New media art education in 2021 – challenges and opportunities

Speculum Artium panel discussion

@Speculum Artium 2021

From its beginnings Speculum Artium hosted student projects from various institutions like the School of Arts, (University of Nova Gorica, SI), Academy of Fine Arts and Design (University of Ljubljana, SI), Interface Cultures (Kunstuniversität Linz, AT), Empowerment Informatics (University of Tsukuba, JP), Art and Science center from UCLA (US), etc. Based on our positive experience with new media art students an idea developed to turn a part of the festival into an education platform, where students and professors from different art schools in the field of new media production would meet, present their works, exchange their views and knowledge, get critical feedback from people outside of their local artistic environment. Both students and professors as their mentors would participate in the exhibition, get an opportunity to give lectures, artist talks, join panel discussions.

This year a discussion panel on a topic “New media art education in 2021 – challenges and opportunities” will be held as a part of this initiative. Joining us will be:

prof. Peter Purg, PhD from Academy of Arts, University of Nova Gorica
Aliya Sakhariyeva, Head of the Art & Science Center at ITMO University, Sant Petersburg.
prof. Klaus Fruchtnis, Chair of Transdisciplinary New Media (MA/MFA programs), Paris College of Art
Fabricio Lamoncha Martinez, University Assistant at Interface Cultures Master Program, Kunstuniversität Linz

Founded in 1981, Paris College of Art (PCA) is a private university in Paris, France. The university is a US degree granting institution of higher learning and is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). PCA’s mission is to provide the highest standard of art and design education, taught within an American pedagogical paradigm, while being influenced and informed by our French and European environment. Our international faculty is comprised of 100 leaders in the art, design, and business industries in Europe and courses are taught in English. PCA offers an interdisciplinary education for students coming from 50 different countries, and awards Bachelor’s (BA and BFA), and Master’s (MA and MFA) degrees as well as study abroad, certificate, and summer programs.

The Art & Science Center of ITMO University is one of the first institutions that turned to the study and development of scientific and technological art in Russia.
MSc in Art&Science at ITMO University is the first master’s program in art & science in Russia based on the convergence of the latest achievements in the field of high tech and applied artistic practice. The program was launched in 2018 as an international program taught in English. The Head of the program is Dimitri Ozerkov, curator and art critic, head of the contemporary art department of the State Hermitage. Working alongside professional artists, scientists, and curators students enjoy access to ITMO University’s state-of-the-art laboratories and research centers. While studying at the program students can create and present their creative or curatorial projects at Russian and international venues.

School of Arts at the University of Nova Gorica focuses on the development of authorial personalities, competent as well as sovereign in several complementary artistic fields and media – film, animation, photography, new media and contemporary art practices. The interdisciplinary and intermedia orientation of these explicitly practical study programs delivered in a quality academic environment is ensured by numerous referenced collaborators and visiting mentors. Students are presented with several mobility options and involved in international projects and collaborations with both the local community and the wider international social environment.

The Interface Culture program at the Linz University of Arts Department of Media was founded in 2004 by Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. The program teaches students of human-machine interaction to develop innovative interfaces that harness new interface technologies at the confluence of art, research, application and design, and to investigate the cultural and social possibilities of implementing them.
Acting as creative artists and researchers, students learn how to advance the state of the art of current interface technologies and applications. Through interdisciplinary research and team work, they also develop new aspects of interface design including its cultural and social applications. The themes elaborated under the Master’s program in relation to interactive technologies include Interactive Environments, Interactive Art, Ubiquitous Computing, game design, VR and MR environments, Sound Art, Media Art, Web-Art, Software Art, HCI research and interaction design.