Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design


The Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design is a state art college founded in 1992 in Karlsruhe. It focuses on media art, communication design, product design, exhibition design and scenography, art research and media philosophy with a strong interdisciplinarity between the departments. The university has about 400 students.

History

The university was opened on 15 April 1992 as a reform college in Karlsruhe. Together with the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe it was founded during the years 1989 to 1992 by Heinrich Klotz. This combination of teaching, research and exhibition institutions corresponds to the self-imposed artistic and pedagogical task of relating the traditional arts to media technology and electronic manufacturing processes.
Classical forms such as painting were only represented with a professorship until 2004. Interdisciplinary work should be promoted by linking artistic, applied and theoretical courses. With bringing together media art, art theory and design Klotz wanted to found an "electronic Bauhaus". Since 1997, the HfG Karlsruhe as well as the ZKM is housed in a listed former ammunition factory.
After the death of Klotz in 1999, Gunter Rambow took over the provisional management of the university. In early 2001, Peter Sloterdijk was appointed rector, which he remained until his retirement in 2015. After a transitional phase under Deputy Rector Volker Albus, Siegfried Zielinski's term of office began in February 2016. In December 2017 according to own information Zilinski asked the Minister of Science, Research and Art Baden-Württemberg for the early termination of his contract. As a reason, he stated that his reform ideas were not enforceable. Since 1 April 2018 Johan F. Hartle has taken over the position of acting Rector at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.

Study

The interdisciplinary framework of the early years is still being preserved by the four practical departments
as well as the theoretical department
Common to all degree courses is the project work practiced from the beginning, as well as continued cooperation with the neighboring ZKM. In-house workshops and studios were also set up for the practice-oriented training of the HfG students.
For the students of the theoretical subjects the choice of a practical secondary subject is obligatory. The students of the practical subjects are obliged to study a theory subject such as art research or media philosophy as a minor subject. The four practical study programs of the HfG Karlsruhe are permeable fields of study, which allow intensive connections to other subjects and, depending on the research and development focus of the specific university teacher, receive different emphases. The media-theoretical analysis permeates the practical events, on the other hand, the media-theoretical and art-research training is concretized by an immediate practical relevance.
Prerequisite for admission to the program is the general or subject-related higher education entrance qualification as well as the successful completion of an entrance examination.

Degree

At the HfG Karlsruhe, no Bachelor/Master programs are offered, as from the first semester on the project study with contents that can not be modularized, is practiced. The HfG Karlsruhe still awards the internationally recognized diploma or Magister's degree. On the basis of the Magister's degree a doctorate in art theory, media theory and philosophy is also possible. The international Bologna compatibility of HfG degrees is guaranteed. In 2008, the Wissenschaftsrat certified the HfG Karlsruhe an "excellent training concept" in its evaluation report.

Departments

Name of the degree in brackets.