Kristinelundsgatan 6-8
SE-SE-405 30 Gothenburg
Sweden
This year Hdk-Valand offers three international summer courses oriented to different aesthetico-political programmes of enquiry and contestation. These courses are by distance and blended education (online with additional opportunities to meet face-to-face) free to EU nationals, delivered in English, and bearing 15 ECTS. Each course is rooted in live research currently underway in our academy and within our wider networks of affiliation.
Art and Politics—On Friendship and the Political Imaginary (FKAKPO) graduate
An experimental course on thinking the figure of “the friend” through contemporary art, politics and philosophy. Introducing key themes and questions on the political imaginary and onto-epistemology of friendship, with particular reference to contemporary art and curatorial practices, theories and institutions. The course was originally developed in 2021 as a collaboration between Steven Henry Madoff and Mick Wilson informed by, among other things, the text: Exhibition of Friends, and by contributions from the 2021 guest speakers including Céline Condorelli, Walter Mignolo, Jota Mombaça, Sarah Pierce, Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Helena Reckitt, Shuddha Sengupta, Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach, and Claire Tancons. The 2021 guest speakers will be announced shortly.
Introduction to Contemporary Art and Politics (VFSPOL) undergraduate
A survey course that introduces key political themes in relation to contemporary art practices, theories and institutions. It is informed by ongoing research and operates as a summer-long collaborative enquiry. This year there is a special focus on exhibitonary institutions and draws upon the knowledge collaborations of Hdk-Valand with the platforms L’Internationale Online and PARSE and partnerships with Afterall Books: Exhibition Histories and VECTOR. The course is co-taught by Nkule Mabaso, Thiago de Paula Souza and Mick Wilson.
Individual Project Work 1— More-Than-Human Realms and Art (VSIND1) undergraduate
This course extends exploration of socially engaged arts practice by taking an approach oriented to more-than-human realms and art. This radical new approach to the social, to place, and to art through the “more-than-human” is a research-led and collaborative framework realised in partnership with colleagues from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art, and the nomadic platform The Forest Curriculum. This year the teaching team comprises: Åsa Sonjasdotter, Katarina Stenbeck, Forrest Curriculum (Abhijan Toto and Pujita Guha), Behjat Omer Abdulla, and Magnus Haglund.
Online and IRL
Each course has different “meet up” IRL aspects. For courses one and two in: (i) Kassel, Germany (Saturday June 25); (ii) Berlin, Germany (Saturday July 23): and (iii) Gothenburg, Sweden (Saturday August 27). For course 3; (i) Copenhagen, Denmark (Wednesday June 8); (ii) Berlin, Germany (date pending); (iii) Gothenburg, Sweden (date pending). All subject to Covid19 travel conditions of course, find out more here.
There is short information session on Monday February 21, 6–6:30pm (CET) to discuss the content of this year’s courses.
Apply
Application period is February 18 to March 15, 2022. Application here (for international applicants) and here (for Swedish applicants).
Admission to courses is based on a letter of intention (preferably in English) stating why you wish to attend the course, 200 to 350 words in length. (Optional to include CV appendix in addition to 200–350 words.) In evaluating your application, we typically consider: (1) clarity of purpose in attending course, as evidenced in letter; and (2) capacity to actively contribute to the group dialogue, evidenced in letter.
You will require access to reliable internet connection and headphones with mic to participate effectively. The formal presentations can be attended as scheduled, and also accessed via recordings published online afterwards, at whatever time suits your personal timetable needs. However, it is strongly recommended that you attend the discussion sessions ‘live’ online, as these typically will not be recorded, and offer the best opportunity to interact with the other participants. Detailed schedules available here.
