Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Center for Art/Knowledge / PhD in Practice

Location
Vienna, Austria

Since
2010

Disciplines
Not specified (the Academy hosts institutes for architecture, visual arts, stage design, conservation, teaching/art education, humanities, and science and art technology)

Degrees offered
PhD

Number of third cycle students
15

Structure
Although Austrian art academies have full university status and right of promotion since 1998, the PhD in Practice is the first third-cycle program in artistic research specifically. The program has a duration of four years, of which mainly the first two years are devoted to course work. Participants are expected to take an active part in arranging the program (organizing workshops, guest lectures, conferences, exhibitions, screenings, etc.).

Entry Requirements
An MA or Diploma is mandatory; the PhD in Practice is open to artists and cultural practitioners with an emphasis on aesthetics. Several years of experience outside the academy after graduation are recommended.

Programme Requirements
Students are required to attend seminars, tutorials, studio teaching, and lectures in relevant fields of art and science. The program includes that participants enter into international discussions with their projects and themes, through publications, exhibitions, festivals and symposia. The students’ projects will result in their PhD theses. There is an examination in the 5th or 6th semester that is prerequisite to the rigorosum (thesis defence).

Publications and conferences
Degree work at the Academy is on download at http://abschlussarbeiten.akbild.ac.at.
A list of publications is at http://www.akbild.ac.at/Portal/akademie/aktuelles/publikationen.
Further information on the activities of the Center for Art/Knowledge and the PhD in Practice can be found on http://www.cak.akbild.ac.at.

Supervision
The project has to be supervised by one academy professor and one further artist or theorist with teaching license (venia docendi) or equivalent qualification. The supervisors have to be announced by the end of the second semester for approval by the vice rector for research and teaching.

Embedding within the institution
Research at the Center for Art/Knowledge Research spans all the institutes of the Academy. Philosophical, historical and technological research on the arts has been hosted by the Academy since it acquired university status in 1998.
With funding from WWTF, the Academy hosts the Troubling Research project spanning from March 2010 – September 2011, which “aims at unsettling any existing consensus concerning the nature of arts-based research and the art/science relationship.”

Funding and stipendia
In the near future part of the admissions should be for funded positions. There are no special study fees for students from EU countries; students from non-EU countries pay € 363,36 per semester (but have a very good chance to get this money refunded).

http://www.akbild.ac.at
http://www.cak.akbild.ac.at