Application deadline: March 1, 2018
Idyllically located on the river banks in Umeå, a fast-growing and thriving university city with 37,000 students, Umeå Academy of Fine Arts is the northernmost of the five Swedish Art Academies. Within the evolving contemporary Arts Campus, and together with the School of Architecture, UID-Institute of Design, HUMlabX, Sliperiet and the Museum of Contemporary Art - Bildmuseet, the Academy is at the center of a creative focal point in the North.
Programs
Umeå Academy of Fine Arts offers an international two-year Master’s programme taught in English and a three-year Bachelor’s programme, taught in English and Swedish. The programmes are focusing on artistic practice in a professional environment with international faculty. Critical discourse on artistic practice, conditions of production and presentation and an emphasis on analysis and self-reflection contribute to an understanding of contemporary art located within a larger cultural, social, and political context. International guest artists, curators and critics support the faculty in engaging students in their contemporary art practice. Both programmes encompass supervised individual projects, lectures, seminars, group tutorials, solo and group exhibitions. Well-equipped labs and studios for photo, video, sound, 3D-printing, printmaking as well as state-of-the-art workshops for wood, metal, plaster, bronze, clay and ceramics are open to all students. Each student is provided an individual or shared studio space within the cutting-edge modern architecture of the new academy, built in 2012.
MFA programme
Over the two-year curriculum, the MFA programme offers many opportunities to discuss the students’ practice: group critiques and individual studio talks with international art critics, curators and artists are all part of the program. A study trip in the first year is integral part of the curriculum (for example, Venice Biennale, Berlin Biennale, Documenta, Frieze). There are ongoing collaborations with Supermarket Artfair in Stockholm and the Arctic Research Center in Abisko. To conclude the MFA-program, the students work towards a final graduation group show which will be presented at the internationally acclaimed Bildmuseet. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue.
Faculty
The Umeå Academy of Fine Arts faculty consists of a team of renowned instructors with active international careers and a strong interest in cross-disciplinary debate, research, and modes of artistic production.
Current residing and visiting faculty:
Vibeke Jensen, Annika Ström, Karl Larsson, Gerd Aurell, Micael Norberg, Per Nilsson, Stefanie Hessler, Heidrun Holzfeind, Power Ekroth, Tryggve Lundberg, Gunno Bengtsson, Billy Davis, Antti Savela, Dehlia Hanna, Conny Blom, Nina Blom, Ariane Müller, Christoph Draeger
Recent visiting artists and curators:
Hanne Lippard, Jennifer Chan, Diana Kaur, Henrik Hakansson, Annika Larsson, Gean Moreno, Dennis Dahlqvist, Bettina Allamoda, Tris Vonna-Michell, Verena Dengler, Maria Anwander, Ruben Aubrecht, Olav Westphalen, Mari Bastashevski, Annika Eriksson, Jakob Lillemose, Jonas Lund, Reynold Reynolds, Alice Maselnikova, Alexander Peroutka, Swetlana Heger-Davis, Edit Molnar, Bettina Steinbrügge, Saara Hacklin, Fatima Hellberg, Eli Skatvedt, Adrian Notz, Lisette Smits, Florian Zeyfang, Anneé Olofsson, Samuel Gross, Monica Salazar, Anna Russ, Karen Geyer, Nadim Samman, Kalen Wing Lee, Milena Dragicevic, Lisa Torell, Marianne Zamecznik, Fikret Atay, Filipa Ramos, Jumana Emil Abboud
Exchange and international residencies
Umeå Academy of Fine Arts is an active member of an international exchange with 17 art academies of the Nordic Fine Arts network KUNO and many other international educational institutes within the Erasmus system. Additionally, Umeå Academy of Fine Arts offers new exchange programs with the Academy of Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University, with the Department of Photography at Chiang Mai University/Thailand and with the Art Department at Chung Ang University/South Korea. The academy runs a guest residence apartment in Berlin available for the students in collaboration with Konstfack, Stockholm. Furthermore, the academy collaborates closely with the IASPIS artist-in-residency programs in Umeå and in Stockholm.
Tuition
Students from the EU member countries pay no tuition.
Application
Artists/students from all backgrounds interested in innovative artistic practice and research are encouraged to apply. For more information, eligibility requirements, etc., please see our website, www.art.umu.se.
