Through a unique partnership with 11 international institutions from seven countries, the Octopus Programme is a guided, research-based educational programme which encourages artistic research and production-based collaborations between academies, art institutions, students and professionals and includes diverse presentation modes, processes of research and documentation taking form within and from different geographies. By merging the viewpoints of academic entities and contemporary art institutions and utilizing their facilities and activities, the programme aims to develop an autonomous and progressive educational methodology.

The programme not only intends to bridge and acknowledge social and cultural diversities in the targeted geographical regions—Europe, the Mediterranean, and Africa—but the programme also values and connects the diversities between and/or among:

–socio-political realities and perspectives
–interdisciplinary approaches
–academic and nonacademic intellectual models
–forms of artistic research and practices
–divergent perspectives on artistic production methodologies
–individual and community-based approaches
–top-down and grass-root organisation models
–accessed and distributed resources and facilities
–strategies of environmental sustainability
–artistic challenges and opportunities
–different funding possibilities
–institutional and alternative curatorial practices
–forms of engagement of artists, audiences, institutions
–forms of innovative and technology-driven mindsets
–and diverse knowledge production models

The Octopus Programme was initiated in 2019 by University of Applied Arts Vienna and Kamel Lazaar Foundation with a pilot phase linking Vienna and Tunis. The current phase will be defined collectively by University of Applied Arts Vienna; Kamel Lazaar Foundation, Tunis; Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Stockholm; Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation; The University of Pretoria; The Centre for The Less Good Idea, Johannesburg; Birzeit University, the Palestinian Museum, Birzeit; Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center, Ramallah; SAHA Association, Istanbul; Publics, Helsinki; and Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki.

The participating artists selected and appointed to the programme are:

Alina Rentsch (DE/SE), Bengü Karadumann (TR), Bochra Taboubi (TU), Els van Houtert (NL/AT), Jannis Neumann (DE/AT), Kim M. Reynolds (US/SA), Maarit Mustonen (FI), Nondumiso Lwazi Msimanga (SA), Noor Abed (PS), and Sofia Priftis (SE).

Visit for more information:
→ theoctopusprogramme.uni-ak.ac.at