SENSUOUS KNOWLEDGE IN BERGEN
The Sensuous Knowledge Conference Comes to Town
Join us in Bergen, Norway, 23 – 25 January 2013!
A unique collaboration between Art Museums of Bergen and Bergen Academy of Art and Design forms the new context for the conference: Sensuous Knowledge will take place inside of two exhibitions Material Information curated by José Andrés Gaitán and Real Life Stories,curated by Feng Boyi and and Bjørn Inge Follevaag which includes Ai Wei Wei.
The exhibitions will strengthen and inspire the sensuous in energetic and powerful ways as is key to Sensuous Knowledge. We will keep the successful format from the previous series 2004 – 2009: Participants present their practice-based research projects and discuss them in small groups of peers within which discussions may snowball throughout the three days.
May 3, 2012
Posted in: NEWS
WORKSHOP IN BLUE FACTORY ICELAND
A course in Iceland July 15th – 22nd – 2012
Here is a description of a summer workshop in the Blue Factory in Iceland. Fourth time this Icelandic event takes place in conjunction with LUNGA WORKSHOP.
Click here for the project and workshop description named: Pre-Christianity Roots of Nordic Creative Language.
April 20, 2012
Posted in: NEWS, RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
REACH!
1. Cirrus Policy. The main purpose is to sustain a global powerhouse in design through education and research in the Nordic-Baltic region. And to pay attention to the specialities that strengthen design, crafts, arts and innovation in the region. The network promotes Nordic-Baltic cooperation between the member institutions through staff, student and researcher’s exchange, intensive projects, symposia, meeting points, transfer of knowledge activities, workshops.
2. Reach is such an activity, where opposite partner students will meet and help with reaching goals and ideas for common strategies. The workshop will look at what is common and what are the differences. How does innovation and design have universals and what are local specialities? How can REACH help determine what is Nordic-Baltic?
3. Innovation includes four basic factors:
R&D
sophisticated users
factor conditions
competition.
The Nordic-Baltic region wants to improve conditions for innovation and global competitiveness. The same is the strategy of all the institutes in Cirrus. The network has many acting elements to define and map the conditions for this. Most of the search is academic and well developed, happens in conferences, in scientific papers, high level meetings through dialogue of professors and professional actors.
4. Dialogue. This project wants to include a different dimension to the dialogue, one that is often ignored, but the Cirrus institutes have good access to. The opinions and future perspectives of young people in innovation and the creative fields. Similarly, there are geographical power locations for creative innovation, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Stockholm etc. What is the perspective from further afar in the region?
5. Reach wants to run an exercise in seeking opinions and policy advice from young people from the edges of the region. A workshop is to be held in the Iceland Cirrus member academy with the annual Meeting of Teachers in June 2012. There, young students from the edges, Iceland, Greenland, Lithuania and Latvia will meet up and go through dialogue exercises to create opinions about the region, how it reaches from edge to edge, find common grounds and differences.
6. The workshop will deliver a report in form of presentation and website to open up a dialogue about the future of the region, its relationship to global issues, sustainability and hopefully can come up with some advice to policy makers, teachers of design and art and curriculum program developers. The platform framework questions put forward will be those of the Nordic Council of Ministers Reports. There is a need for young opinions and policy advice.
7. Facilitators.
- Jóhannes Þórðarson, (dean and architect/planner) Iceland Academy of the Arts.
- Lotta Kvist, Designer MFA, Head of Dept. HDK School of Design and Crafts, Sweden.
- Halldór Gíslason, professor, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway; leader of Cirrus.
8. Program. After an other Cirrus workshop in Iceland named: Local Holistic Sustainability in the Progress of Global Reality? a few days will be spent in the Iceland Academy of the Arts in Reykjavik. The work will include reporting and socializing with the academy.
Student participants will be selected from five edge schools in Cirrus. Exercises in dialogue and decision making takes place all days, reaching conclusions as recommendations to the Cirrus institutes. All operations will be posted on website and presented to member schools. Participation demands are that the students are students of design in their Cirrus institutes and speak English.
9. Plan of workshop. During the previous workshop in Iceland, some of the same students participate during the week before and occasionally touch on edge conditions issues.
Weekend 9th and 10th of June after previous Cirrus workshop, Dori Gislason explains the search and asks for creative and active positions from all students. This weekend is also the final graduation day of the Iceland Academy and students are invited there to meet all local students and academy.
Monday 11th June, workshop all day, dialogue and proposals. Tuesday 12th June workshop all day and dialogue. Wednesday 13th June, conclusion and return home Thursday 14th.
Report and results posted spontaneously on web links from the Cirrus website made available to all partner schools and open on internet. This results in direct communication to all Cirrus partner schools and will be reported to the meeting of Cirrus heads and teachers in the autumn.
April 20, 2012
Posted in: NEWS, RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Local Holistic Sustainability in the Progress of Global Reality?
An encounter with a locality that represents edge conditions. The Hornafjördur Community in Iceland includes a cross section of geography, cultural context and Nordic social conditions. It is a fundamental fish industry town. It reaches from the top of a glacier, a volcano, ample agriculture, tourism, a small local town and fisheries. Next stop in direction South is Anctartica. The institutes in the community have looked widely for method and inspiration, like the Canadian network Economuseum, where public dissemination, production and crafts go hand in hand, to food R&D and university ethnographic and economic research. Tourism has been a growing element in the region while it still embraces its traditions and climatic and geographical particulars.
Interest from the Cirrus institutions is how does a small close-knit locality deal with global progress. This is an especially interesting issue for design, a field that is transforming itself from “the actor of making cute things” to “humanizing technological progress”: Improving services, simplifying reality and addressing sustainability. These fundamental issues have to be introduced to designers and design students with more enthusiasm. This workshop is intended to support that in the local active industrial tourist, agricultural and fisheries institutions. Only one student will be invited from each institute and dissemination will go to all the institutes of Cirrus. A special webpage has been made to link together all the active partners.
The project will use the Triple Bottom Line (people, profit, planet) (UN Resolution 1987) as its benchmark for reaching sustainable existence for business, people and the environment that is thoroughly sensitive in this location.
Cirrus running partners:
The Iceland Academy of Art (http://english.lhi.is/), The Oslo National Academy of Art (http://www.khio.no/Engelsk/) and University of Gothenburg (http://www.hdk.gu.se/en)
Among local partners:
Höfn (http://www2.hornafjordur.is/stjornsysla/inngangur/English/) is a community on the South-East corner of Iceland with a long history, from the time Irish munks arrived there during the early Middle Ages. Hornafjörður Commune is a society living in the shadow of the world’s third largest glacier and including Europe´s largest national park. The town has a R&D center that includes the folowing institutes:
Matís an Icelandic Food and Biotec R&D Company, with 100% Government ownership (http://www.matis.is/english/home). Dissemination and Researsh into food production from sea and land.
Hornafjörður University Institute, a part of the University of Iceland (http://www.hi.is/en/introduction). Main strategy is to research coexistence of culture and nature and sustainability in a region that is a complete cross section of Icelandic biospace.
Northern Environmental Education Development (http://www.need.is/ and http://www.uef.fi/need). A project the results of which disseminate information about sustainable living, creative industries and relationship between the local and global.
Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður (http://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/english). Although the area is very large it only houses 2300 inhabitants.
The workshop will be a whole week education and production activity: There will be every day inputs from the diverse specializations like tourism, ethnography, tourism, fisheries, volcanology, glaciology etc. The student group is to produce products, disseminations and reflections that are to be left behind for the community and disseminated back to their home institutes. It is considered beneficial not to stipulate the expected result, but demand disciplined method. That should open up for more creative results.
Program
Arrival to Iceland Academy of Art Friday 1st of June. Saturday move to Hornafjörður, introduction to locality and regional characteristics. This move might take place in two steps that are still being determined.
Monday – Friday workshop activity and return to Reykjavik for meeting local. Saturday return to home country.
Teachers:
Jóhannes Þórðarson, (dean and architect/planner) Iceland Academy of the Arts. Lotta Kvist, Designer MFA, Head of Dept. HDK School of Design and Crafts, Sweden. Þorvarður Árnason, (environmental scholar, film maker and biologist), Holistic evaluation methods and motivations. Halldór Gíslason, professor, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway.
April 20, 2012
Posted in: NEWS, RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
BERGEN INTERNATIONAL WOOD FESTIVAL
Here is a complete document about the Festival
18th May until 23rd May
Bergen International Wood Festival (BIWF) has its focus on the use of wood as material, and its constructive and moulding qualities. As a part of this we arrange a bi-annual competition in construction of experimental spatial structures in wood. Designers, architects and artists from all over the world are hereby invited to a grand competition in May 2012 in Bergen!
March 21, 2012
Posted in: ADMINISTRATION, NEWS
CIRRUS MEETING IN COPENHAGEN
Meeting 16th Februar 2012.
Part of the crowd in the meeting
The 6th annual teacher meeting took place in Copenhagen in mid February. The last year has been a bit different dealing with cut funds from the Nordic Council of Ministers, probably because of global finance situation. But lots of activity has taken place in more limited form. It was stimulating to visit the new premises of the Copenhagen School and realize the potential of localizing all the institutes close for future common goals. The program was traditional like members have always stated is good.
Tine Kjølsen, rector KADK gave the velcome to the meeting and went through program oversight and plans. She gave reflections about the changes that are taking place in the Copenhagen school with the move and joining forces with other institutes.
After that Halldór Gíslason professor, Oslo National Academy and leader of Cirrus went through the formalities and agendas for the coming year, projects and ideas and promoted the next date for annual application March 1st.
Thomas Binder assistant professor presented co-design cluster work in Copenhagen and gave presentation as to content, researchers and integration in the school curricula.
Two students that just graduated from Master in Copenhagen presented a project done in Nuuk in Greenland, studying conditions and potentials for change and development. The assembly was lucky enough to be able to see the show of the project just before it was disassembled.
The Copenhagen school presented a project done in Marrocco in textiles involving empowerment of women and development of handicraft design.
Lunch dialogue in the Copenhagen School Canteen
Seminars that took place for open dialogue were two:
- Regional strengths. How do we support regionality and local strengths in relation to globally active business?
- Changes in Design Education – New Approaches and Challenges, Cross-disciplinary Study Programmes.
There was strong opinion that Cirrus could support mapping of the strengths and differences between member schools so that all can develop strengths and specialities. It was decided to try to gain funds for this mapping for next period.
Here is a photo album from the event.
From the exhibition of the work done in Nuuk, Greenland. Imagined Space, a project that was initiated by a Cirrus workshop in Nuuk two years ago.
February 20, 2012
Posted in: ADMINISTRATION, NEWS, Reports and Proceedings, TEACHERS CONFERENCES
CIRRUS MEETING IN COPENHAGEN 16TH FEB
The meeting of teachers is starting in The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design on the 16th of February 2012.
Photos from the visit to Copenhagen and the excellent school facility.
These meetings have become a regular feature in the activities of Cirrus and are considered valuable contributions to the development of teaching and for open dialogue about what is changing. What is considered of great value in these meetings is the general openness and participation of teachers in the proceedings. Therefore the network promotes the idea that participating schools send active teachers to the meetings.
The host has a year ago moved into a new location in close collaboration with the school of architecture and more institutes and it will be interesting to see the opportunities that thus become possible when so many fields are located close. The trend these years has been to bring together smaller units of education and here we will have the opportunity to gain knowledge of the positive results and possible problems that have to be addressed.
The program is simple and will follow the established tradition, discussing current issues, new directions and ideas are lifted about how to expand and continue. More about this soon!
February 15, 2012
Posted in: ADMINISTRATION, NEWS, TEACHERS CONFERENCES
THE CIRRUS ADMIN MEETING IN OSLO
Delegates discussing during a coffee break.
The annual administrative meeting of Cirrus took place in the newly housed school in Oslo. The meeting was well attended and many new issues were brought up, but maybe the most discussed were the changes that are happening to design in the world generally and secondary to the design schools. We seem to be rather behind with our programs since the world of design is changing so fast with new technology and new media access. This is a challenge for our schools that have to look out for the strength of tradition, keeping in hand the quality and order of the past while responding to immense changes in information and product development. The most recent news is that in the English language there are over 2500 terms that include the word ‘design’.
Cirrus leader Halldór Gíslason recaps the year and hears ideas about further development of projects and exchanges.
The guests of course visited properly the new premises in Oslo and there was discussion about accommodation for our creative operations.
Coordinators working hard planning the coming year, exchange and cooperation projects.
October 21, 2011
Posted in: ADMINISTRATION, NEWS, Reeports from Meetings of Heads, Reports from meetings of coordinators
ANNUAL ADMINISTRATIVE MEETING IN OSLO
One of the new common spaces in the new Oslo National Academy where students from all disciplines can cooperate.
The annual general meeting of the network will take place in KHiO (The Oslo National Adademy of Art) on 13th and 14th of October. The program is very much the same every year, running the activities of exchange and cooperation projects. The program of the meeting is following:
Thursday 13th of October.
Day and Evening Program
Address: Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Fossveien 24, 0551 Oslo
——
08.30-09.00 Registration and coffee
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09.00-09.10 Welcome and introduction by Cecilie Broch Knudsen, Rector, Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
09.10-09.20 Welcome and introduction by Halldor Gislason, leader of Cirrus, Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
09.20-09.30 Presentation of Design by Stein Rokseth, Dean of Design, Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
09.30-10.00 “Les Jeudi Centre Pompidous” by Maziar Raein, Academic responsibility MA design, and MA design students
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10.00-10.15 Coffee and refreshments
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10.15-10.45 The new MA study “Kunst og offentlighet” at Visual Arts by Jørn Mortensen, Dean Visual Arts, Oslo National Academy of the Arts
10.45-12.00 Guided tour Oslo National Academy of the Arts
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12.00-13.00 Lunch
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13.00-14.00 Afternoon Sessions Reports of Activities.
- “Watercolour Workshop, Location Tjörn” by Lotta Kvist and Charlotte Sjödell, School of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- “Cirrus Common Master Proposal” by Heikki Saros, Senior Lecturer, International Coordinator, LUAS Institute of Design and Fine Arts, Finland
14.00-14.15 Coffee and refreshments
14.15-16.00 Separate meetings for rectors and coordinators
18.00-19.00 Guided tour The Norwegian National Opera
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From 19.00 Dinner at Brasserie Sanguine, The Norwegian National Opera
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Friday 14th of October.
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08.30-09.00 Coffee
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09.00-11.00 Separate meetings for leaders and coordinators (Coffee and refreshments)
11.00-11.30 “Design Education, Social Development and Maputo, Mocambique” by Dagfinn Skoglund, Assistant Professor, Fashion and Costume Design, Oslo National Academy of the Arts
11.30-12.00 Summing up and conclusion of the meeting
12.00 Farewell and departure
Optional
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12.30-13.30 Lunch
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13.30 Guided tour The Oslo School of Architecture and Design.
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October 9, 2011
Posted in: TEACHERS CONFERENCES
MEETING OF TEACHERS IN TALLIN 10TH AND 11TH FEBRUARY 2011
ESTONIAN ACADEMY OF THE ARTS CONFERENCE SITE
The grand town of Tallinn will host the 5th Meeting of Teachers in February 2011. These meetings have become a regular feature in the activities of Cirrus and are considered valuable contributions to the development of teaching in general and the development of the MA in particular. What is considered of great value in these meetings is the general openness and participation of teachers in the proceedings as opposed to the many organizational meetings that are necessary in international networks.
The conference will adhere to the similar program, starting early on Thursday morning ending mid-day Friday, making it possible for delegates to make it home before the normal working week is over.
HERE IS THE PROGRAM DOCUMENT WITH ALL INFORMATION
From the hosts: Estonian Academy of the Arts:
We look forward to seeing you all and please keep in mind that we do encourage you to bring students with you to this symposium.
Please register your participation due January 10 by filling out the form at our website by clicking HERE!
Contact person: Maria Jürisson maria.jurisson@artun.ee (+372 626 7369)
Accommodation:
Tallink City Hotel (CLICK HERE!) – 54 EUR; includes buffet breakfast, morning sauna & gym; internet.
Please book your room directly, using the reference “Cirrus”: (hotelbooking@tallink.ee) (+372 6300 808)
December 16, 2010
Tags: art, baltic, design, estonia, nordic, scandinavian, tallinn Posted in: Call for meetings, TEACHERS CONFERENCES
