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Concept

The Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB) is an autonomous academy of art. Its independence is based on freedom in research and teaching in the fields of art and science. As an educational institution we place great importance on the encouragement of ability, through your own methods and practices – but also those of others – being able to speak reflexively and with empathy. The academy is committed to its artistic and creative history, while also pushing ahead with the extension of its discourses and teaching practices in new fields of media. We want to further intensify the interconnection of artistic, creative and theoretical practice. We promote a reciprocal comprehension not only as part of our study courses, but also in cooperation with other institutions and disciplines outside the academy.

In our specialist fields we promote an interdisciplinary interconnection. We encourage openness towards other disciplines and knowledge-based areas of society. We want to enable students to take a critical and reflective approach. The use of all intellectual and technical/artistic possibilities of the Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) is important to us.

The Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) has a substantial and historically-established workshop culture at its disposal, which we want to constantly renew and extend. The Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) attaches importance to providing fundamental knowledge of its various workshop-related practices in the arts and design. The structure of these workshops has a historic character, the topicality of which we want to actively preserve. The Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) also possesses the required contemporary technical apparatus for the fields of photography and to a certain extent film (for example: expanded cinema). The combination of classic and digital media, their transmediality and their common features form a permanent interest of the academy and are detailed in the courses on offer. We want to further improve the combination of the possibilities which are provided at the Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) through the constellations of its media, the courses on offer and teaching content.The Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) is to be a place of openness and respectful coexistence of all members of the academy and its guests. The Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) wants to clearly fulfil its role as a place of public debate about questions facing society – of politics, culture, social – in both the region and internationally.The Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) is committed to gender equality and the equal treatment of all ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. All of its teachers, the academy management and administration are committed to the principles of sustainability. For the Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) the principles of a free and open society apply.

We support equal opportunities at our academy and want to intensively convey and implement the appreciation of diversity. All forms of participation are important to us. We do not only want to promote individual freedom and inclusion; a family-friendly working environment at the Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) is also important to us. We view the strengthening of civic values as an essential task, which should not only be visible at the academy but also externally. The Academy of Fine Arts (HGB) attaches importance to active and committed participation in the general discourses of art, design, theory and in the field of curating. Furthermore we play a role in the changes in our society – both socially and politically and attempt to pose relevant questions in diverse formats.Art and Graphic Design are communicative media, which bring about a connection with the world and where they consequently have an effect. The prerequisite for this is an approach which is based on empathy and interest, which we not only encourage individually but also want to embody as an institution. An interest in other cultures and social conditions is important to us, we want to treat them with attentiveness and respect.