The Art and New Media Collegium is the result of collaboration between The Royal University College of Fine Arts (KKH), the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Karolinska Institutet (KI), and Södertörn University College (SH). The Collegium was initiated in 2001 and has been responsible for three interdisciplinary PhD-level courses focused on digital new media and Fine Art (2002, 2003, and 2004).

Current members of the collegium (March 2006) >>

The Collegium and the Art and New Media Curriculum, 2002

In its position paper “Research and Renewal” (prop. 2000/01:3), the Swedish government has called attention to the fact that research within the arts and research within fields that have an artistic dimension ought to be developed. The government has further pointed out that cooperation between the arts and other disciplines within universities and colleges ought to be strengthened.

The above text is from the website of the Swedish Research Council available at
http://www.vr.se/humsam/index.asp?id=30

The Swedish Research Council awarded funding to the Art and New Media Collegium for the first time in 2001. The Collegium was thereafter awarded a further grant for 2002-2004.

Activities for 2002 >>
Activities for 2003 >>

The goals of the Collegium are:

To create an international and interdisciplinary forum at the Ph.D. level by expanding the field of artistic research in connection with art, the natural sciences, the humanities, and technology. To examine the field and scope for art and research at the Royal University College of Fine Arts. The Art and New Media Collegium consists of representatives from the Royal University College of Fine Arts (KKH), the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), the Karolinska Institute (KI), and Södertörn University College (SH).

The project is located at KKH, whose rector Marie-Louise Ekman is responsible for managing the artistic and scientific parts, along with professors and lecturers from KI, KTH, KKH, and SH.

Marie-Louise Ekman, rector at the Royal University College of Fine Arts:

There are preconceived notions of what art is.
And what research is.
There are also preconceived notions of what is meant by ”art and research”.
There are preconceived notions within art of what is meant by research.
Do these terms mean anything?
Is art not enough by itself?
The same question can be asked of research.
Who wins and who loses in this encounter?
We describe reality in terms of competition and hunting.
Why?
The artistic fields need encounters.
Discussions.
Analysis and in-depth exploration.
Observation from a distance can displace the perspective of the practitioner.
Do we want this?
Art and New Media is a laboratory that allows the fluids from one’s own field to be tested against
litmus paper taken from test tubes other than one’s own.
We bring together minds from different cultures and see what happens when they near one
another.
React to one another.
Begin a discussion within a field that we want to know more about.

Art and New Media is also a laboratory for the institutions with whom we collaborate.
There is a desire to expand existing frameworks for what is meant by the word education.
Together, we are carrying out an investigation where we will eagerly study the reactions we are
producing.
I thank all the research students, professors, and foundations involved in what is our first
investigation of reality... from precisely that point of view.
Your work will help clarify what research at the Royal University College of Fine Arts will mean
in the future.

Marie-Louise Ekman is the head applicant and the project director.

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For more information please contact Jonatan Habib Engqvist at jonatan@kkh.se