Global Academy?: the title of a long-term project of the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, focusing on the future of the Academy, is the motto of both the 2016 course programme and the programme of events, as well as of this year’s conference.

Ever since it was founded in 1953, the Summer Academy has been committed to the internationality of its teachers and students. However, the idea of what constitutes the international, as well as the global art world, have continued to expand, so that now the students come from over 50 countries and the teachers from the global art world.

Programme (July 18–August 27)

How can art from diverse regions of the world be effectively conveyed and understood, both locally and globally? What is the cultural knowledge on which art production, reception and education is based? Who can learn what from whom? How can we find a common language, and how does the process of translation work? These questions are considered, in one way or another, in all the 22 courses, which cover a wide variety of artistic topics, ranging from current research in painting with Varda Caivano, through « The book as printed space » with Bernhard Cella, to stone sculpture with Andreas Lolis, or Tex Rubinowitz’s painting course entitled « Homage. » The theme of globalisation is also treated specifically—as for instance by feld72 in the course « Public Space, » which examines how global meets local and regional in the town of Salzburg, and how this is expressed in the public space and economic life of the town. Alya Sebti asks how curators can meet the enormous challenges that arise through the confusing complexity of countless new global art scenes. How can research be carried out under such conditions, and the new ideas rendered productive in our own work?

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Conference (Conference: August 5–6)

Learning and teaching art in a globalised world

State-run academies are increasingly geared to global demand; countless studio programmes for residencies worldwide allow artists and curators to make contacts, carry out research, etc. in specific places. The focus of this conference, however, is on models and initiatives for a variety of formal and mainly informal artistic training and development facilities, such as Spring Sessions in Amman, ruangrupa in Jakarta, Casa Tres Patios in Medellín, RAW in Dakar, Roaming Academy in Arnhem or Open School East in London. Some of these institutions include in their programme exhibitions, lectures and residencies, as well as workshops of varying duration, courses and other training modules; others are mainly « schools. » The examples given here for comparison typify different models, methods and forms of organisation. Their common factor is their global perspective, on the one hand, and their local ties, on the other, together with the aspiration to constant renewal and the development and testing of new models.

On Friday evening, two lectures will offer an insight into the subject-matter of the conference. Sam Thorne (Nottingham Contemporary) will set out the current state of the discussion on innovative models. Regina Bittner (Bauhaus Academy Dessau) will talk about the World University in Shantiniketan as an important historical example of an art school in India, and its links with Bauhaus in Dessau. Presentations by various institutions and initiatives will follow on Saturday.

Attendance is free of charge. Please register until July 20, 2016 via office@summeracademy.at 

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Further information on the entire programme