Trondheim Academy of Fine Art
NTNU
N-7491 Trondheim
T +47 73 59 79 00
F +47 73 59 79 20
[email protected]
The Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has appointed Florian Schneider as the new Head of the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art.
Florian Schneider is a filmmaker, writer and curator. He is known as one of the initiators of the “kein mensch ist illegal” (no one is illegal) project at the Hybrid workspace at Documenta X (1997) and subsequent campaigns. He curated the Make World festival in Munich in 2001 and initiated “SUMMIT – non aligned initiatives in education culture” (2007) in collaboration with Irit Rogoff. Between 2005 and 2010 he directed ten editions of “Dictionary of War” in Frankfurt, Berlin, Graz, Novi Sad, Gwangju, Taipeh, Bolzano and New York.
Over the last years Schneider has concentrated on the artistic research project “Imaginary Property,” intervening at the intersections of an ongoing propertization of images and the seemingly imaginary character of property in the age of digital production and networked distribution.
Schneider has been teaching as a guest professor at the Trondheim Academy since 2006. Over the past two years he has served as the Head of the newly established international MFA program. In 2014 he was appointed Professor for Art Theory and Documentary Practices.
Acting as the Head of Department, he has proposed a strategy for the art academy as a dynamic, increasingly international environment with a particular focus on rethinking and reevaluating the role of artists in today’s society. The new strategy consists of an action plan that aims to sharpen the profile of the academy, to expand the research capacities, and to reach out on a global and local scale, while documenting and disseminating the results.
Schneider says, “Our position as an art school within NTNU allows us to develop new and critical understandings of the relationship between art and technology in order to find out how art does actually contribute to NTNU’s vision to create ‘knowledge for a better world’.”
With the beginning of the new semester the Trondheim Academy has started “Divisions,” a two-year-long artistic research project funded by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme. The project will investigate self-images and self-conceptions of artists in a global society that is characterized by hybrid divisions of labor in post-industrial capitalism. The project will consist of researching the facts on the ground of creative industries, a series of conferences and workshops across Norway, and will culminate in the commissioning of five artworks by internationally renowned artists.
About
The Trondheim Academy of Fine Art is a department of the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). NTNU is Norway’s second largest university. Its 50 departments are spread out over seven major campuses, and graduate about 3,300 students every year, two-thirds of which are Masters or PhD candidates. The university has more than 100 laboratory facilities distributed among the different faculties and departments.
The Trondheim Academy of Fine Art operates both independently and within the University fields of study. It is well known as the first art academy in the Nordic countries to offer education in media art. The unique environment allows the students to expand the depth and complexity of their studio practice and to experiment with new approaches across different disciplines and technologies. The Trondheim Academy of Fine Art is one of the last art academies in Europe to offer tuition-free education to non-EU students.