Graduate Conference 2026
At the Graduate Conference 2026 doctoral and PhD candidates in their final phase will present results of their dissertation projects.
The Graduate Conference aims at a stronger visibility and integration of doctoral candidates at the Academy of Fine Arts and seeks to increase exchange and networking possibilities among the doctoral candidates as well as researchers and artists of the Academy. We are looking forward to an exciting conference day with multifaceted presentations and lively discussions.
Program overview
9:30 h | Welcome
Johan Hartle, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
9:45 h | Volha Sasnouskaya: Exhaustion, Interruption and Rethinking Revolutionary Time through the 2020-21 Uprising in Belarus
PhD in Practice program, supervised by Renate Lorenz, and Anette Baldauf
Moderation: Pille-Riin Jaik
Discussant: Serena Lee
10:30 h | Azar Mahmoudian: Social Bubbles: Fermentations and Spectral Infrastructures
PhD in Practice program, supervised by Renate Lorenz, and Anette Baldauf
Moderation: Serena Lee
Discussant: Masimba Hwati
|| Short break ||
11:30 h | Esra Özmen: Die Beziehung zwischen Migration, Bildung, urbanem Leben und Widerstand – Erforschung der kulturtheoretischen und sozialen Dimensionen von Rap in Österreich
Doctor of Philosophy program, supervised by Marina Gržinić
Moderation: Cathérine Lehnerer
Discussant: Anna Leon
12:15 h | Asma Aiad: Ästhetik der Teilhabe: Repräsentation und künstlerische Praxis von Muslim*innen in Kunst und Kultur in Österreich
Doctor of Philosophy program, supervised by Marina Gržinić
Moderation: Cathérine Lehnerer
Discussant: Anna Leon
13 h | Closing, Ingeborg Erhart, Vice-Rector for Art and Teaching of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
|| Light lunch and networking ||
The conference will be held in English and German.