A decade ago, the Sommerakademie im Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern introduced a landmark educational template that is being reinvented by the reestablished Sommerakademie Paul Klee, beginning in August 2017. The new Sommerakademie Paul Klee under artistic director Tirdad Zolghadr is a fully funded program offering artists a departure from business as usual, without becoming an exhausting interruption in its own right. It caters to practitioners working at a postgraduate level, whether or not they have an official certificate saying so. Professional experience and intellectual appetite are the main requirements. Over two summer sessions—August 2019 and August 2020—eight residents are granted access to the university’s outstanding infrastructure and technical support. In addition, residents are offered teaching opportunities with students of the Bern University of the Arts HKB.

Although based on the idea of an academy, the aim is to transcend the blueprint of seminars and tutorials, and to focus on group research and cross-professional coalition building. With its atypical timeline, and exceptional facilities, it sought to combine rigorous collective inquiry with the perks of production-oriented residencies.

An Art & Education School Watch profile of Sommerakademie Paul Klee by Aoife Rosenmeyer can be found here.