Welcome to the new academic year! We invite you to today's semester welcome event at 4pm in the Mensa at Schillerplatz. We are looking forward to also meeting all our new colleagues and students on this occasion. Four new professors are joining the Academy: Agata Madejska in the studio of Art and Time | Photography, Wendelien van Oldenborgh in the studio of Art and Intervention | Concept, and Anna Schachinger, who also represents the IBK, is professor in the studio of Art and Image | Figuration. Waltraud Indrist will support the HTC (History Theory Criticism) platform at the Institute for Art and Architecture for one year.
We are setting new impulses with the following new projects:
– The research cluster Digital Cultures deals with a rapidly developing field that is increasingly characterized by automated content and algorithms (social media, AI, etc.). It focuses primarily on those digital processes and phenomena in which the Academy's particular expertise in the practical and theoretical examination of contemporary art and culture comes into play.
– The research cluster Sustainability in the Arts focuses on ecological aspects within the production process of artworks and on the role of art in the context of global change. A central concern is the application of insights from Impact Science, which examines the effects of artistic activities on different social groups – particularly through their visual appearance and the conveyed content. Practical knowledge of materials, a resource-conscious approach to artistic production methods and exhibition techniques, as well as new perspectives on ecological systems and sustainable technologies, are evaluated for their relevance and tested for their further development.
The research clusters coordinate work in these subject areas, form networks, and support research projects to anchor these future-oriented topics even more at the Academy. Hannah Bruckmüller and Axel Stockburger can be reached at digital.cultures@akbild.ac.at, Tanja Kimmel and Rainer Prohaska at sustainability.arts@akbild.ac.at.
– We are also able to fill the first three funded doctoral positions (pre-doc) for the Dr. Phil. program this academic year. A warm welcome also to all other new colleagues to the Academy. We are looking forward to working with you.
– We will be setting a new focus with the future Fulbright–Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Visiting Professorship, which will be interdisciplinary and create an academic offering at the intersection of art, business, and society. The professorship is being established in cooperation with WU Vienna, and the courses will be open to students from both universities. The selection process for the Fulbright professorship will begin in 2026. The position can be filled for the first time in 2027.
We congratulate Sasha Pirker on receiving the BMWKMS Outstanding Artist Award, and Jasmin Hammer and Otto Krause for their teaching project Verschwinden which got the Ars Docendi Recognition Award in the category of research-related or art-led teaching. We are delighted that four other award-winning teaching projects have been included in the Atlas der Guten Lehre. More funding commitments, on which we also congratulate the recipients, can be found here.
We are proud of the Academy's employees, their outstanding work and expertise and everything that is achieved here!
Promoting young talent is a unique feature of the Academy. Training our students for work after studying, showing them prospects, supporting them in networking, and offering them platforms on which they can make a name for themselves are at the heart of our efforts. The variety of support that the Academy offers in the form of scholarships, prize money, exhibition opportunities, experiences, etc. is truly special. We are committed to further expanding these important features.
We are pleased to announce that our collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum in Cairo has been extended. Next spring, another graduate will have the opportunity to work in Cairo for two months and gain insight into the local art scene. The call for this and for the residency in Genalguacil, the Birgit Jürgenssen Prize, the Lettner-Lemberger studio scholarship, and much more will go online on our submission platform—all these calls are exclusively for Academy students and graduates.
We are also delighted that our collaboration with Gewista can continue under the title Living Democracy. A call for students, teachers, and graduates is currently being prepared, and the selected works will be displayed on hundreds of Citylights throughout Vienna starting in January.
The deadline of publication series’ call is approaching. The Publishing Lab is also continuing its work, helping colleagues and students to gain experience with publications and benefit from the expertise of experienced colleagues. More information to follow! In the fall, there will also be a call for submissions for the design-oriented series. We are delighted to announce that the first Fine Companionsvolume on the Cathrin Pichler Archive has got one of “Austria’s Most Beautiful Books 2024” awards.
We are pleased to announce the exhibition project with the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, where works by (former) students will be shown alongside those of artists from Prague.
On November 6, the Kunsthalle Wien Prize-exhibition will open at the Kunsthalle am Karlsplatz, where works by award winners Jonida Laçi (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) and Luīze Nežberte (University of Applied Arts) will be displayed.
We would also like to note that students can apply for a free membership card from Gesellschaft der Freunde der bildenden Künste, which grants free admission to numerous museums in Vienna.
On Tuesday, October 21, at 5pm, you are all invited to Michaela Eichwald's lecture on the occasion of the prolongation of her professorship Art and Image | Abstraction! We will toast to the extension of her contract afterwards.
Last but not least, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that the hammocks in the Aula (Assembly Hall at Schillerplatz) are accessible again and that there is still the possibility to play table tennis in the Courtyard on Schillerplatz. – Perhaps you would like to try it out later after the semester welcome!
We wish everyone a great start to the new academic year!