Master of Fine Arts

Idyllically located on the river banks in Umeå, a fast-growing and thriving university city with 37,000 students, Umeå Academy of Fine Arts is the northernmost of the five Swedish Art Academies. Within the evolving Umeå Arts Campus, and together with the School of Architecture, UID-Institute of Design, UmArts Research Centre for Architecture, Design and the Arts and Bildmuseet/museum of contemporary art, the Academy is at the center of a creative focal point in the North.

Programs
Umeå Academy of Fine Arts offers an international two-year Master’s programme taught in English and a three-year Bachelor’s programme, taught in English and Swedish. Artistic research has been done at the school since 2000 and the school currently offers a postdoc option. The programmes are focusing on artistic practice in a professional environment with international faculty. Critical discourse on artistic practice, conditions of production and presentation and an emphasis on analysis and self-reflection contribute to an understanding of contemporary art located within a larger cultural, social, and political context. International guest artists, curators and critics support the faculty in engaging students in their contemporary art practice. Both programmes encompass supervised individual projects, lectures, seminars, group tutorials, solo and group exhibitions. Well-equipped labs and studios for photo, video, sound, 3D-printing, printmaking as well as state-of-the-art workshops for wood, metal, plaster, bronze, clay and ceramics are open to all students. Each student is provided an individual studio space within the cutting-edge modern architecture of the new academy, built in 2012.

MFA programme
Over the two-year curriculum, the MFA programme offers many opportunities to discuss the students’ practice: group critiques and individual studio talks with international art critics, curators and artists are all part of the program. Study trips are integral parts of the curriculum (e.g. Venice Biennale, Documenta, Athens Biennial, Frieze art fair). To conclude the MFA-program, the students work towards a final graduation group show that will be presented at the internationally acclaimed Bildmuseet. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue. The MFA programme is coordinated by artists Annika Eriksson and Kristina Buch. For syllabus, visit here.

Faculty
The Umeå Academy of Fine Arts faculty consists of a team of renowned instructors with active international careers and a strong interest in cross-disciplinary debate, research, and modes of artistic production. Current residing and visiting faculty: 
Per Nilsson, Annika Eriksson, Kristina Buch, Micael Norberg, Edith Marie Pasquier, Gerd Aurell, Henrik Jonsson, Johannes Samuelsson, Tryggve Lundberg, Daniel Westman, Emily Fahlén, Simon Gran-Danielsson, Lisa Nyberg.

Recent visiting artists and curators
Magnus af Petersens, Jan Verwoert, Runo Lagomarsino, Hanni Kamali, Katerina Gregos, Egija Inzule, Emily Fahlen, Asrin Haidari, Imri Sandström, Lina Selander, Stefanie Hessler, Vibeke Jensen, Annika Ström, Karl Larsson, Hanne Lippard, Jennifer Chan, Dehlia Hanna, Nadim Samman, Olav Westphalen, Diana Kaur, Billy Davis, Henrik Hakansson, Annika Larsson, Reynold Reynolds, Alice Maselnikova, Gean Moreno, Dennis Dahlqvist, Bettina Allamoda, Tris Vonna-Michell, Verena Dengler, Maria Anwander, Ruben Aubrecht, Mari Bastashevski, Annika Eriksson, Jakob Lillemose, Jonas Lund, Alexander Peroutka, Swetlana HegerDavis, Edit Molnar, Bettina Steinbrügge, Saara Hacklin, Fatima Hellberg, Eli Skatvedt, Adrian Notz, Lisette Smits, Florian Zeyfang, Anneé Olofsson, Samuel Gross, Monica Salazar, Anna Russ, Karen Geyer, Kalen Wing Lee, Milena Dragicevic, Lisa Torell, Marianne Zamecznik, Fikret Atay, Filipa Ramos, Jumana Emil Abboud.

Exchange and international residencies
Umeå Academy of Fine Arts is an active member of an international exchange with 17 art academies of the Nordic Fine Arts network KUNO and many other international educational institutes within the Erasmus system. Furthermore, the academy collaborates closely with the IASPIS artist-in-residency programs in Umeå and in Stockholm.

Tuition: Students from the EU member countries pay no tuition.

Application: Artists/students from all backgrounds interested in innovative artistic practice and research are encouraged to apply. Application deadline: March 1, 2023, 12am.

For more information, eligibility requirements, etc., please see our website or follow this link.