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The Royal Institute of Art is located on Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm. Here, one can find modern workshops in historic buildings, all in an inspiring environment surrounded by water. The majority of our locations are owned and run by the National Property Board Sweden.
The Royal Institute of Art’s main building, Kasern (‘Barracks’) III, was erected 1778-79 as a grain depository, designed by Carl Fredrick Adelcrantz. One hundred years later, the warehouse was rebuilt into a barracks for the Royal Fleet, based on designs by Victor Ringheim, when the building got its current name.
The Royal Institute of Art moved into the building in the mid-1990s, after an extension and redevelopment managed by Gösta Edberg Architects, where the original building was integrated with the newly built structure by a glass atrium. Today, this area is used as an exhibition space.
Kasern III contains student studios, workshops, lecture halls, libraries and exhibition areas. This is where the school administration and most teachers are located.
The name of the building Mindepartementet (‘the Ministry of Mines’) dates back to the time of the Crimean War, when the building served as a hub for manufacturing and servicing mines. The Royal Institute of Art then took over the premises in 2017, and it has since been renovated, modernized and adapted to meet its current function. The name lives on, but has gained a new meaning and resonance within the current setting.
Hus 117 (‘House 117’), or Kanonverkstaden (‘the Canon Workshop’) was erected in 1943. When the Royal Fleet moved from Skeppsholmen, the Royal Institute of Art took over the premises. Today, we have the upstairs available for our use, where we keep a number of student studios.
Kungl. Konsthögskolan’s workshops are a starting point for our students to develop and realise their projects and ideas. We have the widest range of workshops in the country. The range of techniques extends from graphics, painting and sculpture to video, sound, VR/AR and digital mould making.
In addition to the materials and equipment in the workshops, our dedicated workshop teachers are also a very important resource. They are mostly professional artists, with an understanding of the artistic work and its associated process. They provide students with basic technical and material courses and individual counselling. With the teachers’ help, students work to realise a sketch, model, experiment or artwork.
The 3D lab offers the opportunity to work with 3D modelling, 3D animation, 3D printing, augmented reality, AR and virtual reality, VR. The 3D lab is also developing a 3D printer for wax that will be used by students working with wax, glass and bronze.
Workshop manager: Martin Christensen
The Mechatronics workshop allows students to experiment and develop projects in electronics, mechanics and interactivity. This can be anything from moving sculptures to sound installations. Here, students can build simply with scrap and create more advanced designs with industrial components, custom circuits, programmed minicomputers and control systems. The workshop has a 3D printer, soldering and lab equipment. Above all, a variety of components, mechanical and machine parts can be borrowed to realise these projects.
Workshop manager: Andreas Hammar
The laser studio provides training in laser cutting technology from an artistic perspective. Here students explore different techniques and the possibilities of 2D and 3D and the digital and analogue expression of art. It is possible to laser cut or laser etch different materials using control programmes and auxiliary programmes for laser cutting machines.
The laser studio encourages the use of various organic and environmentally friendly materials and working methods. Approved materials include paper, cardboard, wood, plywood, acrylic, natural fabrics, wool felt, natural leather and metal.
The laser studio offers laser cutters WS1390M (metal and non-metal), 260W CO2 and WS1309XLS, 80W CO2 as well as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Metal Cut and RD Works V8 software.
Workshop manager: Andreas Hammar
The glass workshop offers students the opportunity to work with many different techniques in the field of glass. The workshop is equipped with a light table, blast box, glass grinders, glass saw and burner. There is a small stock of float glass, fusing glass, glass enamel colours and cast glass. The glass workshop also includes a large and a small fusing kiln, a cold glass kiln and two ceramic kilns, where students working with ceramics get help to fire their works.
Workshop Manager: Ulrika Gustafsson Rosengren
The metal workshop is adapted for forging, sheet metal and welding work and for workshop mechanical processing. It is possible to work in most metals, such as steel, stainless steel, aluminium, copper, bronze and brass. In addition to sculptural metal fabrication, the workshop is also used to make frames, reinforcements, foundations and stands. There is a soundproof grinding and cutting room.
The metal workshop is equipped with a semi-automatic cold saw, band saw, plate shears, hydraulic punch, pillar drills, spot weld, tig weld, mig/mag weld, manual plasma cutter, belt grinder, disc grinder, pillar grinder, cut-off grinder, sheet metal roller, hand edge bender, lathe, milling machine, pullmax, press brake, ring bender, gas cylinder, English wheel, pipe bender, gas equipment, blaster and various hand machines. There are also MMA welding, puk welding, a polishing machine and a 20 tonne hydraulic press.
Workshop manager: Göran Svenborn
In the wood workshop, students can experiment, design and build objects from solid wood and other wood-based materials as well as acrylate plastics.
The workshop is equipped with the highest quality woodworking machines. There is a jointer and planer, pendulum saw, adjusting saw, band saw, disc saw, table cutter, edging machine, long hole drills, pillar drill and wood lathe. The stationary machinery is complemented by a large selection of professional quality hand machines and accessories. There are also carving irons, axes, hand tools and a chainsaw for those who want to sculpt by hand, as well as a vacuum pump for moulding bent wood.
Workshop manager: Annette Felleson
In the workshop for polymeric materials, commonly known as the plastics workshop, it is possible to work with different thermosets, thermoplastics, composite materials and other polymeric materials. There are also possibilities for spraying and painting work and a workspace for vacuum moulding.
Workshop manager: Lars Hammarström
In the sculpture studio students can work with the following materials: plaster, synthetic plaster, acrystal, jesmonite, various silicones, alginate, casting wax and clay.
Workshop manager: Lars Hammarström
The Ministry’s photo and video studio has analogue photo equipment for 135 mm and 120 mm and for 4×5 inch and 8×10 inch film. Cameras: Nikon F, Mamiya 6, Pentax 6×4.5, Mamiya, RB, Mamiya RZ, Sinar Norma and Sinar P. The SLR system is based on Canon cameras and lenses, Mark II, Mark IV. The Hasselblad system is H4D. Flashes: Portable and stationary studio flashes from Pro.
Workshop manager (photo): Björn Larsson, Mikael Beckman-Thoor
Workshop manager (video): Rut-Karin Zettergren
The digital darkroom is located in the Ministry’s premises. The computers are equipped with Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Acrobat X Pro and Bridge) and Microsoft Office. The monitors are Eizo Color Edge CG; the monitors and the room’s lighting environment are calibrated to create a controlled digital workflow.
The digital darkroom has the following scanning equipment: Imacon Flextight X1 (film scanning up to 4×5 inches), Epson V 750 pro, A4 scanner, Epson 15000 GT and A3 scanner. The following colour printers are available: Epson 9000 (up to 44 inches) and Epson 5000 (up to 17 inches). Printing materials can be purchased in the school’s technology store. There is also mounting and laminating equipment for formats up to 150 cm.
Workshop manager: Carl Johan Erikson
The well-equipped sound studio belonging to Mindepartementet offers the opportunity to borrow equipment such as microphones and DAT recorders. In what we call the Torpedo Department, there are activities for electroacoustic music, radio plays and sound art. Here students can work with sound mixing, midi, sequencing and other forms of sound recording.
Workshop manager: Daniel M. Karlsson
The risograph workshop contains a stenciling machine/risograph for simple printed matter, such as fanzines and small brochures. There is also a machine that folds and staples the printed matter and a glue binder.
Workshop manager: Carl Johan Erikson
Kungl. Konsthögskolan offers a bright and well-functioning workshop for screen printing. Other specialisations within the graphics subject are done in collaboration with external institutions.
Workshop manager: Jenny Olsson
The Materials Institute provides teaching and practical work in the materials and methods of painting. There is equipment and materials for students to produce their own artistic materials such as various paints, wax-based crayons, primers and their own pigments. The pigment is produced from materials from nature, partly organic, which is taken from the plant kingdom, and partly inorganic, which comes from sand and stone. We also grow several different coloured plants here, especially woad, which produces the blue pigment indigo.
Workshop manager: Kristina Janni Ståhl
Muralen serves as both a workshop and a classroom for the 2D area. The workshop is used for painting and experimentation related to painting outside the studio. Students can book a space to construct, for example, those works that require a large format. The fixed walls of the mural are used for al fresco painting in connection with the courses we offer.
Workshop manager: Lina Bjerneld
Students in the five-year program in Fine Art have access to a studio space during their studies. All students are also allowed to use our project studios for both major and time-limited projects. The student studios are located at Kasern III, Annexet (‘The Annex’), Hus 117, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Konstakademien).
Galleri Mejan is the Royal Institute of Art’s student gallery. The building was erected in the late-19th century, when the adjacent building Kasern II was in need of expansion. The structure was subsequently built multiple times, and has been used – among other things – as the Marine Corps’ depot.
In 1963, the structure was rebuilt into a sculpture studio for the Royal Institute of Art, which by then already used Kasern II. Hans Brunnberg, who was then the professor of architecture at the Royal Institute of Art, was the lead-architect for the renovation. Then came the prominent studio-windows, which still give the building its special character to this day. The building got its current appearance in 1988, after a redevelopment designed by the architects Anders Bodin and Bo Edblad.
For most of the year, our graduate students in Fine Art show their solo exhibitions here. An important part of each student’s education consists of completing, installing, and being examined on a solo exhibition.
About a week after the vernissage, the exhibition receives a critical review in seminar-form. It is lead by the exhibiting student’s professor.
An essential part of our educational philosophy is to give our students the opportunity to put together exhibitions and to showcase their projects. In this regard, the exhibition space Mellanrummet plays an important role.
Mellanrummet (‘The Space In-Between’) has a central location, and is directly aligned with the main building’s entranceway. It is a free space for our students to exhibit shorter-term works, or experiment with ongoing projects. Here, they create their own exhibitions.
Rutiga golvet (‘The Checkered Floor’), which was initiated by the former Vice-Chancellor Sara Arrhenius in 2017, is located on the entry-level floor of the main building. During some parts of the 1970s, it was the site of Moderna Museet’s set of experimental activities, named Filialen. Rutiga golvet builds on that legacy and provides a space for artistic risk-taking and the pleasure of experimentation.
Rutiga golvet is both a site and ongoing-project that links art theory and seminars with publication- and exhibition-production. The space serves as a workshop for thought- and discourse-production where different practitioners meet and thrive off each other’s work. Curators, editors, critics and art scholars are invited and contribute to the university’s environment. Here, artistic and educational projects are also being developed and presented at the school, and artists present important projects and issues. It is a place that opens the Royal Institute of Art to the world at large.