Course programme 2023

OK. oskar: 70 Years School of Seeing 
On its 70th anniversary, the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg invites international artists and art lovers who approach seeing ( and sensing) today from a feminist, queer, non-binary, intersectional perspective. Founded in 1953 as the “school of seeing” by the renowned Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka, the anniversary project OK. oskar seeks to redefine the pedagogical relationships of an art academy today. 

Course programme 2023
The Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts invites applications to its exciting programme for 2023. Each year, the Academy invites international artists, curators, collectives, educators, scholars, and writers to serve as instructors for its course programme. In 2023, we are pleased to offer courses (two or three weeks) at Hohensalzburg Fortress and Untersberg Quarry under the instructorship of:

A/P Practice (Germany/Italy), Phila Bergmann (Germany/Switzerland)/Thea Reifler (Switzerland), Ángela Bonadies (Venezuela/Spain)/Brígida Maestre (Spain), Maria Bussmann (Germany/Austria), Shulea Cheang (Taiwan/France), Marina Fokidis (Greece), Jennifer Higgie (UK/Australia), Astrit Ismaili (Kosovo), KAYA (Germany/USA), Delita Martin (USA), Ad Minoliti (Argentina), Ulrike Müller (Austria/USA)/Evie K Horton (USA), Stanislava Pinchuk (Ukraine/Serbia), Angelo Plessas (Greece). Annie Sprinkle/ Beth Stephens (USA), Mette Sterre (Netherlands),  Karol Radziszewski (Poland), Shubigi Rao (India/Singapore), Francis Ruyter, (USA/Austria), Hannah Tilson (UK), Munem Wasif (Bangladesh).

At the Academy, instructors translate their practice and research into a pedagogical relationship with participants in order to explore contemporary art practices in mutually interrogative, personal and persistent ways. Conversations are undertaken with a view toward materializing art-related ideas or transmitting them into research and life. The programme reflects current developments in contemporary art, such as digital coloniality (A/P Practice, Cheang), transforming bodies (Ismaili, Sterre), queer archiving  (Minoliti, Radziszewski, Tilson)  and collective-oriented practices (Phila Bergmann/Thea Reifler, Plessas), as well as  eco-criticism/-sex (Sprinkle/Stephens), in/visibility of impairments (Bonadies/Maestres) and (queer-)feminism (Bussmann, Fokidis, Higgie, Martin, Rao) in art. On the occasion of its 70th anniversary, the school offers a focus on painting practices: beyond the Western canon, beyond abstraction vs figuration, beyond colour, and beyond bad painting, and celebrates its return of an architectural class. For detailed information on instructors and courses visit here.

Public programme 2023
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Summer Academy, the Summer Academy continues the research project, Horizons of Possibility. The project investigates emergent pedagogies of art education that enjoin current understandings of gender, plurality, and coexistence with technical and artistic developments. The public programme aims to create a “Space of Debate” through exhibitions, performances, lectures, talks, micro workshops, and when coming together on the dance floor or at the bar. The full programme of events will be launched in April 2023. 

Scholarship application
Deadline: April 28, 2023. The Summer Academy offers numerous scholarships, most of them covering the participation fee, while some also include travel and accommodation expenses. A jury, together with the instructors, will award the scholarships. 

Together with its supporters, the Academy will award extra 20 full scholarships (participation fee, travel, accommodation, per diem) for anyone interested who is currently on the flight or seeking asylum in Europe.
Together with the zt Oberösterreich und Salzburg and Initiative Architektur, the Academy offers six scholarships for the participation fee of the architectural class in combination with an internship. Students inscribed at the Technical Universities in Graz, Innsbruck, and Vienna, can apply for ECTS Credits. For further information and online scholarship application visit here.

Course application 
Deadline: May 31, 2023. Anyone interested can apply as no degrees are required and will submit to a selection process in which the instructors decide on who will be accepted. All applications received till May 31, 2023 will be treated equally in the selection process; after June 1, 2023, they are considered according to the number of available places.

Course fees 
Two-week course: 640 Euro (480 Euro) and three-week course: 860 Euro (620 Euro). Course fees do not include artistic materials if needed. Reduced fees are eligible for students, welfare recipients or others, and members of the Verein der Freunde. For further information and online scholarship application visit here.

Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Art since 1953
Founded in 1953 by renowned Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) as the “Schule des Sehens” (school of seeing), the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts at Hohensalzburg Fortress is the oldest of its kind in Europe. Approximately 20 courses are offered each summer and attended by more than 300 participants from over 50 countries, making the Academy a vibrant venue for international artistic and creative exchange. The Academy offers an open application process to anyone interested, no degrees required; a unique opportunity to study with outstanding international artists, curators, collectives, educators, scholars and writers; devote time exclusively to making art or developing ideas while also learning about and reflecting on art and its discourses; classes based on one-on-one supervision as well as group discussion; stunning historic course environment surrounded by an alpine landscape; public programmes with cultural partners in Salzburg and elsewhere; access to art literature and magazines. 

For further information, please contact office[at]summeracademy.at.