Ok. oskar: 70 Years School of Seeing

On its 70th anniversary, the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg invites international artists and art lovers who approach seeing (sensing) today from a feminist, queer, non-binary, intersectional perspective. The Academy was founded in 1953 as the “School of Seeing” by the renowned Austrian painter Oskar Kokoschka; the anniversary project OK. oskar seeks to redefine the pedagogic relation of an art academy today.

Teaching Artists, Curators and Writers

17 July to 26 August 2023

Those who can, do

Those who can do more, teach

The Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts invites applications for its exciting 2023 programme. Each year, the Academy invites international artists, curators, collectives, educators, scholars and writers to serve as instructors for its course programme. In 2023, we are pleased to offer courses under the instructorship of: A/P Practice (Germany/Italy), Phila Bergmann (Germany/Switzerland) and Thea Reifler (Switzerland), Ángela Bonadies and Brígida Maestres (Venezuela/Spain), Maria Bussmann (Germany/Austria), Shu Lea Cheang (Taiwan/USA), Marina Fokidis (Greece), Jennifer Higgie (Australia/UK), Astrit Ismaili (Kosovo/Netherlands), KAYA (Germany/USA), Delita Martin (USA), Ad Minoliti (Argentina), Ulrike Müller (Austria/USA) and Evie K Horton (USA), Stanislava Pinchuk (Ukraine/Australia/ Bosnia and Herzegovina), Angelo Plessas (Greece), Karol Radziszewski (Poland), Shubigi Rao (Singapore/India), Francis Ruyter (USA/Austria), Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens (USA), Mette Sterre (Netherlands), Hannah Tilson (UK) and Munem Wasif (Bangladesh).

At the Academy, instructors translate their practice and research into a pedagogic relationship with participants in order to explore contemporary art practices in mutually interrogative, personal and enduring ways. Conversations are undertaken with a view toward materialising art-related ideas or transmitting them into research and life.

The programme reflects current developments in contemporary art, such as digital coloniality (A/P Practice, Cheang), transforming bodies (Ismaili), queer archiving (Minoliti, Radizeszewski, Tilson), collective-oriented practices (Bergmann and Reifler, Plessas), as well as eco-criticism/-sex (Sprinkle and Stephens), in/visibility/impairments (Bonadies and Maestres) and queer-feminism (Bussmann, Fokidis, Higgie, Martin, Rao) in art.

On the occasion of its 70th anniversary, the school offers a focus on painting practices: beyond the Western canon, beyond abstraction vs figuration, beyond colour and beyond bad painting, and celebrates the return of an architectural class.

Scholarship applications

Deadline: 28 April 2023

The Summer Academy offers about 50 scholarships, most of them covering the participation fee, while some also include travel and accommodation expenses. A jury, together with the instructors, will award the scholarships.

In Solidarity

The Summer Academy is a place of solidarity encounters and international exchange between artists, cultural workers, and others interested. We will award 20 scholarships (participation fee, travel, accommodation, per diem) for anyone interested who is currently fleeing or seeking asylum in Europe.

Focus Architecture

Together with “zt Oberösterreich und Salzburg” and “Initiative Architektur”, the Academy offers 6 scholarships for participation in the architecture class, in combination with an internship. Students enrolled at the Universities of Technology in Graz, Innsbruck and Vienna, may apply for ECTS credits.

Applications

Deadline: 31 Mai 2023

Anyone interested may apply, as no degrees are required, and will submit to a selection process in which the instructors decide on who will be accepted. All applications received by 31 May 2023 will be treated equally in the selection process; after 1 June 2023, they are considered according to the number of available places.

Fees

2-weeks course: € 640.– (reduced € 480.–) 3-weeks course: € 860.– (reduced € 620.–) Reduced prices apply to students, social welfare recipients and members of the Society of Friends of the Summer Academy.

Public Programme 2023

On the occasion of its 70th anniversary, the Summer Academy continues the research project Horizons of Possibility. The project investigates emergent pedagogies of art education that enjoin current understandings of gender, plurality and coexistence with technical and artistic developments. The public programme aims to create a “Space of Debate” through exhibitions, performances, lectures, talks, micro-workshops, and when coming together on the dance floor or at the bar.

The full programme of events will be launched in Mai 2023.

Ok. oskar: Exhibitions

22 April to 30 September, 2023

This year, the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg will show international artists approaching contemporary seeing from a feminist, queer, nonbinary perspective in an expanded understanding of painting from April to September 2023 at Galerie Kunst im Traklhaus. The artistic work of the teaching artists Ad Minoliti, Mette Sterre, Karol Radziszewski, Ulrike Müller and Shu Lea Cheang will be presented in solo exhibitions. A group exhibition in cooperation with the painting and animation film class of the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Oskar Kokoschka Documentation Center (Pöchlarn) presents works by students who deal with Oskar Kokoschka’s work as an artist, teacher and stage designer, among others.

Parallel to the exhibition series, a curated film program will be shown.

Ok. oskar: Festival

17 July to 26 August, 2023

The Stadtgalerie Zwergelgartenpavillon will be transformed into a walk-in archive with art club and bar. In addition to an exhibition on 70 years of the “School of Seeing,” there will be a music series and performances, lectures, and talks, symposia and workshops.

Ok. oskar: Collaborations

On the occasion of the anniversary, further events are planned in collaboration with international partners*: Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburger Kunstverein, Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, Elektrohalle Rhomberg, Dorotheum, Wiener Secession, Muzeum Sztuki Nowoczesnej w Warszawi, Kunstverein Hamburg and others.

OK. oskar: Team

Adelaide D’Esposito, Till Gathmann, Sophie Goltz, Fotini Lazaridou-Hatzigoga, Maximilian Lehner, Benedikt Meixl.

The full programme of events will be launched in May 2023.

Presse

For further information and images, please contact Adelaide D’Esposito under e-mail presse@summeracademy.at or Tel.: +43 (0)662 842113

Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts

Founded in 1953 by renowned Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka (1886–1980) as the “Schule des Sehens” (school of seeing), the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts at Hohensalzburg Fortress is the oldest of its kind in Europe. Approximately 20 courses are offered each summer and attended by more than 300 participants from over 50 countries, making the Academy a vibrant venue for international artistic and creative exchange. The Academy offers an open application process to anyone interested, no degrees required; a unique opportunity to study with outstanding international artists, curators, collectives, educators, scholars and writers; devote time exclusively to making art or developing ideas while also learning about and reflecting on art and its discourses; classes based on one-on-one supervision as well as group discussion; stunning historic course environment surrounded by an alpine landscape; public programmes with cultural partners in Salzburg and elsewhere; access to art literature and magazines.

Funded by: Land Salzburg, Stadt Salzburg, Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlicher Dienst und Sport (BMKOES)

Supported by: Kulturfonds der Landeshauptstadt Salzburg, ERSTE Stiftung, American Austrian Foundation (AAF/Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts), zt: Kammer der ZiviltechnikerInnen, ArchitektInnen und IngenieurInnen, Initiative Architektur, Land Vorarlberg, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Akademie der bildenden Kunst München, Akademie der bildenden Kunst Nürnberg, Kunstakademie Münster, Kingston University London, Freundeskreis der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig, Marmor Kiefer.