The Art Academy

Image above: Ballon Head Horse - Sandro Masai / performance course 2020

The Art Academy – Department of Contemporary Art fosters an active and international educational environment that places the individual student’s artistic practice into focus. Students have the opportunity to explore a wide range of artistic expressions and develop through hands-on production, tutoring and critical discussions. The Department has an open structure that allows students to pursue their interests and experiment across disciplinary boundaries. Our eight focus areas are: painting and drawing, sculpture and installation, ceramics and clay, time-based art and performance, new media (audio/video), textiles, printmaking, and photography. Students can choose to specialise in one or more of these areas. The department has its own theory programme at both the bachelor’s and the master’s level. Our BA programme attracts students from all over Scandinavia, while our MA programme in Fine Art and Curatorial Practice enrols students from across the world. The Art Academy recruits research fellows affiliated with the Artistic Research Fellowship Programme (PKU).

Individual tutoring and group instruction are central to the department’s strategy and practice, incorporating both discussion, reflection and critique. Subjects for discussion range from materials and concepts to the relationship between theory and practice to artistic quality. Our aim is to equip students with the necessary conceptual tools to achieve a balance between production and reflection.

The Department has excellent workshop facilities that are used both in teaching and artistic research. Our teaching staff is composed of a broad range of professionals who are active in Norway’s art scene and abroad. This is a prerequisite for promoting a living educational environment within the department. 
 

The artistic research of the staff lies at the core of our educational programme. Artistic research includes both the faculty members’ individual artistic work and joint thematic projects. Currently, several major artistic research projects are headed by our professors and researchers (Matter, Gesture and Soul and Beyond Heritage).

We cooperate with leading institutions on the local, national and international level. In recent years we have collaborated on projects together with Bergen Assembly, Bergen Kunsthall and The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. Internationally, the academy has a project in collaboration with University of the Arts Poznan named Illusion of Form which is an activity aimed at developing new teaching strategies.

Study Programmes

   

Focus Areas

The Department of Contemporary Art has core expertise in eight focus areas: Photography, Printmaking, Ceramics and Clay, Painting and Drawing, New Media (audio/video), Performance/Time-based Art, Sculpture and Installation, and Textiles.

Research Groups at The Art Academy

The Art Academy is initiating research groups in 2023 which aims to build an active environment and connection for our researchers and PhD candidates.

Degree Shows

Workshops

The Faculty of Art, Music and Design maintains a number of workshops and special rooms overseen by workshop technicians. As a student at the Department of Fine Art, you will be trained in the use of workshops relevant to you and your field of study.

A total of 13 workshops are housed at Møllendalsveien 61. Every workshop has a workshop technician with special expertise in the tools and equipment/machines provided.

Staff

Exchange Programme

Incoming exchange students: If you are interested in applying to the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design as an exchange student, see our pages for Student Exchange at uib.no.

Outgoing exchange students: If you are enrolled as a student at the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design and would like to know more about your opportunities for studies abroad, see the site for students (only in Norwegian).

For any requests about exchanging, contact Tale Vik, International Coordinator at KMD.