Be Welcome

How to introduce an institute of art? This is probably the most difficult task for a place that is many things: an institution, with norms and rules, and a community with idiosyncrasies and moods. It still seems like a luxury today to be able to encompass these two elements, as well as the courses, the teaching, the learning, the discovery of one’s self, one’s practice through the encounter of others, artists, friends, individuals, and practitioners who try things out in ways that are not «innovative» or «experimental», but just investigative, insistent, curious, empathic, humble, and yet stubborn, personal, and full of hope for a work, a process, a performance, a gesture that will help to connect.

The Institute Art Gender Nature is constituted by all the individuals who are part of it, the regular teachers, the staff, the technical team, the many guests who come, and—crucially—the one hundred young artists who study with us. The bachelor and master programs are well differentiated; the schedules and activities are not the same. But the social space of the Institute is one. The studios are shared, students decide at the beginning of the year where they want to be, and the many and great workshops offer as an opportunity to share space and skills independently of the program you are in; the weekly artists talks, the biannual symposiums, and many other informal opportunities that bring us all together.


  • Workshop photography / multimedia, Alona Hrekova, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Workshop photography / multimedia, Alona Hrekova, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Milena Mihajlović working on her graduation project, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Art Taaalkssss with Phoenix Atala and Elise Lammer, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Sebastian Crispin Altermatt working on his graduation project, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Artists’ studio, Institute Art Gender Nature, photo: Pati Grabowicz

  • Wren Cellier working on their graduation project, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Ana Jikia working on her graduation project, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Dimitra Charamandas working on her graduation project, Campus.Workshops, 2022, photo: Christian Knörr

  • Pat Homse working at the Campus.Workshops, 2022, photo: Pati Grabowicz


Our programs


Bachelor

One of the most important elements of our bachelor’s program is the environment. We are small in scale, and therefore we can put all our effort into our students, into motivating them and creating the quality of experience in studying art, from access to great workshops to conversations with teachers and guests to the many seminars. Care, nearness, and continuous guidance are keys to our method of introducing you to the world of art.

Additional information on our bachelor's program
and application on the HGK Basel FHNW website

→ Brochure bachelors’s program (pdf)

Next application deadline: 15 February 2024


Master

The master’s program is oriented towards curiosity […], a force that encourages you not only to like what others do, but to commit to forms of making that mark a difference, that offer resistance to conventions. Since the world is turning more and more into a very normative space, where freedom is not a given, art may provide us with eccentric spaces of quality where a different sensing of matter and the relations between forms of life can be preserved.

Additional information on our master's program
and application on the HGK Basel FHNW website

→ Brochure master's program (pdf)

Next application deadline: 15 March 2024


Team

Guests

Fahim Amir
Gin Bahc
Denise Bärtschi
Carlos Casas
Wisrah C. V. da R. Celestino
Nina Emge
Sonia Fernández Pan 
Kate Foley
Claire Filmon / Projet DICI
Ines Goldbach
Krõõt Juurak and Alex Bailey / Performances for Pets
Edith Karlson
Till Langschied
Muda Mathis and Sus Zwick
Noha Mokhtar
Lisa Moravec
Alejandra Pombo Su
Davide-Christelle Sanvee
Julia Schicker
Shirana Shahbazi 
Laura Tripaldi  
Feifei Zhou 


  • Campus Dreispitz, FHNW Academy of Art and Design, photo: Hans-Peter Huser

  • Campus.Workshops, photo: Pati Grabowicz

  • Painting Studio, Institute Art Gender Nature, 2022, photo: Institute Art Gender Nature


Campus

The Institute Art Gender Nature is part of the Campus Dreispitz, situated just ten minutes away from Basel’s main station. Articulated around its main building, a silvery tower, the campus is a hub for creativity and artistic practices. In addition to the Academy of Art and Design, the campus is also home to the House of Electronic Arts, as well as other institutions and companies active in the areas of art and design.

Students are provided with a personal studio space that they can freely use and access anytime. Several workshops with professional support are also at your disposal at the Institute:

Analog studio
Digital studio
Painting studio
Campus.Workshops
Campus facilities

FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Northwestern Switzerland
Basel Academy of Art and Design
Institute Art Gender Nature
Freilager-Platz 1, Postfach, 4002 Basel
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At the Institute Art Gender Nature HGK Basel FHNW we explore and interrogate art practices in their social context and imagine how they might be structured in the future, thus finding and developing new methods. The Institute Art Gender Nature is a place where practice determines our thinking, processes, and discussions about what “making” means for art.