Leonardo

The Academy of Media Arts Cologne

Author(s): Heide Hageblling
Source: Leonardo, Vol. 23, No. 2/3, New Foundations: Classroom Lessons in
Art/Science/Technology for the 1990s (1990), pp. 319-321
Published by: The MIT Press
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ART/SCIENCE FORUM
The Academy of Media Arts Cologne
Heide Hagebolling

CONCEPT AND STRUCTURE

On 15 October 1990, the newly
founded Academy of Media Arts
Cologne, Germany, starts its first
semester with 30 postgraduate students and international fellows in the
field of new audio-visual media within
three interdisciplinary sections: television/film, media art and media design.

The Academy of Media Arts has set

as its goal the development of courses
that unite artistic and creative competence with technical and scientific
qualifications. In this respect, the
academy will continue a tradition that
has been strong in Germany since the
turn of the century and that was predominantly expressed by the philosophical idea of the Bauhaus: the linking of design not only with art but
also with technological,

scientific and

industrial developments.
Artistic contributions to modern
media point far beyond functional
questions-they have to be seen as
cultural questions in the widest sense.
To an increasing extent, the newer
media form our perception of the
world. New techniques lead to improved quality of sound and picture,
of which the development of highdefinition television (HDTV) is one
example. And in this respect the role
of visual communication is still growing. Education, professional communication and training, advertising,
and information in public places are
only a few instances where pictorial
presentation is becoming a primary
communication mode.
The invention of new technologies
such as laser and digital disks, holography, computer graphics and animation, new telecommunication
tools, the extension of powerful networks based on glass fibre and satellite communications-all this considerably alters our modes and codes of

Heide Hageb6lling (media designer, communication

scientist), Kunsthochschule ffr Medien,
Peter-Welter-Platz2, D-5000 Cologne, Germany.
Received 16July 1990.

? 1990 ISAST
Pergamon Press pic. Printedin Great Britain.
0024-094X/90 $3.00+0.00

communication. Not only do these

new techniques give us greater access
to information, they will provide us
with completely new pictures, virtual
images and worlds that will be characterized by the indigenous vitality of
the new media. This means that the
media artist and designer is confronted with new visual expressions,
aesthetics and tools that are beginning to replace common forms of information exchange and design.
In this swiftlychanging environment it will be a prime concern of
the academy to educate professionals
who are capable of assuming responsible roles in shaping the media
landscape.
Against this background of rapid
developments in the field of media
technology, increasing media exposure and new forms of using media in
everyday life-at work, in education
and also in the creation and distribution of artworks-new tasks are arising. On the one hand, new media
techniques have to be acquired; on
the other hand, new critical concepts
have to be established to help us understand the achievements and impact of modern media on society.
With regard to the consequences on
artistic and cultural activities, three
areas are of main interest: (1) the impact of new media on artistic and creative ideas and working processes; (2)
the effects on the artifact and on communication conditions; (3) technological developments and their consequences on the education and
profession of artists and designers.
In this respect the Academy of
Media Arts follows new ways. In the
frame of a postgraduate study that is
also open to students and fellows
from abroad, integral and interdisciplinary forms of learning and teaching will be developed to enable the
student to use new media in a competent and creative manner. Realization of artistic development and research projects as well as close ties to
professional experience are part of
this approach. To meet these educational and professional goals, a two-

step concept was developed that will

be completed by a course of study at
the graduate level during the next
several years.
Contemporary training is almost
entirely oriented toward the traditional manner of producing pictures
by using photochemical film. Even
video classes largely ignore modern
techniques of producing and using
pictures, nor is enough attention paid
to the special requirements of television. Moreover, training in television
organizations is technically orientedthe artistic and theoretical aspects of
the craft are neglected. The result is
that the training technicians are ignorant of art, while the artists have
little command of the technical possibilities. The manifold opportunities
that the medium offers for conveying
information and entertainment by
means of pictures are seldom
grasped. That a radical change will be
achieved by the television organizations themselves can hardly be expected.
The leading studios are well aware
of the lack of creative competence in
the new technologies, especially in
the field of computer animation. One
reason why German artists and designers have until now hesitated to make
full use of the new media may be the
high cost of technical equipment. It is
true that many artists have worked intensively with video, which is simple
to use and allows an immediate check
of the picture, but few of them have
concerned themselves with the technical possibilities of digital and laser
techniques or holography. In other
countries, in particular the U.S.A.
and Canada, but also Great Britain
and France, there has been less caution; consequently, artistic develop-

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and meetingreports,reviewsof
conference
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art, scienceand technology.

LEONARDO,

Vol. 23, No. 2/3, pp. 319-322, 1990

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319

ment has made greater strides in

these countries than in Germany,
which is still dependent on imports
for its supply of media design.
If the Federal Republic of Germany hopes to make its own contribution to the European television
market of the future, it must give priority to the training and fostering of
available talent. In response to this
need, two concepts are fundamental
to the activities of the Academy of
Media Arts:
1. The academy is to bring together visual and communication
techniques on the one hand and creative design on the other. Artists, filmmakers and designers will work together with technicians-it is hoped
to their mutual advantage.
2. The curriculum will be coordinated with educational and vocational training courses at other universities and institutions in North
Rhine-Westphalia. In the first phase,
post-graduate studies and further education will be emphasized. These studies will be offered with the opening
of the academy on 15 October 1990.
At a later date, a foundation curriculum will be developed from the
programmes existing at that time.
Thus, the work of the academy will
include the following:
1. Planning the foundation curriculum.
2. Carrying out project courses for
particularly well-qualified students in the fields of television/film, media art and media
design. Duration: up to four
semesters.
3. Carrying out development and
research projects in the realm of
art in close conjunction with project courses.
4. Organizing public events, exhibitions and projects of an artistic
or academic nature.
5. Carrying out programmes of
further education for artists,
either alone or in cooperation
with other institutions.
The curriculum is not intended to
prepare the student for a particular
job, but rather for particular fields of
activity.
COURSE

OF STUDY

The foundation curriculum, which

will be established in 3-4 years, will include basic courses in design, art and
media techniques. At the same time
students will have theoretical instruc-

320

tion that takes into consideration arthistorical, cultural, sociological and

psychological themes.
Projects carried out in the second
half of the course of study will be designed to deepen the student's experience with a variety of artistic and
technical possibilities. These projects
will be accompanied by courses of a
theoretical and academic nature, as
well as media aesthetics and technology. Students will also be given the
opportunity to concentrate on aspects
of media work in which they are particularly interested.
Interdisciplinary projects will be
the subject of the post-graduate
courses that start in 1990. This stage
of study will encourage a cooperative
work style that allows students to concern themselves with related disciplines. Preferences also will be given to
interdisciplinary development and research projects in which artists, scientists and technicians closely work together.
The Academy of Media Arts will
also become a focal point for related
courses at other institutions, and
cooperation

in organizing joint

events are in preparation.

The course of study offers three
closely connected main areas: television/film, media arts and media design, which focus on the creative use
of pictures, sound, music and language in different media.
The following studios and laboratories are in preparation at the academy:
* video/film/HDTV
* computer graphics/computer animation
* telematics/telecommunications,
interactive media and systems
* holography/lasers
* photography
* studio for multimedia applications (stage design/installations)
* music/sound (electronic music,
also in cooperation with the
Academy of Music, Cologne)
* graphic design desktop publishing/electronic printing
The creative courses will be accompanied by theoretical and technical
themes. The following subjects will be
offered in the framework of the
course of study described above:
* history of art and media
* cultural history and theory
* aesthetics and philosophy
* communication theory
* media analysis
* literature and linguistics

* informatics

* media law/media economics

* technical instructions

INTERDISCIPLINARY
FIELDS OF STUDY
Special consideration will be given to
interdisciplinary realizations and artistic development and research projects. In this respect the academy focuses its attention on the following
areas of creative work:
* The electronic museum: experimental projects in the use of interactive media for art networks and
information networks for
museums (telecommunications,
video disk, glass fibre networks)
* Fundamental principles in the design of new television systems:
HDTV
* Media art in public places: for example, development of a multimedia subway station

* Use of public communication systems for artistic purposes (telephone, telefax, videotex systems,
teleconferencing, etc.)
* Development of multimedia stage
sets for television, theater, opera,
etc. (video, holography, lasers)
* Research and development of programmes for hypermedia applications and interactive media
* Research and computer-assisted
procedures for script-based film
animations
* New procedures in electronic
painting and sculpture (scanner,
plotter, process control)

STUDENTS, FELLOWS,
FACULTY
The academy requires a flexible personnel policy. In addition to seven
permanent posts, a wide range of temporary positions will be filled with personalities from the film and media
world. In addition, the academy is interested in inviting outstanding artists
and media experts from abroad as visiting professors and fellows in the
fields of media art, media design, television/film and science. During the
first year, 30 students will attend the
academy; with the beginning of the
second academic year, 60 students
will attend. The course of this postgraduate study will take 2 years, including the final project, which will
lead to an academic diploma.
Applicants of outstanding talent
who lack formal qualifications can be
accepted as students at the academy.

Art/Science Forum

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COOPERATION WITH
UNIVERSITIES AND
INSTITUTIONS
Cooperation with other institutions is
particularly important in the area of
project work; for example, in developing new forms of programmes or in
designing entertainment programmes for television, the academy
has to work together with broadcast
companies. In this respect, Cologne is
a favourable location. Advantage will
also be taken of laboratories and
studios, as well as relevant course
offerings, at other universities-for example, the University of Cologne and
the Academy of Music, both in close
neighbourhoods.
Cologne's new Media Park is offering further opportunities for cooperation, particularly with the companies
that will settle there.
In addition to several contacts with
German universities and cultural insti-

tutions, the Academy of Media Arts

has already established working contacts with international institutions:
* Center for Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T., Cambridge, MA,
U.S.A.
* Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.
* UNESCO, Paris, France
* Ecole Nationale Superieur des
Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France
* Institut National de l'Audiovisuel
(INA), Paris, France
* FEMIS,Paris, France
* Royal College of Art, London,
Great Britain
* Middlesex Polytechnic School,
Great Britain
* Hochschule fur Angewandte
Kunst, Vienna, Austria
The vitality of the academy also depends to a large extent on the results
of its projects being translated into
practice. This process can be accel-

erated by cooperation with other institutions-for instance, with television,

museums and other organizations as
well as those concerned with the transfer of technology. Examples of this
are the development of new forms of
television programmes or the realization of interactive programmes for
museums. The academy therefore
should have the opportunity of
marketing its products so that the
proceeds of these activities can flow
back to the academy.
There is at present no model for
the concept described here. The
Academy of Media Arts may itself
come to be regarded as a model. Located in a media and art centre in the
middle of Western Europe at a time
when national borders are beginning
to disappear, the academy is planned
as a centre with European and international dimensions, which also will
be reflected in its educational approach and partnerships.

Symmetryof Structure:
An InterdisciplinarySymposium, 13-19 August 1989
Arthur L. Loeb
During the notable summer of 1989
in Eastern Europe, an international,
interdisciplinary group of artists,
scientists and other scholars convened in Budapest, united by a common interest in symmetry. About 150
papers were scheduled, of which
some were not given and others were
substituted. The meeting was sponsored by the International Union of
Crystallography, UNESCO, the International Computer Club of Moscow
and other organizations on both sides
of the crumbling Iron Curtain, and organized by the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences.
The illustrious L. Fejes Toth put
Hungary on the map decades ago as a
center of interest in symmetry. Artist
Gyorgy Kepes's momentous Vision
and Value series for Braziller forged
bonds in the 1960s between art and
science. Victor Vasarely's art is
Arthur L. Loeb (design scientist, musician, vistial artist),
Department of Visual and Ensironmental Sttudies,
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
Received II11
January 1990.

strongly based in symmetry. In recent

years Istvan Hargittai, the guest editor
of several issues of the Journal of Computersand Mathematics,of several
books on symmetry and of the new
has brought tojournal Symmetry,
gether practitioners of symmetry in a
number of different disciplines.
The 1989 symmetry symposium in
Budapest, however, was the creation
of two young scientists, Gyorgy Darvas
and Denes Nagy. With enormous
energy, enthusiasm and devotion they
were able to persuade such symmetrists as J. J. Burckhardt of Switzerland, Cyril Stanley Smith of the
United States, V. A. Koptsik of the
USSR and Theo Hahn and Werner
Fischer from West Germany to participate. The symposium was timed to follow the Eighteenth Congress of History of Science in Hamburg and in
turn was followed by the Twelfth
European Crystallographic Meeting
in Moscow. Several exhibitions were
held in connection with the symposium, at the conference as well as

in several museums and galleries in

and near Budapest.
The following, fairly arbitrary
sample of titles presented at the symposium will give the reader an idea of
the variety of backgrounds and interests represented; I apologize that
space limitations necessitate omissions.

Irving Adler, "AGrowth Model of

Phyllotaxis: The Dynamics That Produce a Living Cell"
Hanan Bruen, "Wheel, Rondo and
Mandela: The Circular Form and Its
Variations as Foci of Research
Processes for the Planning of an Integrative Curriculum in Polyaesthetic
Education"
Giuseppe Cagliotti, "Broken Symmetries in Science and Art"
Douglas Dunham, "ArtisticPatterns with Hyperbolic Symmetry"
David Georges Emmerich, "Symmetrical Stable Simplex: Introduction
to the Resistance of Forms"
Pozzi Escot, "The Symmetry of
Music"

Art/Science

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Forum

321