International Summer Academy of Fine Arts 2018 – Résumé

22 August 2018

Press information

for the press tour through the studios in Hohensalzburg Fortress

16 July – 25 August 2018

Summary: 2018 Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts

2018 Course programme

“Transgressing boundaries” – the motto of the 2018 courses and events – covered a wide field of explicitly political and artistic questions. Ahlam Shibli, for instance, dealt in her course with the notion of HOME, and Emeka Okereke focused on photography as a tool in the post-colonial age. Ei Arakawa’s class, by contrast, “let paintings sing”, and staged a spectacular, diversified performance by teachers and students at the second opening of the 20 Propositionsexhibition in the Salzburg Kunstverein. Tony Chakar and his students presented their exploration of the town of Salzburg in a performative town walk.

Currently in Hohensalzburg Fortress: Aisha Khalid (miniature painting), Till Megerle (drawing), Yorgos Sapountzis (performance, installation), Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair (print-making), Sabine B. Vogel (blogging) and Mark Van Yetter (painting)

Yorgos Sapountzis’ class will give a nightfall performance, to accompany visitors out of the Fortress at the end of the final day (Friday 24 August at 8 pm).

2018 Programme of events

The conference Global Academy II, examples of transcultural exchangebrought together 29 speakers from all over the world for an intensive exchange of ideas, thus focusing on the long-term Global Academy project.

The six weeks of the Summer Academy saw numerous Artists’ Talks in the Galerie 5020 with the teachers, who offered insights into their creative work.

Three Town Walks, billed as The outskirts of a town – Encounters on the periphery, explored various marginal areas of Salzburg. From the graffiti scene, through the interface between science and art, to alternative perceptions of the town and bloggers’ stories.

A highlight this year have been the various exhibition co-operations. Besides the well-established co-operation with the periscopeproject space and two exhibitions with the Summer Academy co-teachers, five teachers and students participated in the 20 Propositions exhibition in the Salzburg Kunstverein: exhibitions by Jakob Kolding, Emeka Okereke and Mark Van Yetter, and a performance with Ei Arakawa and Christian Naujoks and their class. Also, Ahlam Shibli contributed an extensive presentation to the exhibition (in the still of the night)in the Fotohof.

The Friday Open Days enabled visitors to get an idea of what had been produced in the various courses.

Facts and figures

This year saw 291 participants in 18 courses of between 1 and 4 weeks in Hohensalzburg Fortress and in the Kiefer quarry in Fürstenbrunn. The average age of the students was 37.5 years; they came from 49 different countries. The average number of participants in a course was 16, thus exceeding the goal of 15. 11 courses were fully booked. In all, 22 public events were held in the six weeks, as well as 4 co-operations with the Salzburg Kunstverein, periscope project space, Fotohof and Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac – attracting a total of around 2,800 visitors.

2018 teachers

Caroline Achaintre, Ei Arakawa with Christian Naujoks, Diana Campbell Betancourt, Tony Chakar, Martin Herbert, Aisha Khalid, Jakob Kolding, Andreas Lolis, Till Megerle, Ruth Noack, Emeka Okereke, Ciara Phillips, Yorgos Sapountzis, Hubert Scheibl, Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair, Ahlam Shibli, Sabine B. Vogel, Mark Van Yetter

Documentation

In daily blog entries, Chloe Stead, this year’s Writer in Residence,related her experiences and observations during the Summer Academy. She visited the classes, accompanied them on excursions, and interviewed teachers and students:

https://www.summeracademy.at/en/blog/

A photo documentation by Mira Turba of the classes and events is available on the Summer Academy’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/summeracademy.at/

Sina Moser, Salzburg artist and film-maker, documented the Global Academy conference and various Artists’ Talks. The videos will be available in the coming weeks on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SummerAcadOfFineArts

Further information and photo material is available from
Simone Rudolph
presse@summeracademy.at, +43 (0) 662 842 113

Press photos may be downloaded at the press corner.