REPRESENTATIVES OF ARTISTIC HIGHER EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO GATHER IN GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN

What significance does artistic research have for art and society, what challenges will artistic higher educational programmes encounter in the future and what role will they play in promoting multicultural dialogue? These are some of the most important questions that will be raised during the ELIA 10th Biennial Conference that is to take place in Gothenburg at the end of October. Over 500 representatives from institutes of higher education within the arts - from around the globe - will be assembling at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Speakers will include the film directors Peter Sellars and Roy Andersson.

The European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) is holding its 10th conference from October 29th to November 1st 2008 with the University of Gothenburg as its co-organiser and host. This event will attract the participation of 500 representatives from institutes of higher education within the arts and universities worldwide.

The conference offers an extensive programme with speakers such as Vladimir Sucha from the EU’s General Directorate for Education and Culture and Peter Sellars, one of the world’s leading theatre and opera directors and Professor of World Arts and Cultures at the University of California. The internationally-acclaimed film director Roy Andersson will also attend. Seminars within all artistic fields will be held, the schools and departments of the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, at the University of Gothenburg, will hold open house events, and artists, who are also artistic researchers, will be exhibiting their research as art at the Gothenburg Museum of Art. The exhibition,"Talkin’ loud and sayin’ something! – Four Perspectives on Artistic Research", will take place from September 24th to November 16th 2008.

The future of artistic higher educational programmes and the significance of artistic research for art and society are some of the issues that will be discussed when the delegates meet.

– I have high expectations of the adventure that the ELIA conference promises to provide - including, among other things, all those exciting international guests who represent all different kinds of artistic expression, the opportunity for networking and the symposia on artistic research, where we can start to talk about the content of research, instead of explaining how and why?! We would also like to demonstrate that art can be an important field of research at a large university, and an experience that we would like to share, says Anna Lindal, Dean of the Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

– Talking about the significance of higher education and artistic research is not enough. The ELIA enables us to meet as artists, teachers and researchers and to forge plans for what we want to realise. These strategies, our knowledge, love, a small pinch of madness and a wild disposition is what it takes to break down resistance and enamour those who still have their doubts about art as a field of knowledge and art as a foundation in our complex and multicultural society, says Efva Lilja, Head of the University College of Dance in Stockholm, Sweden and also one of the co-organisers of the conference.

Götaplatsen (the square where the Museum of Art, the Concert Hall and the City Theatre are situated) is the principal focus point of the conference. It is there that exhibitions, meetings and debates will be taking place. There will also be activities at the University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, the Röhss Museum of Fashion, Design and Decorative Arts, the City Library, the Concert Hall, the City Theatre, the Art Gallery and the Gothenburg Museum of Art.

The ELIA, the European League of Institutes of the Arts, is a European network for universities, university colleges and institutes of higher education within the arts. The organisation brings together 360 institutes of higher education from 60 countries and works to strengthen artistic higher educational programmes and to promote dialogues between the forms of art.

For the 2008 conference, the ELIA and the University of Gothenburg are working in conjunction with the University College of Dance, Stockholm, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, the Gothenburg City Council and the Västra Götaland Regional Authority. The event is being financed by the Swedish Agency for Networks and Cooperation in Higher Education,, the Jubilee Fund of the National Bank of Sweden, the Swedish Research Council, the Nordic Culture Fund, Nordic Culture Point and the Swedish Institute.


APPLYING FOR ACCREDITATION

Journalists who wish to visit the ELIA 10th Biennial Conference are welcome to apply for accreditation. Accreditation gives you access to all activities and seminars (space permitting) as well as the exhibition
"Talkin’ loud and sayin’ something! – Four Perspectives on Artistic Research".
It also provides access to all conference materials.

For accreditation, detailed information and questions,
please contact Karoline Axelson, tel: +46 (0)31-786 57 07 or +46 (0)733-38 81 53
email: karoline.axelson@gu.se.
You can apply for accreditation before or during the conference.

Press cards can be collected from 9 a.m. on October 29th at the information desk at ‘Artisten’, the Academy of Music and Drama
Visiting Address: Fågelsången 1.
This is also where you can apply for accreditation during the conference.


FURTHER INFORMATION

Programme
http://www.elia-artschools.org/biennial/index

Exhibition "Talkin’ loud and sayin’ something!
– Four Perspectives on Artistic Research"
http://www.konstmuseum.goteborg.se/

Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden
http://www.konst.gu.se/

OTHER CONTACT PERSONS

Ulf Dalnäs, project leader
Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, University of Gothenburg
tel: +46 (0)31-786 42 55, +46 (0)708-73 40 17, email: ulf.dalnas@konst.gu.se

Johan Öberg, research secretary
Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, University of Gothenburg
tel: +46 (0)31-786 59 78, email: johan.oberg@konst.gu.se