Master's programme in Fine Arts in Artistic Research (MFAAR), 120 Credits

Unfortunately we will not open the application for new students for fall semester 2025.

The education maintains a high international profile and prepares for professional activities at an international level. The focus is on nurturing and pushing the individual research project–across practice/ theory–with which the applicant is accepted during the program. From this project, the student is encouraged to develop research questions emerging from their own research processes and artistic methods. These are discussed and advanced in relation to methods that have emerged from other, relevant, research fields in close collaboration with existing academic disciplines.

Through this training, the student shall de-re-fine research methods used in other areas of research as well as process their own methods. The teaching method is built upon courses and seminars –involving own seminars within the program and selected seminars together with the doctoral programme at the Malmö Academy of Arts, where the student becomes an auscultant and participator. Courses include methodology labs with a special focus on artistic research projects, but also more general method courses with invited researchers and artistic researchers from Lund University and other educational institutions. A course in research ethics is given too. The students will have access to a shared workspace. As a post–studio programme there are no individual studios provided.

During the two-year study, the students encounter various think tanks through which to open up new vocabularies around thinking through the visual: Methodology labs, reading groups, seminars and writing workshops. Conducted or choreographed across those units, the MFAAR essentially links to the doctoral programme at the Art Academy and fosters exchanges with other disciplines, thereby underlining an ethics of inclusion and heterogeneity. Within this relational context the call is for thinking artistic research today as an expanded and all-encompassing field around Visual Thinking. And it is to confirm artistic research against its apparent marginality as a core field of thought in synchrony with, and producing, emerging forms of sociality, culture and intellect. 

The degree project consists of a joint exhibition/ seminar/ printed matter/ conference where the individual project is presented. A longer individual text with proposals for research projects with research question and timetable is required too. Teaching, supervision and examination is conducted in English.

Entry requirements

A certificate of the bachelor's degree in free art or equivalent must be attached to your application. A Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts or equivalent is required. Selection is carried out by an admissions jury from eligible applicants based on submitted digital portfolios with samples of artistic work, a research project with a research question, a personal statement and a letter of recommendation as well as telephone interviews.

Language requirements

English (spoken and written). We don’t require an English test (as IELTS or TOEFL).

Tuition fees

Students who are citizens of countries outside the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland are generally required to pay application and tuition fees of SEK 200 000 (23 000 Euro) per year.

Admission

Each academic year, a maximum of 8 students are admitted to the Master’s programme in Fine Arts in Artistic Research. All applications are reviewed in a confidential process by an admissions jury consisting of representatives of the program and of the school’s doctoral programs and student representatives. After a first selection, a number of applicants are called for interview in the spring, usually in April. The selection is made through the evaluation of submitted digital portfolios with samples of artistic work, a research project with a research question, a personal statement and a letter of recommendation as well as online interviews. Justification for the jury’s decision is not given and the decision cannot be appealed.

Application

Applications to the Master’s programme in Fine Arts in Artistic Research are done in two steps. First on universityadmissions.se and then in the Malmö Art Academy application portal where work samples can be uploaded. Unfortunately we will not open the application for new students for fall semester 2025.