Master of Fine Arts programme in Fine Arts

<p>This international master’s programme will prepare you to make artistic contributions in the public sphere. The courses focus on the many challenges that face us in being public together and on debates surrounding the roles artists can have in producing that publicness. As a student of the programme, you will explore these themes through the development of research-based practices. You will join a small group of students with diverse backgrounds, and learn with teachers who have considerable research expertise and professional practices.</p> <h2>About the Programme</h2> <p style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal">Complex challenges in society demand that critical relations between art and the public sphere are analysed and re-cultivated. Rethinking what artists may do and make, the terms by which they engage, and the contexts in which they operate may bring further understanding of art and artists’ roles. This programme suggests that art can challenge dominant ideologies, co-conceive of alternate states of being, and make critical contributions to society.</p> <p style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal">Five one-week intensives per term are interspersed with self-generated activities and teaching. We categorize your learning with three objectives:</p> <ul> <li>knowledge and understanding</li> <li>skills and abilities</li> <li>judgement and evaluation</li> </ul> <p>Through the courses, you will develop strategies to consider where, when, and how art operates in the public sphere—for whom, in what forms, and by what means. You will develop research skills by learning how to analyse and contextualize the core concerns that your art addresses, through developing artistic and theoretical methods and articulating forms to communicate them by. With your honed communication, negotiation, and critical skills, you will be able to test what art is and does, and contribute to the debate over what being an artist means. You will be assessed by coursework and oral and written exams.</p> <p>You may choose to take part in an exchange programme in the second term via agreements with other schools. The Academy has multiple local, national, and international cross-sector partnerships, including with L’Internationale Online, Gothenburg Konsthall, the Hasselblad Center, and Röda Sten Konsthall, in addition to the PARSE platform for artistic research. Multiple public symposia, seminars, lectures, and conferences make our research public, and your development as an artist will benefit from taking part and learning through these formats.</p> <h2>Who Should Apply?</h2> <p style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal">We want to hear from applicants—from diverse backgrounds—who are alert to contemporary issues in the world and desire an educational context to synthesize this with artistic practices. You should enthusiastically question society, art and its conventions, and the artist’s role in the public sphere. You should be motivated to gain research skills for practice and be theory-curious. Our programme combines teaching, self-generated study, and peer-learning, and you should be sufficiently experienced and motivated to take part and benefit from all three.</p> <p style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal">Is this you? Then apply!</p> <h2>Programme Structure and Content</h2> <p style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal">The first year introduces concepts of publicness and the artist’s role in society. You will identify subjects for artistic investigation, test methods and materials, and locate relevant theories. You will learn to question why, where, when, and how artistic projects operate in the public sphere—for whom, and in what forms.</p> <p style="font-style:normal; font-weight:normal">Term 1:</p> <ul> <li>Contextualisation I</li> <li>Artistic Practices I</li> <li>Elective with other Academy students</li> </ul> <p>Term 2:</p> <ul> <li>Contextualisation II</li> <li>Artistic Practices II</li> <li>Elective with other Academy students</li> </ul> <p>During the second year, you will rigorously practice artistic investigative skills, increasing your competence by accounting for strategies, decision-making, and theoretical relevance. In term 3 you will write a substantial text and develop processes of for an artistic enquiry. Term 4 includes a co-generative project in the public sphere and you complete your enquiry and establish your future path.</p> <p>Term 3:</p> <ul> <li>Contextualisation III</li> <li>Artistic Practices III</li> </ul> <p>Term 4:</p> <ul> <li>Artistic Practices IV</li> </ul>