Academy of Media Arts Cologne
|
Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln | |
 | |
| Type | art and film school |
|---|---|
| Established | 1990 |
| Chancellor | Dr. Sabine Schulz |
| Rector | Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Reck , Prof. Sophie Maintigneux , Christian Sievers |
Academic staff | three fields: art, film, theory/research |
Administrative staff | 120 members of staff |
| Students | 370 WS 2018/19 |
| Location |
Cologne,  |
| Website | http://www.khm.de |
The Academy of Media Arts Cologne’s demanding project-based “Media and Fine Art” courses give each student the chance to choose between and individually combine various artistic emphases. “Media and Fine Art” at the KHM can be taken as a 9-semester (undergraduate / diploma I) or a 4-semester (postgraduate / diploma II) course. In both formats, the focus is on the development of artistic projects, supported through interdisciplinary supervision by professors, academic staff and technicians.
Student work takes place in the KHM’s ateliers, studios and labs, which are furnished with high-quality equipment, reflecting the diversity of the areas of teaching. The connection between artistic praxis and art and media theory discourses, film theory analysis as well aesthetic and philosophical questioning is an integral part of the courses, the teaching and the research.
The range of student projects is wide and interdisciplinary. Examples include animation, feature and documentary films, photographic art, video art, experimental films, websites, Internet art, games, sound art and electronic music, art in public space, installations, performances, light art, screenplays, hybrid designs, TV and Internet formats, live directing and camera works. Students realise up to four of their own projects. In addition they also develop work within the framework of seminars and tutorials, some of which are collective pieces. The Academy of Media Arts Cologne’s diploma is internationally comparable with the MFA (Master of Fine Art).
The various artistic emphases that can be followed up in the course are organised into four departments: Art, exMedia, Film and Television, and Art and Media Studies, each represented by teaching staff and subject areas.
The following study emphases are only a sample of those available and are listed alphabetically:
• Animation / 3D-Animation / Games
• Art and media studies
• Art in public space / Performance
• Artistic Photography
• Creative production / TV and Internet
• Documentary film / Feature film / Live directing
• Experimental computer science
• Experimental film / Video art
• Image design / Camera / Montage
• Policy of networks / Interface / Code
• Scriptwriting / Storytelling / Dramaturgy
• Sound art / Sound studies
Media and Fine Art Diploma 1: undergraduate course in 9 semesters
Media and Fine Art Diploma 2: postgraduate course in 4 semesters
Doctoral programme
- Courses begin exclusively in the winter semester
- The application period starts in October and ends the following January/February
- Semester fees for German and international students are currently 300 Euro per semester (social security contributions, public transport semester ticket etc.)
The KHM accepts 70 to 80 new enrolments per winter semester, with an average of around 370 students in total, of which approximately one third are international students. The Academy of Media Arts Cologne diploma is comparable internationally to a MFA (Master of Fine Art). The Kunsthochschulgesetz (Art Colleges Act) provides the legal foundation for the KHM as well as six other art and music colleges in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The KHM’s doctoral programme offers the possibility to write a philosophical dissertation leading to a university-comparable, academically founded Doctor of Philosophy. A link to artistic praxis is prerequisite to admission. However, the assessment of the dissertation, in all of its elements, remains an academic one. The number of doctoral candidates admitted is between 15 and 20 per year.
The interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research, the on-going collaboration with other colleges, both domestically and internationally, with cultural institutions, festivals, exhibition organisers as well as the film and media industries paves the way for networks and activities in the areas in which students, doctoral candidates and fellows will work after their degree course: They work successfully, for example, both individually as well as in collectives, as artists, programmers, film directors, camera men and women, scriptwriters, designers, producers or in other self-employed roles. And a substantial number of them now pass on their competence in higher-education teaching roles.