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Two Konstfack master students among the ten artists selected to the new research-based Octopus Programme
Congratulations Alina Rentsch (Fine Art) and Sofia Priftis (Spatial Design)!
Through a unique partnership with 11 international institutions from seven countries, the Octopus Programme has selected 10 outstanding artists to take part in the programme during the academic year 2021/2022. From a rigorous, multi-institutional application process with five interconnected evaluation committees, the winning candidates’ research-based proposals were selected from a pool of applicants from Austria, Finland, Tunisia, Palestine, South Africa, Sweden and Turkey.
The participating artists selected and appointed to the programme are Alina Rentsch (DE/SE), Sofia Priftis (SE), Bengü Karadumann (TR), Bochra Taboubi (TU), Els van Houtert (NL/AT), Jannis Neumann (DE/AT), Kim M. Reynolds (US/SA), Maarit Mustonen (FI), Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga (SA), and Noor Abed (PS).
Octopus Programme is a guided, research-based educational programme which encourages artistic research and production-based collaborations between academies, art institutions, students and professionals and includes diverse presentation modes, processes of research and documentation taking form within and from different geographies. By merging the viewpoints of academic entities and contemporary art institutions and utilizing their facilities and activities, the programme aims to develop an autonomous and progressive educational methodology.
The programme, initiated in 2019 by University of Applied Arts Vienna and Kamel Lazaar Foundation, intends to bridge and acknowledge social and cultural diversity in the targeted geographical regions—Europe, the Mediterranean, and Africa—and values the ambiguity between or among: socio-political realities and perspectives; interdisciplinary approaches; academic and non-academic intellectual models; forms of artistic research and practices; divergent perspectives on artistic production methodologies; individual and community-based approaches; top-down and grass-root organisation models; accessed and distributed resources and facilities; strategies of environmental sustainability; artistic challenges and opportunities; different funding possibilities; institutional and alternative curatorial practices; forms of engagement of artists, audiences and institutions; forms of innovative and technology-driven mindsets; and diverse knowledge production models.
