The Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK) is the Hamburg state academy of higher artistic and scientific education. With its wide range of subjects, the HFBK Hamburg offers the opportunity to study for interdisciplinary artistic and scientific qualifications. Students work in studios and are extensively supported by art and science tutors in seminars and in individual and group tutorials. The aim of studies is to enable students to pose new issues in all artistic disciplines and to achieve innovative solutions. A central role is given to engagement with topics chosen by students themselves and project-related and experimental working methods.

The HFBK’s consecutive bachelor and master study programs as well as its art teacher education program connect all subjects, from sculpture, stage design, design, film, graphic art/typography/photography, painting/ drawing, theory and history to time-based media. This course of study expects students to follow their own individual interests while at the same time opening wider horizons for artistic engagement and solutions by means of the interdisciplinary study structure. As would be expected given this emphasis on free artistic enquiry, studies do not follow a rigid curriculum. There is no rigid sequence of content, with each stage dependent on the stage before. The scientific courses on offer allow for studies in art and cultural theory, aesthetic, art-historical and media-specific studies that contribute to artistic production in different ways or may lead to a scientific qualification. Not least, this enables students to think their planned development through in a precise way, to deepen its theoretical aspects, to demonstrate it analytically, and to present it convincingly. Through this, a doctorate in art can be achieved. In the numerous artistic workshops, supplementary knowledge concerning the materials and applications of any given work area will be transmitted, and the necessary manual and technical skills learned.

As an active part of cultural life, the HFBK Hamburg exerts an influence on current artistic developments through a variety of collaborations, initiates debates, and triggers discussions and developments. In this context, international collaborations are especially emphasized by the HFBK Hamburg. Offers of lectureships to international artists and exchange and cooperation by teachers and students testify to diverse partnerships with overseas universities.