Diversity at the HFBK Hamburg

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Understanding

Diversity refers to the diversity of an organisation or society in terms of various individual or structural dimensions such as social and cultural background and affiliation, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, mental and health impairment, but also religion and family background.

Internationality, polyphony and diversity characterize the HFBK Hamburg to a particular degree. The diversity of its members is valued, respectfully lived and promoted, as it is inspiration, opportunity and benefit at the same time for an art school.

The university's already firmly established equal opportunities work is continually being expanded to include diversity-oriented aspects. All advice services are intended to be open to everyone and are to be continually expanded. Participation and suggestions are always welcome!

Policies and more

Anti-Discrimination Policy HFBK Hamburg
Guideline against gender-based discrimination and sexual violence at the HFBK Hamburg
In 2014, the HFBK Hamburg received an »audit familiengerechte Hochschule« (family-friendly university audit) certificate from Berufundfamilie gGmbH, an initiative of the not-for-profit Hertie-Stiftung foundation. Re-certification took place in 2017, in 2020 the consolidation.
Recommendations for the use of gender-sensitive language at HFBK Hamburg (available only in German language)
The Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg is delighted to have achieved the top position in the CEWS University Ranking for Gender Equality 2023, which is the result of the current eleventh edition of this established and long-standing quality assurance tool for gender equality at universities. With 8 out of a possible 8 points, the HFBK Hamburg once again leads the table of Germany's 39 universities of the arts after 2019, this time holding its own in ranking group 1.
In November 2018 the HFBK was one of the first signatories of the Hamburger Erklärung der VIELEN (Hamburg Declaration). The VIELEN are a dialogue-oriented network of artists and cultural practitioners with a clear commitment to openness and freedom in art.
We are currently developing a conceptual diversity guideline for the HFBK Hamburg.

Contact and counselling service for anti-discrimination and diversity issues

We want to be the contact point for your questions, concerns and complaints. Please do not hesitate to contact us. The exchange of information is of course confidential.

The following contact persons are at your disposal:

Overview of the contact persons.

Persons of trust

Delegate for equality/

Delegate for equality for administrative staff

Frank Richters

Vice President, area of responsibility International+Diversity

Ingo Offermanns

Psychosocial Counselling

Nina Arthkamp

Diversity Officer

Nina Arthkamp

Representative for Students with Disabilities

Psychosocial Counseling Services of the HFBK Hamburg

The challenges of studying art are great and it is not uncommon to be confronted with difficulties and crises in everyday life beyond one's own artistic development process, which can be overwhelming. For this reason, starting summer semester 2023, the HFBK is maintaining Psychosocial Counseling Services, which are open to all students as a point of contact and initial counseling and can provide support with the following issues:

in dealing with conflicts, crises and fears
difficulties in working together with teachers and other students
in situations of psychological stress
identity and orientation problems
in the case of experiences of discrimination (e.g. ableism, classism, anti-Semitism, racism, sexism).

The counseling sessions are free of charge, anonymous and confidential. They take place in German or English, as desired.

Open office hours
Tue 4-6 p.m. / Thu 12 -4 p

And appointments by arrangement (by phone or email)
You are also welcome to take advantage of a consultation if the issue is still unclear. We listen to you, support you in sorting out your thoughts and look for solutions together. If necessary, we will refer you to further offers.

Contact
Nina Arthkamp, diploma pedagogue / supervisor
Room K15
Phone: +49 40 42 89 89-211
Mail: ps.beratung@hfbk.hamburg.de

Studies and family

In 2014, the HFBK Hamburg received an »audit familiengerechte Hochschule« (family-friendly university audit) certificate from Berufundfamilie gGmbH, an initiative of the not-for-profit Hertie-Stiftung foundation. Re-certification took place in 2017. In the spirit of this audit, the HFBK aims to make working and study conditions progressively more family-friendly, and, in particular, to support students with children in combining family activities with studying. Numerous measures have already been implemented by the HFBK to achieve this. Please find an overview here.
More info on studying with children and child care can be found here: Studierendenwerk Hamburg and Familienbüro der Uni Hamburg

Supplementary ID card of dgti

Personal documents do not always match one's own personal details: As long as the change of name and/or personal status has not yet been achieved, it is possible for all trans*, inter* and non-binary persons to have their self-chosen first name and other self-chosen personal data recognized with a dgti supplementary identity card.

The HFBK Hamburg recognizes the supplementary ID card in all application, hiring and admission procedures. This also applies to the course of studies and graduation at the HFBK Hamburg (e.g. student ID, certificates and other mentions in online communication). The supplementary ID card can also be used to subsequently change the entry in the Students Office (for students) and/or Human Resources (for employed students and staff).

In combination with an official identity card, the dgti supplementary identity card is an identity document recognized by the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI). It contains all self-selected personal data as well as a current passport photo.The supplementary ID card can be applied for here, even if the process of a change of personal status is not being sought at all.

Recommendations for the use of gender-sensitive language at HFBK Hamburg

The members of the Hamburg University of Fine Arts - students, professors and staff - are a plural community in which different interests, perspectives and experiences meet. We see this fact as an opportunity and an enrichment. Our goal is to offer a non-discriminatory space in which respectful, professional and appreciative interaction is practiced.

This includes a sensitive approach to our language, because it is an important tool for conveying differentiated role models and avoiding discrimination of all kinds. Gender-sensitive language can contribute to an appreciative address of all persons.

In order to ensure reflective communication between all university members and to ensure respectful addressing of all persons - female, male, trans, intergender and non-binary - or to include them in our language, these recommendations have been developed.

Download the Recommendations for the use of gender-sensitive language at HFBK Hamburg (available only in German language)

International

The HFBK actively supports international student exchanges. The large number of partner universities included in the EU’s exchange programme Erasmus+ enables a high degree of international mobility. Students receive particularly generous support within the framework of the Art School Alliance.
The proportion of foreign students, who come not only from Europe, but especially from China, Korea and South America, is traditionally very high at the HFBK Hamburg and currently stands at 30%. Please find here more info.

Advice available for students

Some situations require a trusting exchange with others and professional support. For this purpose we have put together various counseling services, such as the student telephone counseling service, contact with trained psychotherapists at the psychological counseling centre of the University of Hamburg or the "shift" programme for drop-outs. Please find them here.

HFBK events in the framework of diversity and equality

• Exhibition series „Folgendes“

• Professionalization program at the HFBK

• Zertifikat Genderkompetenz

• Scholarship Pro Exzellenzia

• Lecture series »Cross-Cultural Challenges«, part of the program Artistic and Cultural Orientation for asylum seekers and refugees

• hhintersection is a mediation platform, which as an internet site, through performances, workshops and exhibitions focuses on issues of diversity and promotes experimental learning formats in the art school and beyond.

• Talks and symposia with thematic reference under http://mediathek.hfbk.net and www.podcampus.de/channels/nJNYn

Anti-discrimination complaints office (for employees and applicants)

Contact: Janina Heller

beschwerdestelle.agg@hfbk.hamburg.de

Selected events in SoSe 2023

Archives of Bodies – the body as archive, Seminar of Prof. Dr. Hanne Loreck
Mothers, Seminar of Prof. Dr. Hanne Loreck
Politics of Difference I: Race, Seminar of Prof. Dr. Samo Tomšič
The Educational Web, Seminar of Prof. Dr. Nora Sternfeld
Ta gueule! Echoes of collective Screaming, Seminar of Eve Larue und Julia Stolba
Face Conflicts. Working against anti-Semitism and racism as an artistic practice, Workshop of Prof. Dr. Nora Sternfeld, Prof. Dr. Anja Steidinger and Julia Stolba in cooperation with students of the HFBK
Critical (Art) College, Seminar of Prof. Dr. Tom Holert
COLLECTIVE ART LABORATORY, Seminar of Prof. Reza Afisina, Prof. Iswanto Hartono
Mute/Unmute, Podcast ofProf. Dr. Astrid Mania
more courses als at Center Gender & Diversity

Archives of the Body - The Body in Archiving

With a symposium, an exhibition, a film programme and a digital publication, the research project conceived by Prof. Hanne Loreck and Vanessa Gravenor examines the "archive" as a form of order with regard to the human body. Which body archives and discourses have become established? What potentials for political-aesthetic resistance and activism could and can emerge?

Sharon Poliakine, Untitled, 2023, oil on canvas, detail

New partnership with the School of Arts at the University of Haifa

On the occasion of a new partnership with the School of Arts at the University of Haifa, the HFBK Hamburg is presenting an exhibition by the artists Birgit Brandis, Sharon Poliakine and HFBK students.

photo: Ronja Lotz

Exhibition recommendations

Numerous exhibitions with HFBK participation are currently on display. We present a small selection and invite you to visit the exhibitions during the term break.

Visitors of the annual exhibition 2024; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Annual Exhibition 2024 at the HFBK Hamburg

From February 9 -11, 2024 (daily 2-8 pm) the students of HFBK Hamburg present their artistic productions from the past year. In addition, the exhibition »Think & Feel! Speak & Act!« curated by Nadine Droste, as well as the presentation of exchange students from Goldsmiths, University of London, can be seen at ICAT.

Examination of the submitted portfolios

How to apply: study at HFBK Hamburg

The application period for studying at the HFBK Hamburg runs from 1 February to 5 March 2024, 4 p.m. All important information can be found here.

photo: Tim Albrecht

(Ex)Changes of / in Art

There's a lot going on at the HFBK Hamburg at the end of the year: exhibitions at ICAT, the ASA students' Open Studios in Karolinenstraße, performances in the Extended Library and lectures in the Aula Wartenau.

Extended Libraries

Knowledge is now accessible from anywhere, at any time. In such a scenario, what role(s) can libraries still play? How can they support not only as knowledge archives but also as facilitators of artistic knowledge production? As an example, we present library projects by students and alumni, as well as our new knowledge space: the Extended Library.

Semester Opening 2023/24

We welcome the many new students to the HFBK Hamburg for the academic year 2023/24. A warm welcome also goes to the new professors, whom we would like to introduce to you here.

And Still I Rise

For over 20 years, US artist Rajkamal Kahlon has been interested in the connections between aesthetics and power, which are organized across historical and geographical boundaries, primarily through violence. With this solo exhibition, the HFBK Hamburg presents the versatile work of the professor of painting and drawing to the Hamburg art public for the first time.

photo: Lukes Engelhardt

No Tracking. No Paywall.

Just Premium Content! The (missing) summer offers the ideal opportunity to catch up on what has been missed. In our media library, faculty, students and alumni share knowledge and discussions with us - both emotional moments and controversial discourses. Through podcasts and videos, they contribute to current debates and address important topics that are currently in focus.

Let's talk about language

There are currently around 350 international students studying at the HFBK Hamburg, who speak 55 different languages - at least these are the official languages of their countries of origin. A quarter of the teaching staff have an international background. And the trend is rising. But how do we deal productively with the multilingualism of university members in everyday life? What ways of communication can be found? The current Lerchenfeld issue looks at creative solutions for dealing with multilingualism and lets numerous former international students have their say.

photo: Miriam Schmidt / HFBK

Graduate Show 2023: Unfinished Business

From July 13 to 16, 2023, 165 Bachelor's and Master's graduates of the class of 2022/23 will present their final projects from all areas of study. Under the title Final Cut, all graduation films will be shown on a big screen in the auditorium of the HFBK Hamburg.

A disguised man with sunglasses holds a star-shaped sign for the camera. It says "Suckle". The picture is taken in black and white.

photo: Honey-Suckle Company

Let`s work together

Collectives are booming in the art world. And they have been for several decades. For the start of the summer semester 2023, the new issue of the Lerchenfeld Magazine is dedicated to the topic of collective practice in art, presents selected collectives, and also explores the dangers and problems of collective working.

Jahresausstellung 2023, Arbeit von Toni Mosebach / Nora Strömer; photo: Lukes Engelhardt

Annual Exhibition 2023 at HFBK Hamburg

From February 10-12, students from all departments will present their artistic works at Lerchenfeld 2, Wartenau 15 and AtelierHaus, Lerchenfeld 2a. At ICAT, Tobias Peper, Artistic Director of the Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof, curates an exhibition with HFBK master students. Also 10 exchange students from Goldsmiths, University of London will show their work there.

Symposium: Controversy over documenta fifteen

With this symposium on documenta fifteen on the 1st and 2nd of February, the HFBK Hamburg aims to analyze the background and context, foster dialogue between different viewpoints, and enable a debate that explicitly addresses anti-Semitism in the field of art. The symposium offers space for divergent positions and aims to open up perspectives for the present and future of exhibition making.

ASA Open Studios winter semester 2021/22; photo: Marie-Theres Böhmker

The best is saved until last

At the end of the year, once again there will be numerous exhibitions and events with an HFBK context. We have compiled some of them here. You will also find a short preview of two lectures of the professionalization program in January.

Non-Knowledge, Laughter and the Moving Image, Grafik: Leon Lothschütz

Festival and Symposium: Non-Knowledge, Laughter and the Moving Image

As the final part of the artistic research project, the festival and symposium invite you to screenings, performances, talks, and discussions that explore the potential of the moving images and the (human and non-human) body to overturn our habitual course and change the dominant order of things.

View of the packed auditorium at the start of the semester; photo: Lukas Engelhardt

Wishing you a happy welcome

We are pleased to welcome many new faces to the HFBK Hamburg for the winter semester 2022/23. We have compiled some background information on our new professors and visiting professors here.

Solo exhibition by Konstantin Grcic

From September 29 to October 23, 2022, Konstantin Grcic (Professor of Industrial Design) will be showing a room-sized installation at ICAT - Institute for Contemporary Art & Transfer at the HFBK Hamburg consisting of objects designed by him and existing, newly assembled objects. At the same time, the space he designed for workshops, seminars and office workstations in the AtelierHaus will be put into operation.

Amna Elhassan, Tea Lady, oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm

Art and war

"Every artist is a human being". This statement by Martin Kippenberger, which is as true as it is existentialist (in an ironic rephrasing of the well-known Beuys quote), gets to the heart of the matter in many ways. On the one hand, it reminds us not to look away, to be (artistically) active and to raise our voices. At the same time, it is an exhortation to help those who are in need. And that is a lot of people at the moment, among them many artists. That is why it is important for art institutions to discuss not only art, but also politics.

Merlin Reichert, Die Alltäglichkeit des Untergangs, Installation in der Galerie der HFBK; photo: Tim Albrecht

Graduate Show 2022: We’ve Only Just Begun

From July 8 to 10, 2022, more than 160 Bachelor’s and Master’s graduates of the class of 2021/22 will present their final projects from all majors. Under the title Final Cut, all graduation films will be shown on a big screen in the auditorium of the HFBK Hamburg. At the same time, the exhibition of the Sudanese guest lecturer Amna Elhassan can be seen in the HFBK gallery in the Atelierhaus.

Grafik: Nele Willert, Dennise Salinas

June is full of art and theory

It has been a long time since there has been so much on offer: a three-day congress on the visuality of the Internet brings together international web designers; the research collective freethought discusses the role of infrastructures; and the symposium marking the farewell of professor Michaela Ott takes up central questions of her research work.

Renée Green. ED/HF, 2017. Film still. Courtesy of the artist, Free Agent Media, Bortolami Gallery, New York, and Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin/Cologne/Munich.

Finkenwerder Art Prize 2022

The Finkenwerder Art Prize, initiated in 1999 by the Kulturkreis Finkenwerder e.V., has undergone a realignment: As a new partner, the HFBK Hamburg is expanding the prize to include the aspect of promoting young artists and, starting in 2022, will host the exhibition of the award winners in the HFBK Gallery. This year's Finkenwerder Art Prize will be awarded to the US artist Renée Green. HFBK graduate Frieda Toranzo Jaeger receives the Finkenwerder Art Prize for recent graduates.

Amanda F. Koch-Nielsen, Motherslugger; photo: Lukas Engelhardt

Nachhaltigkeit im Kontext von Kunst und Kunsthochschule

Im Bewusstsein einer ausstehenden fundamentalen gesellschaftlichen Transformation und der nicht unwesentlichen Schrittmacherfunktion, die einem Ort der künstlerischen Forschung und Produktion hierbei womöglich zukommt, hat sich die HFBK Hamburg auf den Weg gemacht, das Thema strategisch wie konkret pragmatisch für die Hochschule zu entwickeln. Denn wer, wenn nicht die Künstler*innen sind in ihrer täglichen Arbeit damit befasst, das Gegebene zu hinterfragen, genau hinzuschauen, neue Möglichkeiten, wie die Welt sein könnte, zu erkennen und durchzuspielen, einem anderen Wissen Gestalt zu geben

New studio in the row of houses at Lerchenfeld, in the background the building of Fritz Schumacher; photo: Tim Albrecht

Raum für die Kunst

After more than 40 years of intensive effort, a long-cherished dream is becoming reality for the HFBK Hamburg. With the newly opened studio building, the main areas of study Painting/Drawing, Sculpture and Time-Related Media will finally have the urgently needed studio space for Master's students. It simply needs space for their own ideas, for thinking, for art production, exhibitions and as a depot.

Martha Szymkowiak / Emilia Bongilaj, Installation “Mmh”; photo: Tim Albrecht

Annual Exhibition 2022 at the HFBK

After last year's digital edition, the 2022 annual exhibition at the HFBK Hamburg will once again take place with an audience. From 11-13 February, students from all departments will present their artistic work in the building at Lerchenfeld, Wartenau 15 and the newly opened Atelierhaus.

Annette Wehrmann, photography from the series Blumensprengungen, 1991-95; photo: Ort des Gegen e.V., VG-Bild Kunst Bonn

Conference: Counter-Monuments and Para-Monuments.

The international conference at HFBK Hamburg on December 2-4, 2021 – jointly conceived by Nora Sternfeld and Michaela Melián –, is dedicated to the history of artistic counter-monuments and forms of protest, discusses aesthetics of memory and historical manifestations in public space, and asks about para-monuments for the present.

23 Fragen des Institutional Questionaire, grafisch umgesetzt von Ran Altamirano auf den Türgläsern der HFBK Hamburg zur Jahresausstellung 2021; photo: Charlotte Spiegelfeld

Diversity

Who speaks? Who paints which motif? Who is shown, who is not? Questions of identity politics play an important role in art and thus also at the HFBK Hamburg. In the current issue, the university's own Lerchenfeld magazine highlights university structures as well as student initiatives that deal with diversity and identity.

photo: Klaus Frahm

Summer Break

The HFBK Hamburg is in the lecture-free period, many students and teachers are on summer vacation, art institutions have summer break. This is a good opportunity to read and see a variety of things:

ASA Open Studio 2019, Karolinenstraße 2a, Haus 5; photo: Matthew Muir

Live und in Farbe: die ASA Open Studios im Juni 2021

Since 2010, the HFBK has organised the international exchange programme Art School Alliance. It enables HFBK students to spend a semester abroad at renowned partner universities and, vice versa, invites international art students to the HFBK. At the end of their stay in Hamburg, the students exhibit their work in the Open Studios in Karolinenstraße, which are now open again to the art-interested public.

Studiengruppe Prof. Dr. Anja Steidinger, Was animiert uns?, 2021, Mediathek der HFBK Hamburg, Filmstill

Unlearning: Wartenau Assemblies

The art education professors Nora Sternfeld and Anja Steidinger initiated the format "Wartenau Assemblies". It oscillates between art, education, research and activism. Complementing this open space for action, there is now a dedicated website that accompanies the discourses, conversations and events.

Ausstellungsansicht "Schule der Folgenlosigkeit. Übungen für ein anderes Leben" im Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg; photo: Maximilian Schwarzmann

School of No Consequences

Everyone is talking about consequences: The consequences of climate change, the Corona pandemic or digitalization. Friedrich von Borries (professor of design theory), on the other hand, is dedicated to consequence-free design. In “School of No Consequences. Exercises for a New Life” at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, he links collection objects with a "self-learning room" set up especially for the exhibition in such a way that a new perspective on "sustainability" emerges and supposedly universally valid ideas of a "proper life" are questioned.

Annual Exhibition 2021 at the HFBK

Annual exhibition a bit different: From February 12- 14, 2021 students at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts, together with their professors, had developed a variety of presentations on different communication channels. The formats ranged from streamed live performances to video programs, radio broadcasts, a telephone hotline, online conferences, and a web store for editions. In addition, isolated interventions could be discovered in the outdoor space of the HFBK and in the city.

Katja Pilipenko

Semestereröffnung und Hiscox-Preisverleihung 2020

On the evening of November 4, the HFBK celebrated the opening of the academic year 2020/21 as well as the awarding of the Hiscox Art Prize in a livestream - offline with enough distance and yet together online.

Exhibition Transparencies with works by Elena Crijnen, Annika Faescke, Svenja Frank, Francis Kussatz, Anne Meerpohl, Elisa Nessler, Julia Nordholz, Florentine Pahl, Cristina Rüesch, Janka Schubert, Wiebke Schwarzhans, Rosa Thiemer, Lea van Hall. Organized by Prof. Verena Issel and Fabian Hesse; photo: Screenshot

Teaching Art Online at the HFBK

How the university brings together its artistic interdisciplinary study structure with digital formats and their possibilities.

Alltagsrealität oder Klischee?; photo: Tim Albrecht

HFBK Graduate Survey

Studying art - and what comes next? The clichéd images stand their ground: Those who have studied art either become taxi drivers, work in a bar or marry rich. But only very few people could really live from art – especially in times of global crises. The HFBK Hamburg wanted to know more about this and commissioned the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Hamburg to conduct a broad-based survey of its graduates from the last 15 years.

Ausstellung Social Design, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Teilansicht; photo: MKG Hamburg

How political is Social Design?

Social Design, as its own claim is often formulated, wants to address social grievances and ideally change them. Therefore, it sees itself as critical of society – and at the same time optimizes the existing. So what is the political dimension of Social Design – is it a motor for change or does it contribute to stabilizing and normalizing existing injustices?