Art and Politics - On Friendship and the Political Imaginary
Summary
This is an innovative distance course taught online through English (with opportunities for face-to-face meet-ups) introducing key themes and questions in respect of politics, affiliation and the ontology of friendship with particular reference to contemporary art practices, theories and institutions.
About
This course was originally developed in 2021 through the collaboration between Prof. Steven Henry Madoff (SVA New York) and Prof. Mick Wilson (HDK-Valand, Gothenburg.) Building upon the success of the 2021 course, the new course from 2022 has worked to further develop the focused inquiry into friendship as a question across politics, philosophy and artistic and curatorial practices. Since 2024 the course has been an associated initiative of the Centre for Art and the Political Imaginary (CAPIm).
Participants are expected to: (i) actively engage in the online workshops, lectures and seminars; (ii) engage in extensive shared reading; and (iii) and explore the implications of the course themes for their own practice and/or further studies.
Participants are specifically invited to develop project ideas connected to the course themes and relevant to the participants’ own practice, (e.g., theory, criticism, art making, curatorial work, cultural studies, philosophy or other research across the creative arts and the humanities).
The course is structured in four phases:
- Terms,
- Sources,
- Disagreements, and
- Project development.
Practicalities
You will require reliable internet access and headphones with mic. Presentations will typically be recorded and posted online for students to access during the course. 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 the discussion sessions, as these will not always be recorded and these offer the best opportunity to interact with the other participants on the course
Further information
You will require reliable internet access and headphones with mic. Presentations will typically be recorded and posted online for students to access during the course. However, guest sessions and discussion sessions are typically not recorded. 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 the discussion sessions, as these offer the best opportunity to interact with the other participants on the course.
Online sessions
The online sessions will normally take place 16:30–19:00 CET Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evenings. Dates planned for Autumn 2025 are:
- September: 1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 16, 18, 23, 25, 30;
- October: 7, 9, 21, 23, 28, 30;
- November: 4, 6, 18, 20, 25;
- December: 2, 4, 9, 11, 16, 18;
- January: 13, 14, 15
Meet up sessions
There are as series of optional ‘in person’ meet up sessions each year. In Autumn 2025 these sessions will be in:
- Brussels and Antwerp, 11–13 September 2025;
- Gothenburg 15–18 October 2025; and
- Ljubljana 26–28 November, 2025.
Prerequisites and selection
Entry requirements
Bachelor's Degree of at least 180 credits or the equivalent knowledge. Applicants must prove their knowledge of English: English 6/English B from Swedish Upper Secondary School or the equivalent level of an internationally recognized test, for example TOEFL, IELTS.
Special instructions for application
Apply in three steps:
1. Apply for the course at universityadmissions.se. Deadline: 15 April 2025.
2. Submit a Letter of intent in SlideRoom. Deadline: 15 April 2025.
The Letter of intent should consist of a short statement why you wish to attend the course, max 3500 characters including spaces. The letter should be written in English. Do not include your name or contact details in the letter.
3. Submit documentation proving you meet the entry requirements of the course on universityadmissions.se (Bachelor's Degree of at least 180 credits or equivalent and English 6/English B
from Swedish Upper Secondary School or the equivalent level of an
internationally recognized English test, for example TOEFL, IELTS. Deadline 19: June, 2025.
Selection
The selection is based on a submitted Letter of Intent.
