Artistic Research

The notion of “artistic research” occupies a pivotal position in our program. We situate our work within the long history of the interaction between the humanities, visual arts, experimental film, and literature. Over the past 50 years, but arguably as early as the beginning of the past century, these disciplines have often shared a mutual institutional and intellectual space, influencing each other and working through common aesthetic, philosophical and political questions and issues. While this tradition of transdisciplinary exchange has often eluded formal institutionalization, today’s art world (including most art schools, large exhibitions, and certain smaller art spaces but also artists’ magazines and transdisciplinary art projects) has increasingly become a place where numerous practices we call “artistic research” have come to be developed, presented and institutionally supported.

Working from examples of historical paradigms of interaction between disciplines, artistic research should at the same time attempt to make new ground—taking risks that might lead to new undiscovered or underrepresented territories (in both a literal and metaphorical sense).

Students from a humanities, film, art and design background are encouraged to apply who are interested in working in various media as writers, curators, artists, filmmakers, and designers active in contemporary art and cultural institutions. The program is transdisciplinary but also encourages different levels of specialization working both in diverse groups and with professors in more specific fields.

Here are some examples of past and contemporary artistic research projects we might be inspired by:

Aby Warburg / Walter Benjamin / Carl Einstein / Chris Marker / Agnes Varda / Marguerite Duras / Susan Meiselas / Hito Steyerl / Metahaven / Dziga Vertov / Godfrey Reggio / Forensic Architecture / Eva Cockcroft / Lucy Lippard / Renée Green / Thomas Hirschhorn / John Akomfrah / Gediminas & Nomeda Urbonas / Anna Boghiguian etc.

Based on these and others’ works, we hope to articulate our own artistic practices and create a space of reciprocal engagement, knowledge sharing, and joy.