Study with us 2023
Art = Sentient World
Study with us!
The practice of art is the practice of caring for life. Art is experience, the practice of understanding how sensing the world means protecting the values of life. In that sense, we are advocating for an education able to tell how art and artists are forces of social transformation. A transformation aimed towards equality and justice, towards joy as a central value. Art is enabling. Art is the constant production and safeguard of freedom. That is the reason why the social can’t do without art.
The Community
One of the most significative traits of our master’s program is the nearness to our students. Access to collective and individual presentations of your work, conversation and dialogue about the aspects you are considering in your artistic practice as well as your references and ambitions are central to the program. Phoenix Atala, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Onome Ekeh, Astrit Ismaili, Roman Kurzmeyer, Quinn Latimer, Chus Martínez, Filipa Ramos, Mathilde Rosier, and Yvonne Volkart form the lecturers’ community of our master’s program. They, the technical experts and the flow of guests from different fields, are there to help you gain a comprehension of your work’s possibilities, but also of its social and political contexts.
The Skills
The technical workshops available are an important asset of the study program. From digital tools to wood, metal, and sculpture workshops, everything is offered so as to experiment and understand materials and their possibilities. Addressing our relationship with nature and our responsibility with the planet also implies understanding how art and artists might work in ways less damaging to life. Skills need to be understood as a form of relation with techniques, with technology, with matter, with space… The goal here, hopefully, is to modify our perception and realize our relation, making us more receptive to better material practices.
The Two-Year Cycle
The difference between the two years of studies is that the first is a bit more full of course work, and the second more centered around the production of the project you will graduate with. Otherwise, the two groups are very close—and close as well with the bachelor students. The access to projects and opportunities to exhibit are open to all. The graduation exhibition is always curated in collaboration with international guest curators, and takes place at Kunsthaus Baselland, a renowned institution for contemporary art. This exhibition is prepared with great care and with several production and assessment meetings. It is always well attended by both local and international visitors, giving us all another chance to address what we did and the values that animate our making.
The application deadline is March 15, 2023, with the MA program beginning in September 2023. More information about the program and the admission process can be found online. Apply NOW

Installation view Renée Levi TINA TANK, der TANK, Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW, 2023, photo: Gina Folly

Dimitra Charamandas working on her graduation project for Peace or Never, Graduation Exhibition Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW, Campus.Workshops, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

Campus.Workshops, Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW. Photo: Pati Grabowicz.

Wren Cellier working on their graduation project for Peace or Never, Graduation Exhibition Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr