Jobs and opps

With costs of second degrees in the UK soaring, artists are beginning to consider other options whilst arts institutions are keen to widen their horizons. Jobs and Opps Editor Kate Brundrett finds out more about internationally focused courses and what they offer in relation to studying in the UK. Her starting point is Valand School of Fine Art, housed within the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she gets cultural comparisons from Miriam Thorpe, a current MFA student, and MFA Course Leader Jason E Bowman.

Jobs and Opps interview with Jason E Bowman

Jason E Bowman, Programme Leader

The Masters in Fine Art course at the University of Gothenburg provides a supportive and flexible environment for a second degree. But prospective students should expect an intense schedule and a serious approach to professional development.

The MFA is one of a host of arts courses set within Gothenburg University, housed at the Valand School of Fine Arts. The course is run by programme leader Jason E Bowman, an artist and curator who works internationally through commission-based and research based processes.

Bowman describes the MFA as ‘residency based’, similar to the American system, where individuals develop their practice, come together for group seminars and then return to production and reflection. Visiting lecturers include the likes of Sonia Boyce, and Eric Shiner, Director or The Warhol Museum, who recently acted as an external assessor, and a core staff including two professors, Katarina Andersson Winberg, and Esther Shalev-Gerz, and Art and Cultural theory teacher Fredrik Svensk. The school boasts an unusual amount of flexibility – none of the staff are full time. It provides a supportive environment to the students - is it unique to Gothenburg? ‘It’s unusual for sure’ I’m told.

More than a studio-based immersion

The MFA is a two-year full-time course that operates by a credit system. Students are assessed on individual practice, art theory, a master’s essay and professional development in preparation towards an exhibition in a public environment.

One way in which the MFA programme stands out from other MA courses is that it is more engaged with prepping the artist in their professional practice and development as much as allowing a time to develop work itself and being solely studio-based. Individual practice is evaluated continuously according to an individual learning plan, but in addition to this students are tested on their professionalism, communication, capacity to create their own deadlines and presentation skills. It is a very practical approach.

‘It’s as much about how the artist presents their work within that critical context and what methods they choose to do so’ says Bowman, ‘some mock up exhibitions and show small bodies of work, some choose works in progress, some give PowerPoint-based presentations’. Students are also expected to contribute to the examination of others as part of their own assessment.

Bowman goes on to explain the importance of balancing of skills desired for the market alongside the management of how one constructs a practice and a body of work. And this is not solely the commercial market, but includes forms of practice that could relate to social engagement positionalities of the arts. ‘Some people want to work within those frameworks and some want to resist it. Others are very much on a fact-finding process’. Whichever approach the students take, Bowman underlines the importance of positioning  ‘It is crucial that artists are able to operate in a variety of different mechanisms’, he says ‘the notion of resistance to the market is absolutely acceptable but it would still require you to substantiate a clear position of resistance’.

In addition to ongoing practice within the art school, a five-week ‘block course’ is set. This spring the first year students have a dedicated block course focused on preparing for an exhibition to coincide with Glasgow International. The course will entail the students deciding what the exhibition will be and how it will be managed, and include site visits, writing statements, project management, presentation skills and constructing networks before going live in April.

It’s high pressure. But I am assured there is also ‘hands off’ time.

Repositioning cultural frameworks

So what’s it like to study in Sweden and is it a culture shock for foreign students? Sweden has many cultural differences, with a set of cultural codes that can be complicated to garner. The language is an obvious difference – the Swedish language has references, terms and expressions that we don’t have in the UK. However, Bowman puts a positive twist on this with an additional cognitive layer, saying that by choosing to study in a place where one doesn’t have those language skills is actually a more interesting place for an artist to position themselves. ‘The artist becomes an Other, constantly addressing and dealing with this on a practical level but also an intellectual level and ultimately on an artistic level’.

Another significant difference is the relationship to nature and landscape is very still much an emphasised aspect of Swedish culture, ‘it’s very seasonally driven, and has more places of extreme remoteness. There are real questions of isolation, access, and part of that is ameliorated by the consistent relationship with nature and space and weather that are part of the Scandinavian art historic tradition’.

‘Conceptualism as an art movement came to Sweden much later than other areas of the west. And Scandinavia has strong culture that isn’t American-centric. Obviously its art history is different, and in that reference system in the studio one won’t find students solely responding to the high press and mediatisation of American work or work from the UK’.

So do students need to reposition their frameworks? Not necessarily, ‘I don’t think the course demands an essentialist position that one has to invest in. But I think it does frame possibilities for dialogue and developing new knowledge’. It’s an interesting context that students who study abroad will be confronted with; placing themselves within that context and immerse oneself within it? Or continuing with the previously prescribed knowledge. Do students bend one-way or the other? ‘I think it’s mixed. It varies on a student-by-student basis’.

Another fundamental difference to studying in the UK is that education is free in Sweden at a higher educational level to EU citizens. This year the university has offered scholarships to non EU nationals.

Artists in the city

So what is Gothenburg like and what of its artist-led culture? Gothenburg’s history comes very much from being an industrial city, a working class city that has a mercantile culture. Because it’s a port city it is quite diverse in terms of its economical histories. In artistic terms it hosts a significant museum, a major international biennale, a Kunsthalle, and a set of both permanent and transient spaces and projects that are artist led.

One of the main art spaces in Gothenburg is Gallery 54. I am told the 54 refers not to the street number but from the year of inception ‘it’s been operating in Gothenburg for 58 years, which is remarkable model of sustainability’. Another initiative, Gallery Box, was originally set up for photography and lens based media. It has also been around a long time. ‘Both these spaces are run by committee but they’re not necessarily committees where you have a defined period of office and then bugger off’.

Gothenburg also hosts a raft of temporary projects and galleries that ‘last for a period of time and then go the way they always do in artist-led culture’. But if the art scene is flourishing it is not always apparent. ‘One of my criticisms of Gothenburg would be that the visibility of these things isn’t always great. For example there’s no centralised porthole for contemporary art in Gothenburg… we can understand the impact of say contemporary art in Liverpool because there was a central porthole not just for institutionalised culture but for a variety of different cultural formats’. Currently, the representation of contemporary art within Gothenburg is easier to navigate by the ground or by introduction to people who are aware of it. By comparison Liverpool mapped a clear point of entry to artistic activity, infrastructure and the interfaces and relationships. ‘I think that’s something that Gothenburg lacks. But on the other hand, it still has an interesting quality to it about the nature of subversion or the underground or subculture. In many other places you could argue that Avante Garde doesn’t exist’.

A culture of support for artists

Bowman describes the Swedish grant and support structure for artists as ‘good and healthy’, with a strong commitment for both artists and arts organisations. ‘It’s hard to compare to the UK’ he says, and reminds me of the fundamental differences between Creative Scotland and the Arts Councils of England, Wales and Ireland. However, Sweden has a healthy culture in understanding the artist as an autonomous figure, and that’s very much part of its historic framework. In Sweden the artist operates through autonomy, commanding the right to a ‘status of independence and non-instrumentalisation, and in doing so retains a critical distance from being instrumentalised’. I’m slightly jealous. But there is always a flip-side, and there exists a dichotomy of the artist perhaps more separated from society.

‘Artists are given support on their own merits and through their own definition of practice. Whereas I think in the UK and certainly through the Labour Government there has been a shift towards the instrumentalisation of the artist and artists having to define themselves in relation to public benefit’. Bowman doesn’t necessarily have a problem with this, because it is public money, but for him there is very much a very limited consideration of the critical aspect of art making or of artists within a societal framework. ‘When you look at cultural value reports by DEMOS, in the five categories of cultural value ‘critique’ is not one of them’.

On a practical level, it’s probably easier to access property and to potentially set up a studio practice legally in Sweden. The administrative process is easier and the legalities are simpler.

Advice for prospective students 

So what advice would Bowman offer potential applicants? He suggests to speak to existing students for their different experience and perspective. Tutors are also available for questions and further help. ‘I always attempt to create a space for communication for applicants and an existing student and quite often with an alumni too’. It’s not just a student’s responsibility to keep communication channels open however, ‘I think it’s important as educators that we make ourselves accessible and support people’s decision making – particularly now when education is becoming increasingly expensive’.

Additional practice and research

And what of Bowman’s artistic work? ‘There are quite significant periods of longitudinal research in relation to what I want to do next.’  Curatorially he is currently contributing to an international research project within his role at Gothenburg on a project called ‘Trust and Unfolding Dialogue in Contemporary Art’. The project involves working with 3 other researchers based in Beirut, Stockholm, and Gothenburg/Paris. ‘We’ll be producing a series of seminars, a publication, exhibition of works in the US, and an international conference’. We’ll be watching this space. 

Kate Gilman Brundrett

www.kateb.co.uk

First published: a-n.co.uk February 2012