Application deadline: 15 January 2015
University of Gothenburg
Valand Academy
Vasagatan 50
Gothenburg
Sweden
English is the official language of both programmes. Each is fee-free for EU nationals. Competitive scholarships exist for non-EU-nationals.
Valand Academy is a centre for development of the artist/author/filmmaker/photographer—providing a stimulating, critical, artistic and intellectual environment. We are especially interested in the agency of artists across contemporary art, cinema, literature, and photography. Central to the ethos of the Academy is dialogue, discussion and debate across art forms on what is currently at stake in contemporary culture and politics.
The full-time two year MFA Photography supports students to advance their practice through a rigorous critical approach towards how they position themselves as practitioners working across different modes and contexts, and as critical agents in the wider society. Particular attention is given to the historical and contemporary use of photography, critical reflection in practice, politics of representation, mechanical and digital reproduction, and different distribution formats such as exhibitions and books.
The contemporary practice of photography has a self-reflecting approach and includes different methods and traditions such as contemporary art, documentary, subjective, archival, topographical and environmental photography. The programme is taught by photographers, artists, scholars, critics and curators connected to the international art scene. Valand Academy has an established and internationally recognised research platform with an active network of researchers from a wide range of photographic practices and approaches.
The full-time two year MFA Fine Art supports students to advance their practice and artistic agency through a rigorous approach to identifying what will become their contribution to the complexities of the contemporary world. The programme involves significant opportunities to develop skills in communication, negotiation and contextualisation, including through individual and group project-based activities. The programme is informed by the diverse art practices of its learners and influenced by specialisms including: performance and performativity, exhibitionary practices, art and cultural theory, artists’ writing, context-specificity, participatory art, queer art, and the conditions of artist-led cultures. We engage with multiple platforms for the varied production, reception and discussion of art including with art institutions, context-specific environments and via multiple networks and partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally. In tandem with live projects, learning happens through studio critique, lectures, seminars, workshops and fieldwork. The learner maneuvers through art-making, collective exhibitionary practices and diverse methods of research, reflection and contextualization to foster interrogation of the role/s of the artist in the contemporary world. The programme is taught by artists, curators, art historians and theoretical scholars with highly respected profiles.
Both programmes prepare students, and provide a good foundation, for further postgraduate-level studies in artistic research.
The academy is characterised by small class sizes with emphasis on a peer educational environment. Our pedagogical approach is based on co-production—knowledge and practice are developed within a community of learners and researchers operating in dialogue. Students come from different countries, cultural heritages and perspectives, and we encourage cross-cultural dialogue. We seek to ensure programmes reflect the diversities of the contemporary world.
Valand Academy is based in the centre of the beautiful port city of Gothenburg, integrated into the city’s cultural life. We operate a lively public programme of exhibitions, events, readings, screenings, performances, conferences and debates. We are extensively networked internationally with a lively research community, including several prestigious nationally funded research projects in queer cinema, contemporary poetry, photographic archives/imaging practices in environmental and climate science and the conditioning of practice within artist-led cultures.
Programme: MFA Photography
Language: English
Deadline is 15 January 2015.
Applications open on 1 December 2014.
Contact [email protected] with any questions.
Read more here.
Programme: MFA Fine Art
Language: English
Deadline is 15 January 2015.
Applications open on 1 December 2014.
Contact [email protected] with any questions.
Read more here.
No application or tuition fees for EU/EEA citizens.
