Call for PhD applications

The Trondheim Academy of Fine Art seeks applications for two fixed-term, three-year PhD positions in Artistic Research. Both positions will be part of the new PhD program in Artistic Research which is set up across NTNU’s Faculty of Architecture and Design and the Faculty of Humanities.

We are looking for applicants with the verve to explore and articulate art’s new roles and the work of artists in today’s society. These positions require a high level of commitment to contributing to an artistic research environment that sets out to revisit, revaluate, and reinvent specific aspects of the relationships between art, technology, and society. 

The candidate’s dissertation should centre around works of art that manifest artistic research in the visual arts. It will present its outcome through diverse materials that reflect and document the candidate’s progress over the entire course of the process. 

Candidates are expected to share the outcome of their artistic research and production on different scales: within the department and the University, as well as locally and internationally.

The new PhD program in Artistic Research builds upon the experiences of the Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Program and will be connected to a national Research School. 

Context
The Trondheim Academy of Fine Art is a dynamic, international, intensely collaborative, and cross-disciplinary research environment that aims to provide next-generation artists, researchers, and practitioners with the range of experience, skills, creative confidence, and theoretical insight to work across sectors. 

Nine academic staff members, complemented with visiting professors, guest teachers, and researchers are contributing to the strong reputation of the department in artistic research on Norwegian, Scandinavian, and European level. Individual fellows and their supervisors, post-doctoral researchers, and professors are shaping and reshaping an artistic research environment focused on visual arts while also being genuinely open to artistic research emerging in the fields of design, architecture, film, and new media.

The Trondheim Academy of Fine Art has co-initiated the NTNU-wide Art and Technology (ARTEC) task force. Most recently, it has established the European Forum for Advanced Practices (EFAP) as a COST action in the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 program, which brings together a wide range of research institutions in cross-disciplinary, long-term collaborations in order to further develop artistic and practice-based research.

Qualifications
We seek highly motivated candidates with a Master’s degree in Fine Art, Design, or Architecture or equivalent qualifications. Applicants should:
–demonstrate their potential to carry out an artistic research project at an international level;
–document prior experience with artistic research methods;
–present a track record of exhibition activities in contemporary art venues;
–show their capacity to contribute to complex artistic research projects within the field of fine art or visual arts, across creative disciplines, and/or in collaboration with scientific or technological academic environments;
–convey a strong interest in exploring future methodologies of cross-disciplinary collaborations between art, technology, and society, as well as in relation to the strategic research areas at NTNU: Ocean, Health, Energy and Sustainability;
–have excellent communications and teamwork skills; and
–strong command of both written and spoken English is a prerequisite.

Employment
PhD Candidates are remunerated in code 1017 and are normally remunerated at gross NOK 449,400 before tax. There will be a 2% deduction for the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund from gross wage. The Faculty offers a budget of NOK 150,000 to carry out the artistic research project. If the project involves higher costs, a budget plan must be submitted.

Applicants will engage in an organized PhD training program, and appointment requires approval of the applicants plan for a PhD study within three months from the date of commencement. The position is of 3 years’ duration. Successful applicants are expected to relocate the centre of their activities to the premises of the art academy in Trondheim.