Introduction to Contemporary Arts and Politics, Summer 2026

This summer course has been conceived as an introductory course that addresses how contemporary arts (includes visual arts photography, film, and literature) interact or otherwise connect with the question of political imaginaries. 

The student is introduced to key themes through the study of concrete examples. The course adopts an inquiry-based approach. By considering a range of situations where questions of art and questions of politics intersect, we seek to gradually build a wider model or structural account of relations between these. The course is therefore not premised on a pre-resolved theory of “art and politics”. Instead, it provides a survey of instances where themes and questions of politics and the political, and of art and the aesthetic, intersect. Among the concepts tested in this inquiry-based approach is that of the political imaginary. However, as an associated initiative of CAPIm the course is driven by an open research agenda, rather than a resolved theoretical position. 

Topics covered in the course have included: competing accounts of the political/politics; different readings of the emergence of the aesthetic within colonial-modernity; the nature of exhibition; the geopolitics of the art world’s globalism(s); feminism and questions of eurocentrism; ecological practices and climate change responses; the nature/meaning of the construct”the political imaginary”; the shift from institutional critique to infrastructural activism; the tensions between “politics of representation” and “post-representational” practices; the question of the subject; modes of collectivity; and many other such themes. We introduce many themes and provide information and resources for participants to pursue further independent study on those themes that are of most interest for each. 

The course interrogates the different claims for contemporary art’s political agency and political saliency, rather than accepting these at face value. Acknowledging the complex field of theoretical, critical and activist positions that operate in the interaction and conjunction of practices of art and practices of the political, the course does not claim to be comprehensive. However, it does seek to achieve breadth in the range of instances studied, including the use of examples that are recommended from the student participants themselves. 

The course is also closely informed by the work of the platforms: L’Internationale Online,  PARSE Journal of Artistic Research, and partnerships with among others VECTOR Studio, Iasi and tranzit.ro

Dates and Locations

Full schedule will be published closer to the start of the application period. 

The optional in-person meet-ups will take place in:  
(1) Gothenburg, Sweden (24-26 June);  
(2) Chișinău, Moldova and Iași, Romania (20-26 July); and  
(3) Dublin and Galway, Ireland (16-19 August – dates to be confirmed). In your application, please indicate which of the optional in-person meet-ups you will attend, to help us plan numbers. 

Please note that you will require stable internet access and headphones with mic. This is very important as poor connection, and lack of external mic and headphones, impacts the quality of the online sessions for all participants.  Presentations will typically be recorded and posted online for students to access during the course.

Practicalities

Participation in the course means that your contributions to discussion in response to the formal presentations may be recorded for this purpose. The formal presentations can be attended live and also accessed via recordings published online, at whatever time suits your personal timetable needs. However, it is strongly recommended that you attend the ‘live’ online discussion sessions, and giest presentations, as these will not always be recorded. Attending ‘live’ offers the best opportunity to interact with the other participants on the course.

Conditions for Participation

No fees for EU and EEA citizens, Swedish residence permit holders and exchange students. Students are responsible for organising their own travel and accommodation and for their own costs attending workshops, and for their own costs of attending any intensive workshop. We welcome PhD researchers from anywhere in the world, who can apply to audit the course for free as a guest researcher at HDK-Valand’s doctoral programme in artistic practices. Please contact Prof. Mick Wilson with “guest PhD researcher request” in the message header.

Application Procedure

Admission is based on a letter of intention in English stating why you wish to attend the course and an updated CV. The course will be open for application from16 February to 16 March 2026. See the Swedish national portal for educational courses.