http://www.hisk.edu/ (pdf-file)
mailto:[email protected]
tel 32 3 2867840
fax 32 3 2815026
(Office closed from July 21st until August 28th 2005)
Files to be sent before September 1st 2005 to:
HISK
Lange Leemstraat 338
B- 2018 Antwerpen
Belgium
HISK / Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten / Higher Institute for Fine Arts
Studios for visual artists
HISK organizes the post-graduate educational programme in the field of the visual plastic arts. HISK is an independent institution and is directed towards students who graduated at one of the eight Flemish Departments that provide a higher education in the field of art, as well as to young artists in general, both from Belgium and from abroad.
HISK offers individual studios to some thirty five young visual artists, thus enabling them to develop their own individual oeuvre and style, independently of fixed curricula or programmes, yet within a professional climate, stimulated, guided and supported by experts.
The artistic process
Innovative thinking in conjunction with authenticity constitutes the core of the artistic process, a process that needs to be directed and guarded and requires time. Time safeguards the development and subsequent maturation of ideas, of personalities and of talents. HISK first and foremost emphasises individual artistic praxis. The participating individuals connected to HISK will be there for this very purpose, namely to deliver artistic work, both inside and outside the studio.
The studio occupies a central place, since all participants are provided with their own individual working space with some elementary facilities. Each participant receives a key to the HISK building and has the liberty to decide on which days and at what time to work in his/her studio. Artists, critics and theorists from Belgium and from abroad, visit these individual studios on a regular base. Besides HISK organizes regularly important art event visits and guest lectures.
Thorough concentration on the work, reflection and discussion occupy a central place. All activities are -insofar as this is possible- situated within a broader international context. In collaboration with similar institutions abroad, HISK attempts to enable the participants to get acquainted with other and divergent cultural and artistic expressions. Part of the training can take place in studios abroad, or as work-visits to museums, galleries and studios. In the framework of larger projects, the participants cooperate to realise interdisciplinary and/or multidisciplinary projects and installations. The participants are offered a three week stay in New York during which they get acquainted with the international art world.
Participating in activities, exhibitions, symposiums and lectures is of essential importance to remain adequately informed on contemporary developments.
HISK has several technical workshops at its disposal that are accessible to the participants and may be used in consultation with a technical assistant and production guidance.
Practical experiment and research
The praxis of the visual arts is permeated and underpinned by a plethora of theoretical considerations, originating from such divergent fields as the history of ideas, philosophy, cultural studies, the history of art, sociology and positive sciences. With regard to this assessment, it is important to keep in mind that artistic practice develops along the lines of aesthetic and critical considerations. For this very reason, it is of great importance that HISK bestows ample attention upon theory formation.
This attention is necessary, since values that are produced in the field of the visual arts are a reflection of patterns of social values, all the more so since, as of late, the process of societal change has been considerably sped up by the power of the media.
The advantage of the attention given to theory within HISK lies with the fact that this happens in the immediate proximity of the process of creation, of practice. Theoretical constructs are scrutinised in the light of direct experience. HISK has an important role in bridging the time-honoured gap or conflict between making and thinking, between practice and theory.
Laureateship
HISK does not postulate specific demands as to the type of education a candidate received before applying, but does take into account the level of his/her development. Preference is given to candidates up to the age of 35, but exceptions to this rule are possible.
The application consists of a presentation of works that have been realised in the previous years, as well as of a motivation screening/interview of the artistic project that the participant wants to realise during his/her study. The works that the artists submit to the jury will be judged on the basis of their visual qualities and plastic values, independent of style, material or technique. In view of the intentions underlying the HISK, we do not only expect genuine attention for their own works from the participants, but equally a serious investment in a critical research into the fields of their particular interests with regard to a larger scope of social and cultural considerations. Additionally, we also expect a contribution to the activities of HISK as a whole.
A probationary period or novitiate of three months time will be allotted to each participant. If the candidate is received at the HISK, she has the opportunity of a tenure at HISK for a period of at least two years time. After two years, one can apply for the laureateship.
The artistic content staff, joined by the attendants, will evaluate the candidates. This board will evaluate the development of each individual participant at least twice per year. The tenure at HISK is concluded by a public presentation of the work of the candidates, after which the certificate of laureateship will be awarded to the participants.
The work year starts in the beginning of January.
