MACAPD - Master in Contemporary Arts Practice & Dissemination

Master in collaboration with the University of Girona Foundation for Innovation and Training and the UNESCO Chair of Cultural and Cooperation Policies (2007-2009, 2008-2010).

MACAPD 2009

2008-2010

On October 1st 2008, we open the second edition of the Master in Contemporary Arts Practice & Dissemination (MACAPD). This program is the result of the collaboration of five institutions, three Universities and two independent cultural entities: Dartington College of Arts (UK) / L’Animal a l’esquena: cos, creació, pensament (body, creation, and thought) Celrà – University of Girona (Catalonia) / Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam (Netherlands) / Vilnius Dailes Akademija, Vilnius (Lithuania) / MASKA – Nova Gorica University (Slovenia).

The MACAPD requires partial attendance, has a duration of two years full time study with 120 credits, and is centred on the practice of contemporary arts, their teaching and research, focusing on performative writing, visual arts, performance, theatre, choreography, and curation. The course includes a critical approach to the means of production, to cultural context, and to the propagation of different artistic practices. In October 2008 students will commence the second year of the 2007-2009 course; at the same time, the new MACAPD class of 2008-2010 will commence.

The MACAPD proposes the study of interdisciplinary strategies that inhabit, acquire, and shape cultural, political, and social contexts. It emphasizes learning technologies and their capability to promote new methodologies and to facilitate the study and practice of contemporary arts. At present there is no similar postgraduate course or European interuniversity master on offer dedicated to the theoretical and practical study of contemporary arts. There is no other program that provides superior level interdisciplinary education centred on documentation, diffusion, curation, editing, and the practice of contemporary arts in their cultural context.

At L’animal a l’esquena and by collaboration through the network, students will be able to place their own work and confront it with other artistic practices, critical frameworks, and contexts.

In October 2008, continuing the line marked by the previous course, L’animal a l’esquena will participate in the Gathering (international meeting) of different cultural entities, universities, teachers and professionals interested in the diffusion of the practice of contemporary arts. The course will also include a series of national and international exchanges between artists and teachers from other institutions, such as the Aula de Danza of the University of Alcala de Henares, the independent cultural association Maska, in Llubljana, Dartington College of Arts (UK), the SODA Master in Berlin, etc.

Some of these activities, such as seminars and/or master classes, will be open to observers (details on www.lanimal.org). The MACAPD counts on the participation of professors and tutors such as Ric Allsopp, Marina Garcés, Mercè Saumell, Roc Parés, María Muñoz and Bojana Kunst.

Starting first week of October.
L’animal a l’esquena – Fundació Universitat de Girona: Innovació i Formació

The beginning of the Academic Program of the MA in Contemporary Arts Practice & Dissemination (MACAPD), is the result of an international network collaboration between 5 partner institutions: Dartington College of Arts (UK) / L'animal a l'esquena, Celrà - Universitat de Girona (Catalonia) / Piet Zwart Institute -Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam (NL) / Vilnius Dailes Akademija, Vilnius (Lithuania) / MASKA - Nova Gorica University (Slovenia).

The 2 year full-time (Bologna. 120 ETCs) MA in Contemporary Arts Practice & Dissemination is an international educational and research collaboration between five partner institutions connecting the fields of writing, visual art, performance, theatre, choreography, and curating. In this collaborative network environment, participants can test their own positions against different disciplinary perspectives and critical frameworks.

The MACAPD focuses on cross-disciplinary strategies that inhabit, appropriate and shape the contexts of cultural, political and social order. The MACAPD encourages an expanded notion of practice, where production is inseparable from dissemination and from active and critical engagement.
The collaborative MA emphasises the centrality of information and communication technologies in learning, and their ability to promote innovative and widely disseminated approaches that use practice-based arts methodologies.