Academy of Fine Art
Application deadline: February 1, 2026
Apply now for the 2026–28 MFA programme at the Academy of Fine Art at The Oslo National Academy of the Arts. The MFA study program supports prospective students to become independent and active contributors to the field of contemporary art at an international level. Our Academy encourages critical thinking and questioning normative givens to foster experimental reflection on the artist’s role in society.
Our Academy is a publicly funded education centered on autonomy, self-discovery, and contextualization, inviting students to work closely with leading artists, thinkers, and curators within a studio-based programme supported by an open curriculum and strong situatedness through designated courses, tutoring and group critiques.
The Academy has an internationally renowned faculty of artists and theoreticians who have left a mark in the field by working across various media and materials, pursuing intersectional approaches to eco-social questions, and engaging in decolonial, queer, and feminist practices.
Located at the northern edge of Europe, the Academy is situated in one of the region’s fastest-growing cities. The city hosts some of the largest museums, ambitious kunsthalles, and numerous artist-run spaces, often initiated by our alumni. A welcoming international and robust artistic milieu, including artists’ unions and support for artists' professional lives, opening up the possibility of stipends and studios available in the region to local and international alumni.
More about the program
The Academy's MFA program is structured around a studio-based practice for experimentation with materials, techniques and artistic strategies. Each student receives a studio throughout their studies.
The core of the program includes participation in group critiques within a professor-led group of ten students or fewer, individual tutorials, exhibition practice, theory, critical writing, and thematic courses on urgent current artistic questions and issues. Students are encouraged to actively participate in the Academy’s life to influence teaching and to exhibit, inside and outside the institution, throughout the program.
The MFA program starts with an introductory course that ties critical discourse to the students’ artistic processes and the choices they face when exhibiting. In the second year, graduating students develop both a collectively realised exhibition with consolidated institutional collaborators and an individual graduation project, which may take place at the school, at local institutions, in public space, at artist-run spaces, or in other experimental presentation formats that best align with their artistic practice.
Study trips have been offered to Nordic and other biennials and major exhibitions in which our faculty is often involved. The Academy has also collaborated on these international events, including Steirischer Herbst in Graz and the Momentum biennale in Moss. At the end of the program, alumni can apply for designated stipends and studio spaces for a year.
Faculty members, who are practising artists, curators, and theorists, include: Liv Bugge, Marthe Ramm Fortun, Gard Olav Frigstad, Dora García, Pedro Gómez-Egaña, Steinar Haga Kristensen, Irena Haiduk, Anawana Haloba, Ane Hjort Guttu, Saskia Holmkvist, Maryam Jafri, Anton Kats, Oscar Lara, Dirkjan van der Linde, Lisa Rosendahl, Mike Sperlinger, and Jan Verwoert.
Current and incoming PhD fellows are Robel Temesgen Bizuayehu, Adam Khalil, Paloma Polo, Jessica Lauren Taylor and Martin Robert White.
Regular tutorials, public talks, and events with guest artists, writers, and thinkers enrich our teaching. Past guests include Legacy Russell, Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, Aaron Schuster, Lara Khaldi, Elena Filipovic, Rebecca Quaytam, Ane Graff, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Angie Keefer, Farid Rakun (ruangrupa), Vanessa Baird, Lene Berg, Jana Winderen and Alex Kitnick.
Duration: two years, full time studies (120 credits). Dean: Antonio Cataldo.
*The MFA program is in English. There are no tuition fees for EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens, or for those with a Norwegian residence permit. Tuition fees apply to other international students, unless they qualify for an exemption. For full details, including application materials and guidelines, please visit KHiO’s website.
