Course Schedule
The next cohort begins in Week 45 (1st week of November), 2026.
Live online sessions are held twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, from 18:00 to 21:00 Oslo time, over four weeks. The course consists of eight live three-hour sessions in total, together with short readings, reflections, and activities between sessions.
About the Course
Story of Art & Civilization is an interdisciplinary journey through some of the fundamental questions that have accompanied human beings throughout history.
Rather than treating history as a sequence of names, dates, and isolated events, the course looks at how people in different societies have understood themselves and the world around them. Through art, historical examples, philosophical ideas, religious traditions, institutions, and collective ways of life, we explore questions such as:
How have human beings understood beauty and meaning? How did property, political authority, money, religion, and social institutions emerge and change? What makes a society legitimate? How have different cultures thought about happiness, morality, freedom, responsibility, knowledge, and the good life? And how much of the world we take for granted today is the result of choices made by people who lived long before us?
The course moves across different periods and civilizations, from early human societies and the first large political orders to the ancient Iranian and Mediterranean worlds, India and China, classical philosophy, Rome and the Iranian empires, Judaism and Christianity, and some of the intellectual traditions that continue to shape our lives today.
The aim is not simply to learn about the past. Throughout the course, participants are encouraged to compare different ways of thinking, question familiar assumptions, and consider how historical ideas and institutions continue to influence our own societies and everyday lives.
Art plays an important role in this process. Paintings, sculptures, architecture, objects, and other forms of visual culture are approached not merely as illustrations of history, but as ways in which human beings have expressed their understanding of themselves, their societies, and the world.
How the course works
The course is held online over eight weeks, with one live three-hour sessions each week, for a total of eight sessions.
The sessions combine presentation, close looking at works of art and historical material, philosophical and historical discussion, individual reflection, and group conversation.
Between sessions, participants may also be given short readings, questions, observations, or small assignments. These are designed to deepen the discussion without turning the course into a heavy academic workload.
No previous background in art history, philosophy, history, or the humanities is required. The course is designed for a general audience. Curiosity and willingness to think and participate are much more important than prior knowledge.
Discounts
Students receive a 15% discount on the course fee.
We also offer a partner registration discount: when two partners register together for the same course or programme, the second registration receives a 25% discount.
If the course fee is difficult for you, please contact us. We do not want financial circumstances to prevent someone from participating, and we will try to find a workable solution together.
Satisfaction guarantee
We also want you to feel comfortable trying the course.
If you participate and, at the end, genuinely feel that the course was not worth what you paid for it, simply let us know. We will refund your course fee.
We would rather have you join with curiosity than stay away because you are uncertain whether the course is right for you.
