDIT is organized into several specialized research groups:

Artistic Research and Practice-Based Studies Group

The Artistic Research and Practice-based Studies of Media and Audiovisual Arts Group focuses on exploring audiovisual practice through practice-based methods. This group seeks to generate new insights by creating experimental media, conducting empirical studies, and developing innovative approaches to screenwriting, directing, cinematography, and editing. Their work redefines audiovisual artistic practice, pushing the boundaries of what it can accomplish.

The research group is co-lead by Dirk Hoyer and Michael Keerdo-Dawson

Research Questions

  1. How does integrating iterative improvisational workshops and entangled production cycles impact character development and the filmmaking process?
  2. What are the psychophysiological aspects of creators' and viewers' experiences, and how do these relate to simulation theory?
  3. How does artistic growth unfold within film education, and what role does tacit learning play in this process?
  4. How can point of view be innovatively constructed in film directing, and what methods effectively capture viewer engagement with film structure?
  5. How do narratives influence imaginaries and through which artistic methods can this dynamic relationship be explored?

Externally Funded Projects

  • Improv(e): Expanding character development in fiction films through iterative workshops and dynamic production cycles. Funded by the Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Cultural Endowment, and University of Melbourne.
  • Creating a Point of View Corpus: Focused on exploring POV techniques in directing, led by Elen Lotman and Tanel Toom, funded by the Estonian Ministry of Culture.
  • Humans Remain: A documentary exploring non-places, funded by Estonian Cultural Capital and led by Dirk Hoyer.
  • Cinematic Minds Behind-the-Scenes: Investigating filmmakers' neurophenomenological cues, funded by the Estonian Research Council and led by Dr. Pia Tikka.
  • Tacit Knowledge Development: Examining knowledge formation in film through workshops, funded by the Estonian Culture Endowment and Tallinn University.

Recent Key Publications

  1. McNamara, R., Tikka, P. (2024). "Empathic Nuances of Machine-Mediated Asylum Seeker Narratives." Projections: the Journal for Movies & Mind, 18(1). DOI: 10.3167/proj.2024.180107.
  2. Yilmaz, M. B., Lotman, E., Karjus, A., Tikka, P. (2023). "An embodiment of the cinematographer: Emotional and perceptual responses to different camera movement techniques." Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1160843.
  3. Tikka, P., Kaipainen, M. (2023). "Narrative simulation of social experiences in a naturalistic context." Neuropsychologia, 188, 108654. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108654.
  4. Hoyer, D. (2023). Retopia Creating New Spaces of Possibilities. Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9780429288180.

Arts Didactics Research Group

The Arts Didactics Research Group at the Baltic Film, Media, and Arts, and Communication School (BFM) is dedicated to exploring the processes of creativity and how they can be enhanced through effective teaching and learning methods. Specifically, the group focuses on three areas: (1) understanding creativity and related concepts like flow and creative processes, (2) developing didactic approaches and tools to foster creativity in the classroom/in students for creative subjects, and (3) investigating cross-disciplinary connections between music, arts, dance, film, and multimedia, e.g. applying Creative Research methods. Additionally, the group explores how STEAM approaches, digitalization and artificial intelligence impact creative education.

The main achievment of the group so far led by Jane Remm and Marit Mõistlik-Tamm: The Model of Integrated Teaching and Learning of Creative Subjects (2019–2024) developed during the Centre for Innovation in Education of Tallinn University project „Developing the Competence Centre for Educational Innovation at Tallinn University“.

The Arts Didactics Research Group is co-led by Gerhard Lock and Marit Mõistlik-Tamm. 

Journal

The research group is currently working on relaunching the journal The Changing Face of Music and Art Education (CFMAE) (established 2009), led by Gerhard Lock. https://cfmaejournal.wordpress.com/ 

Recent Key Publications

1. Mõistlik-Tamm, M., Kiik-Salupere, V., Lock, G., Kapper-Tiisler, S., Selke, T., Remm, J., & Aren, K. (2024). A new integrated approach to teaching and learning creative subjects: an emerging model of didactics in the arts. Problems in Music Pedagogy, 23(1), 7−24. DOI: 10.59893/pmp.23(1).001

2. Remm, J., Lock, G., Mõistlik-Tamm, M., Kiik-Salupere, V., Aren, K., Kapper-Tiisler, S. & Selke, T. (2024). Mis häält teevad jooned, kui nad tantsivad? Loovainete lõimitud õpetamisest ja õppimisest [What sound do lines make when they dance? On integrated teaching and learning of creative subjects]. K. Aava, K. Karu, K. Niglas & K. Vanari (Eds.), Oppejõud koostöiselt õpetamist uurimas ja arendamas [Teaching staff collaboratively researching and developing teaching] (133−155). Tallinn University Press [in Estonian with English summary]. https://www.tlu.ee/valjaandedsarjad/acta-educationis  

3. Simson, K. (2023). Visuaalkunsti ikoonilistest väljendusvahenditest Vassili Kandinsky kompositsiooniteooriast lähtudes [Visual semiotics in the arts: An analysis based on Kandinsky’s composition theory]. Acta Semiotica Estica, XX, 89−114 [in Estonian]. https://www.semiootika.ee/acta/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/acta_XX_2023.pdf  

4. Lock, G. & Sikk, J. (2022). Accident and serendipity in music composition, improvisation and performance art. W. Ross & S. Copeland (Eds.), The Art of Serendipity (191–219). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-84478-3_8

Audience Studies and Participatory Culture Research Group

The Audience Studies and Participatory Culture Research Group focuses on how people experience, interpret, engage with, relate to and make sense of the world, themselves and each other either with media or as it is represented in media. Predominantly the group conceptualizes these people as participants (e.g. in mediated, online, imaginary or material communities, networks and groups), users (e.g. of everyday digital communication technologies, media, social media) or audiences and fans (e.g. of various media content). Depending on research projects our unit of analysis can be individual people, specific groups or broader (e.g. national) audiences and the group brings together researchers from different disciplines. 

The group is currently exploring several critical research questions, including:

  • How do individuals and communities collaboratively shape and negotiate identity, wellbeing, belonging and citizenship within the context of visual digital media and social platforms?
  • How do diverse audiences navigate, interpret, and select media content in ways that reflect their identities, preferences, and social contexts?
  • What roles do specific digital platforms and media forms play in shaping public perceptions of trustworthiness, engagement with scientific knowledge, and the boundaries of democratic participation?

The research group is co-led by Professor Katrin Tiidenberg and Associate Professor Alessandro Nani.

Externally Funded Projects

  • TRAVIS (Trust and Visuality: Everyday Digital Practices): Funded by CHANSE ERA-NET, this project investigates the formation of trust in social media through visual practices.
  • ESTWELL: Focused on participatory wellbeing, funded under the Estonian Center of Excellence of Wellbeing Sciences.
  • MeDeMap (Mapping Media for Future Democracies): A Horizon Europe project analyzing media's role in supporting democracy and political engagement.
  • COALESCE (Coordinated Opportunities for Advanced Leadership and Engagement in Science Communication in Europe): A Horizon Europe initiative to enhance science communication in Europe.

     

Recent Key Publications

  1. Tiidenberg, K., Karatzogianni, A., et al. (2024). “Social Media as a Shaper, Enabler, and Hurdle in Youth Political Participation.” Palgrave Macmillan.
  2. Renser, B., Tiidenberg, K. (2024). “Commodification of Spirituality and the Spiritual Healers’ Labor on Facebook.” International Journal of Communication.
  3. Tiidenberg, K., Paasonen, S., et al. (2023). “Vanilla normies and fellow pervs: Boundary work on sexual platforms.” Sexualities.
  4. Olesk, A., Renser, B., et al. (2021). “Quality Indicators for Science Communication.” Journal of Science Communication.

Cultural Data Analytics Research Group

MEDIT's goal is to study cultural change and innovation processes that accompany digital media. MEDIT also aims to apply theoretical knowledge to experimenting with new and innovative forms of digital media.
Our work is largely interdisciplinary, based on the understanding that interpreting and participating in contemporary cultural change requires cultural, economic and technological dynamics to be viewed as a single system. Our staff come from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, including media economics and marketing research, film studies, communication science, and anthropology.

The council of MEDIT:

Contact:

Meelis Sirendi

Head of Research Administration

addressNarva mnt 27, 10120 Tallinn

E-mailmeelis.sirendi@tlu.ee

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