Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden (HfBK) / Academy of Fine Arts Dresden

Academy of Fine Arts Dresden (HfBK)

Academy of Fine Arts Dresden (HfBK) was founded in 1764 as the “main art academy” and looks back on a long tradition of teaching art, artistic craft and the preservation of cultural heritage, restoration and conservation. During the more than 250 years of its existence, the conceptions of artistic and scientific teaching as well as the entire artistic field have constantly changed and expanded. In order to promote this transformation process, art and science must be open and free creative spaces for aesthetic and discursive experience and practice. Understanding art as a space for expressing diverse perspectives, perceptions and ideas means promoting an international, decolonizing, gender-open and feminist teaching that is rich in our consciousness, but also problematic history that renews and expands art and science with new knowledge, experiences and forms of practice. We consider strengthening and promoting this openness to be incompatible with racism, totalitarianism, indoctrinating ideologies, sexism and discrimination of all kinds.

An essential goal of the educational offer is to pave the way for versatile creative personalities whose skills extend beyond their respective core discipline. The university promotes interdisciplinary cooperation in artistic and scientific research projects and strives for a stronger exchange between the visual and applied arts within the departments. The university has an extensive network of connections to international universities as well as artistic and scientific institutions. Its members actively participate in international and contemporary discourses on issues of art and society.