aaaaarte

Bergen Academy of Art and Design Seeks Professor/Associate Professor in illustration (100%)

Application deadline: 31.01.2014
Contacts: Mona Larsen Telephone: +47 55587300
Home page: http://www.khib.no

Bergen Academy of Art and Design (KHiB) is a leading arena for innovative thinking and experimental artistic research and education. KHiB offers BA and MA degree programmes in art and design, and it educates research fellows as part of the Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme. Artistic research is an important, high-profile and integral part of KHiB’s focus. Through systematic research, Bergen Academy of Art and Design contributes to expanding the limits of our knowledge in the field of art and design.

KHiB has organised its activities in two departments: the Department of Fine Art and the Department of Design. KHiB has high professional ambitions and interacts with local, national and international networks. It has around 350 students and more than 100 members of staff. All KHiB’s activities will be co-located in one new building in 2017.

For more information about the departments and KHiB’s activities, see http://www.khib.no

Department of Design

The Department of Design is characterised by a broad range of expression, open discourse and critical discussion. The relationship between theory and practice, the development of a relevant set of concepts and striking a balance between production and reflection all have a central place in our design education.

The Department of Design offers programmes in visual communication and furniture and spatial design / interior architecture. An academic staff with wide-ranging backgrounds and who are themselves practising designers in Norway and internationally is a prerequisite if the department is to offer a dynamic teaching environment. The artistic research conducted by members of the academic staff plays a central role in and forms the basis for teaching.

The Department of Design offers approximately 150 places at BA and MA level in addition to research fellowships affiliated to the Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme.

The department has a wide selection of workshops that are used for both teaching and artistic research purposes. Staff members attached to these specialised facilities are expected to ensure the continuous development and upgrading of knowledge about materials within the context of a complex design discourse.

The Department of Design initiates and implements large-scale design research projects, some of which are based on external funding. The department is headed by a dean, who is responsible for teaching and for the department’s artistic research profile.

The professor / associate professor position

The department has a vacancy for a full-time position as professor / associate professor in design focusing on illustration for a fixed term of six years. It is desirable that the selected candidate can assume the position from 1 August 2014.

KHiB invites active illustrators with a high-profile career in illustration to apply for the position. The applicant must understand and have experience of the breadth of the illustration field, as well as an ability to strengthen and develop the discourse on visual communication. The person appointed will, in close collaboration with his/her colleagues, define and develop artistic research projects and promote the illustration field. Applicants must demonstrate a good understanding of recent theoretical debates within the field, and have the ability to formulate topics, questions and strategies for the further development of illustration teaching at KHiB.

KHiB is looking for a professor / associate professor with expertise in the field of illustration who has ambitions when it comes to expanding and testing the limits of illustration practice, and who is interested in and open to a variety of forms of expression and media. Applicants should have wide-ranging practical experience, a strongly contextualised practice and the ability to see illustration in a larger historical, social, technical and communicative context.

Applicants should also have a strong focus upon artistic research, and they should demonstrate an ability for critical reflection on professional processes that will also be integrated in teaching practice.

The illustration field is an integral part of the visual communication subject area at the Department of Design. The person appointed will be expected to supervise at bachelor, master and research fellow level.

The duties of the position consist of teaching, supervision, responsibility for planning of teaching, artistic research in the field, dissemination, organising and facilitating these tasks, and administrative and, if relevant, management duties.

Part of the working hours of the academic staff at Bergen Academy of Art and Design is set aside for artistic research, and considerable resources are therefore devoted to this area. The person appointed will therefore have a responsibility to engage in artistic research in her or his field. Initiating collaboration and maintaining contact with educational institutions and other relevant partners are also important responsibilities. The person appointed will be expected to provide input that can enhance academic discourse at Bergen Academy of Art and Design, and to promote the institution externally – among other things, by developing academic and artistic networks at the local, national and international level.
Requirements of applicants

The following is required for positions at both these levels:

Good cooperation skills, with the emphasis on dialogue and inclusive professional communication
Well-considered attitudes and visions in relation to artistic research
Teaching ability and enthusiasm.

Emphasis will also be placed on:

The ability to see the subject area from an overall/societal and theoretical perspective
A perspective on higher education in art and design
Organisational skills and experience.

Requirements for the position of professor:

Extensive artistic/design activity at the highest level judged by international standards, and relevant breadth and in-depth study of the subject area or discipline at the highest level
Documented relevant teaching qualifications based on formal teacher training or teaching and supervision.

Requirements for the position of associate professor:

Completion of an approved artistic research fellowship in the relevant field, or documented artistic/design practice or artistic/design research at a high international level and with a specialisation that is relevant to the subject area or discipline
Documented relevant teaching qualifications based on formal teacher training or teaching and supervision.

Requirements for applications

Applicants must describe their qualifications in relation to the requirements for the position (see the section about requirements of applicants), including a description of their intentions and goals for the fixed term of employment. It is important that applicants clarify their standpoint in relation to the subject area and set out their views on the subject area and its possibilities.
Expert evaluation

Applicants’ professional qualifications will be evaluated by an expert committee. Bergen Academy of Art and Design has adopted separate guidelines for such evaluations. Eligible applicants will be invited to an interview with an internal interview panel, and they will be asked to give a trial lecture to the Academy’s staff and students.
Pay and working conditions etc.

The salary for the position of professor is pay grade 68-75 on the pay scale for state employees, (currently NOK 578,800 – 662,400), and as associate professor in accordance with pay framework LR 24; increases in salary will be based on seniority. A higher salary can be considered for particularly well-qualified applicants. A statutory contribution to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund of 2% is deducted from salary.

The appointment will be made on the conditions that apply to civil servants at all times. The person appointed must comply with the regulations that apply to the position at all times, also as regards organisational and administrative affiliation. If the person appointed does not speak a Scandinavian language, he or she will be required to take tuition in the Norwegian language during the first year in the job.

The relationship between teaching-related activity and artistic research is regulated for each individual position, including a requirement for how much the person in question must be present at the institution. The breakdown of working hours is specified in the individual annual work plan that is drawn up in dialogue between the individual member of the academic staff and the dean. In the case of professors / associate professors who are employed in a position that is 50% or more of a full-time position, 40% of working hours are allocated to artistic research. The dean is responsible for overall coordination of the study programmes offered by the department.

The civil service shall as far as possible reflect the diversity of the population as a whole. It is therefore a personnel policy goal to achieve a balanced age and gender distribution and recruit people from immigrant backgrounds. People from immigrant backgrounds are therefore encouraged to apply.

In accordance with Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act, KHiB hereby informs you that information about applicants may be made public even if applicants have asked not to be included on the list of applicants. In such case, applicants will be notified of this in advance. No applicants will have their names made public without having been informed about such publication in advance.

The institution offers an interesting and demanding position in an environment characterised by a high level of activity, professional challenges and good cooperation. KHiB offers good pension, insurance and loan arrangements from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund.