The Time-based Media Department develops artistic dramaturgies and concrete practices for (inter-)medial creative processes across all spatial and temporal dimensions. Contemporary digital media—such as internet art, virtual reality, sound, photography, and film—their diverse circulation environments, and installation or performative settings are central to the work of this specialization. The interplay with traditional artistic forms of expression remains highly important.
The objective of the Time-based Media Department is the individual or collective development of artistic articulations, including the ability to reflect on them and to situate them within the specific socio-cultural context of their creation. Based on their position as students at a Hamburg art university, a wide variety of forms of artistic practice and positioning are explored. This also involves engagement with multiple contemporary and historical discourses in art theory, media criticism, diversity, and sustainability.
Students’ learning and research are structured around independent artistic projects, with the individual artistic approach developed through the interplay of practical and conceptual work. In laboratory and workshop courses—such as the Media Technology and Electronics Workshop, the Audio Lab, the Mixed Media Workshop, computer labs, or the Digital/Material Workshop—students experiment with and acquire technical competencies for working with media in both analog and digital worlds. The possibilities offered regarding construction and composition, form, surface and space, virtuality and concreteness, noise and sound, image and framing, object and environment, time and duration are explored according to each student’s artistic vision. Fundamentally, the interdisciplinary structure of the program allows engagement with neighboring disciplines, providing a framework for situating one’s own artistic endeavors within a broader context.
Accompanying scholarly training in art history and art theory deepens the students’ artistic questions and experiences. Students are particularly encouraged to gain experience in other cultural contexts through international exchange programs and project collaborations, sharpening their perspectives through exposure to diverse viewpoints. Participation of various public audiences in artistic research at HFBK Hamburg, as well as the mediation and discussion of art within diverse institutional and social contexts, is highly valued. Alongside the annual exhibitions, the university gallery, numerous collaborations with project partners, and various workshops and events provide opportunities to experiment with and discuss art and media.