Drawing as a starting point (or, rather, a line) for reflecting on other disciplines (paragone). We see the studio’s focus precisely in understanding and mastering the medium of drawing. This should be, as it were, the studio’s genetic code. Not that all students should merely draw, or exhaust every possible drawing strategy. Rather, it should be about understanding a specific way of thinking – ‘thinking through drawing’.
Meeting Studio
Memory Studio
Studio of Movement
Studio of Softness and Hardness
Studio of Ephemerality and Permanence
Studio of Focus and Timing
Studio of Next Sensitivity
Studio of Detonation
Drawing Studio 2
Printmaking Studio 1
Sketch Studio 0
The sketch as a safe space.
The sketch as a first survey of place.
The sketch as a springboard.
The sketch as a an attempt to articulate something without words.
The sketch as a precursor to a sign and a font.
The sketch as creation without guarantee or ambition.
The sketch as well spent time, even if it’s just one second.
The sketch as confirmation of one’s own existence.
Drawing as the basic (mother) tongue.
Drawing as a projected structure of consciousness.
Drawing as movement of the body, the externalisation of internal movement.
Drawing as miracle.
Drawing as fear of the void and death.
Drawing as an excuse to gaze harder.
Drawing as a connection between point A and point B.
Drawing as a means of transport connecting two layers of reality.
Drawing as a record, as preserved time or a sequence thereof.
Drawing as a prayer, a means by which to achieve silence and contemplation, a visual mantra, the embodiment of what it represents.
Printmaking as the necessity to think three steps ahead.
Printmaking as a magic trick.
Printmaking as an imprint, as a problem with the matrix.
Printmaking as multiplication, as amplifier, as speaker.
Printmaking as an opportunity to ask what it means to reproduce today.
Printmaking as inevitability.
We consider it desirable to establish a fundamental starting point based on a unique and direct experience of the medium of drawing. Through an understanding of its possibilities and experience with the medium, students may well arrive at outcomes that are entirely different from drawing (even if drawing at the beginning of a piece need not necessarily be present at its conclusion) and may use drawing for their final realisation only if there is a reason and justification for doing so.
The focus of work in the studio is on coming together, joint consultations and discussions, which are intended to challenge and critically examine possible approaches. Openness also entails vulnerability and self-questioning; discussion is therefore an important but fragile tool.
We do not prejudge possible paths; we do not believe in a single possible direction. Mistakes are an important tool. The aim of the course is to foster sensitivity and precision.
The main task is to understand one’s own motivations, direction and individual potential, and then to develop these further.
Self-initiative is a prerequisite. We understand studio management not as activating but as coordinating and moderating. Assigning tasks is merely an exceptional tool: everyone invents their own problem.
The basic prerequisite for study is an interest verging on passion in the subject, an insistent compulsion, which can become an obsession, and honesty in creation.
As an analogous model of the studio, one might imagine a greenhouse that creates an artificial environment with better conditions for development that accelerate growth (inward direction). However, a few panes of glass are broken, and so the greenhouse is not completely (hermetically) sealed from its surroundings. It is thus partially contaminated by the outside world (outward direction) and once transplanted outside the greenhouse, the probability of further growth is higher.
The acquisition and deepening of the basic artistic register (the foundation course)
A safe space for error and experimentation, the encouragement of an exploration of new and uncertain paths rather than conventional, “secure” and unsurprising ones. The space between the laboratory, rehearsal room and the workshop
Whole-studio consultation (internal seclusion)
Technological facilities, printmaking workshops, specialist workplaces, school archive, library, etc.
Joint discussions on specific topics
– the formulation of questions
– the development of one’s own working methods
– learning to work with criticism (both ways, giving and receiving)
– finding and naming true motivation
– recognising when to stop
– recognising the difference between sensitivity and hypersensitivity and between subtlety and sentimentality
External consultants (for requirements outside our scope, we feel it natural to find a suitable consultant or technologist)
Inviting guests from other disciplines and meeting with artists (not excluding any generation, from the oldest to relatively recent graduates)
Field trips, plein air workshops, studio camps
Workshops
Professionalisation (orientation in and around the contemporary art world, reflections upon artistic operations, familiarisation with different possibilities and models of functioning on the art scene, private and public galleries and collections, art fairs, possibilities of self-presentation, etc.)
Promoting students’ independent exhibition activities, the acquisition of the specific skills and experience necessary for this
We believe it is necessary to defend a space for the exploration of possible paths regardless of how easy they are to describe and defend in advance. Nevertheless, we regard studying at AVU as the irrevocable entry into the structure of institutionalised art. And we expect students to be able and willing to reflect on their own work and to have an awareness of context, both local and global.The goal is not to lose hope and yet never to stop doubting oneself.
We consider it essential to safeguard the space for exploring possible paths, regardless of how easily they can be described and justified in advance. Nevertheless, we regard study at the Academy of Fine Arts as a binding entry point into the structure of institutionalised art. And we expect students to have the ability and willingness to reflect on their own work, as well as an understanding of both local and global contexts.
The aim is not to lose hope, whilst at the same time never ceasing to question oneself.
