Overview: The Transart Institute and Danube University Krems offer an international low residency two year graduate art program leading to an MFA degree. The program is intended to lift the boundaries between applied and fine arts, traditional and new media, artists and scholars. Students are free to pursue work in any media art-related genre and to create their own course of study, working independently and with the support of self-chosen faculty and artist mentors. Short periods of intensive residency permit students to continue with their professional work and keep a balanced personal life while participating in the program.
Up Close and Personal: Students work intensively in 15-day residencies each summer with guest faculty, artists, media practitioners, writers, theorists and the entire school body on-site. Between residencies, students work one-on-one off-site with faculty by correspondence and with a self-chosen mentor in an exchange which includes a minimum of three studio visits per semester.
Program Goals: The purpose of this program is to create a space for students of all disciplines to interact with a wide range of artists, scientists, theorists, media practitioners and visionaries. Students investigate their work independently and transdisciplinarily in both a cultural and studio context. Whatever genres students choose to work in, the program is designed to: bring artistic content to new media; enrich student’s praxis; foster change; facilitate a connection between group and personal work; provide the means for contextualizing work in the wider world; and develop interaction strategies with audiences.
Independent Study: The academic year consists of two 5-month independent study semesters. Students are guided and supported throughout the program by self-selected outside mentors for their Art Project and by Transart Institute faculty for their research by correspondence. Faculty will make mentor suggestions if requested. Student’s mentors are funded by the Transart Institute. Project progress, process and relationships are documented in both written and oral dialogues between students, faculty and mentors. An average of 20 hours of schoolwork is expected per week (15 studio, 5 research), permitting students to continue with their current jobs simultaneously.
Residencies: The three 15-day summer residencies are both milestones and pools of resources, taking place at the beginning, middle and end of the two year program. Each residency begins with closure to the previous year’s studies through seminars, intensive critiques, exhibitions, presentation and performances. With new students, current work done prior to commencing the program is presented, examined and discussed. The center of the residency consists of an intensive course, workshops, a public symposium and graduate exhibitions, performances, and events. The final part of the residency acts as the starting point for new projects, facilitated by seminars and meetings with faculty in order to plan, inform and commit to the coming year’s Study Plan.
Study Plan: Students prepare their individual Study Plan in conjunction with their chosen faculty. Interviews with three faculty, in which students present and discuss ideas for their Research Project precede a selection process. (Students submit first and second choices). During the residency students prepare and submit their two semester Study Plan for faculty approval. Study Plans consist of thesis, description and initial bibliography for the Research Project and a detailed description and three names of potential mentors for the Art Project. Students have two weeks following the residency to finalize their choice of mentor and deliver by e-mail the mentor’s curriculum vitae for final approval.
See Study Plan Scenario for an example.
Symposium: A public, international evening symposium is central to the residency.
Workshops: Students choose two studio workshops per residency. Workshops are not intended to further technical virtuosity but to enhance creativity by exposing students to new approaches to working in various genres. It is recommended that students work with what they are technically familiar with for these sessions. Students should bring their own tools ie. cameras, powerbooks, sketch pads. Scanners, video projectors and printers will be available. 2005 workshop descriptions.
Presentations: Students participate in three group presentations and critiques conducted by student-chosen faculty and Visiting Artists. Students present their projects and issues of delivery, method, content, aesthetics, technique, audience, media, genre, gender, culture and process are discussed by all.
Seminars: Students partake in three continuing seminars in Cultural Studies. Topics include: Media Art Theory and History, Contemporary Issues in Art, The Role of Theory, Research Techniques, Contextualizing the Residency. Readings are provided in requested languages whenever possible.
Artistic and Academic Achievement: In year one, students create Art Projects (i.e. a film/video, an installation, a concert, a campaign, a performance, a website, a documented intervention, a book of photographs, etc.) and supporting Research Projects (two papers of 10 pages/3,000 words or one paper of double length). In year two, along with Art Projects students write a research-informed paper (Master Thesis) documenting and interpreting their experiences in the program (25-50 pages). Graduating students publicly exhibit, present, and perform their final year’s Art and Research Projects. Students gain the critical, technological, and aesthetic experiences essential to creating informed and vital, content-driven work. Graduates acquire the means necessary for independent thinking, innovative work, active dialogues, and agile resourcefulness, in order to create a meaningful and enduring praxis.
