Professorship in Art—Expanded Spaces and Social Interaction

Position
As a young art major in an internationally recognized faculty of design and art, we are looking for a post-conceptual artist working in the field of spatial practices and/or performance art.

You are an active artist with an artistic education (diploma, master) at an art university or similar. You have acquired additional expertise in political theory, cultural, postcolonial or gender studies or similar. You pursue a critical approach within a broad and expanded understanding of contemporary art practices, media, and contexts. We expect that you are part of a wide international network and have active contacts with many actors in the artistic and academic context. Your work is contemporary and part of the ongoing societal and artistic discourses. As such, it is frequently exhibited and published internationally.   

You have a substantial teaching experience and your teaching thoughtfully questions prevailing conventions and aims to raise a critical awareness of the political role of the artist and her/his practice in the globalized world and the inequalities it creates. Through your teaching you encourage students to examine hybrid artistic practices across disciplines and introduce them to contemporary cultural, social, political, and ecological issues of societies in global change. You strive for innovative teaching, new forms, and formats.  You have experience in developing cross-cultural activities and cooperations. You are also interested in actively shaping together our faculty and the young art major and understand as well the necessity and value in taking an active part in the different bodies and forms which regulate and administrate our work.

The position offered is a Full or Associate professorship in Art (Professore Ordinario / Associato). It is a tenured full-time position with a teaching load of 120–180 hours per annum. Salary is highly competitive at top European standards. Applicants may as well enjoy extensive fiscal advantages.

The working place is at the Bolzano Campus and the Faculty expects its professors to take up residence in the immediate vicinity of Bozen-Bolzano.

Important: according to Italian law, you are only eligible to this position if you currently hold a tenured position on a similar level at a recognized university or an equivalent institution.

Approximate starting date: January 2024.

Teaching
The permanent professor will work in didactics and research at the Bolzano location and will perform didactic activities of at least 120 hours in the compulsory subjects of the scientific-disciplinary area ICAR/13 (Design) at the Faculty of Design and Arts as part of the Art Major of the Bachelor in Design and Arts. Teaching in all programs of the Faculty of Design and Art is conducted through semester projects as well as an extensive exchange between practice and theory. In the excellently equipped and supervised workshops, projects can be physically realized by students and teachers.

Research
In your research, you adopt a critical position, explore innovative approaches to the ideation and creation of art works, materials and related (emerging) technologies, embracing interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary collaborations. You will also deal with the complex and articulated aspects of art practices by including social, environmental, material and/or technological dimensions. We participate in international research projects and our work is particularly visible all over the province of Bolzano, as our interdisciplinary and hands-on approach results in many fruitful collaborations, with a strong support from the local community.

For more information, please contact Prof. Eva Leitolf: eva.leitolf [​at​] unibz.it. For general information about the position, terms and conditions of working at the Faculty of Design and Art please contact the Faculty Dean Prof. Nitzan Cohen: nitzan.cohen [​at​] unibz.it

Requirements
According to Italian legislation, only candidates already holding an equivalent academic position of Full or Associate Professor at their current foreign university (a university outside Italy) are eligible to take part in this application process of a “direct call from abroad”. Application that do not satisfy this requirement will not be short-listed.

Furthermore, applicants need to provide the following: Record of excellence in art-based practice and research on an international level, demonstrated by a detailed curriculum vitae, a detailed description of own projects (portfolio), catalogues / artist books and scientific publications. Evidence of high-quality teaching and mentoring demonstrated through students’ work examples, short description of courses given and possible teaching evaluations. Comprehensive vision towards own work, research and teaching as well as specifying future planned projects. Proof of knowledge of at least two of three official teaching languages at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (English, Italian, German)

Application procedure
Please send the above mentioned together with:
–Names and full addresses of at least three referees (address, telephone number and e-mail)
–Specification of current academic position
–Expression of interest

For your curriculum vitae we recommend the use of the form “Attachment A—University Academic CV” available at the following website: see here. Your whole application, duly signed and dated on the last page, must be sent via e-mail: recruitment-design [​at​] unibz.it.

Expressions of interest will be accepted until May 15, 2023. Short-listed candidates would be invited for personal interviews and public presentations.