Contemporary art at Aalto University is engaged in active dialogues within the broader field of visual culture and the unique multidisciplinary context and possibilities available through the university’s various academic disciplines. Art interacts with research, planning and public debate creating new forms of artistic production and new professional agencies. The Professor in Contemporary Art is expected to be an exceptional and active artist, eager to bring her/his particular expertise, experience and contribution to this vibrant and developing environment.

The position will be filled on the basis of artistic merits with the title of Professor of Practice. The appointment will be for a fixed 5-year term, beginning August 1^st 2017 or as agreed.

The Aalto Professor of Practice system is intended especially for the fields of art, design and architecture but can be applied to other fields as well. The Professor of Practice position provides departments with the possibility to hire highly respected professionals for opening new areas of teaching and research/ artistic and professional work. The position also provides possibility for re-evaluation and dynamic development of a field.

Professors of Practice are expected to exercise and guide artistic activity and education, and/or research. They are also expected to follow the advances of their field, to participate in service to the Aalto University community, and to take part in societal interaction and international collaboration in their field.

The Professor of Practice in Contemporary Art will be located at the Department of Art, which educates and prepares professionals in the fields of art education, visual culture, curating, and contemporary art. The department is known for high-quality artistic and art-pedagogical activities, and scholarship and research that are recognized nationally and internationally. The department has three study programs, taught by leading scholars and practitioners in their field, namely art education, Nordic visual studies, and visual culture and contemporary art. For more information, see http://taide.aalto.fi/en/.

Primary duties of the professor will include teaching in the Visual Culture and Contemporary Art (ViCCA) master’s program, which focuses on connecting the worlds of art and non-art. Central for the program are new and emergent professional practices, which are initiated and developed in the new spaces and territories of cultural production. In the program, theory and practice are tightly interwoven and emphasis is put on developing each student’s artistic, curatorial and theoretical thinking and practices.

For more information see http://www.aalto.fi/en/studies/education/programme/visual_culture_contemporary_art_master/

Job description

The professorship is intended for an artist who would excel as a Professor of Contemporary Art within the particular context of Aalto University and the Department of Art. Preference will be given to candidates whose work has a demonstrated relation to, or potential for working with, one or more of the non-art fields represented at Aalto, such as science, technology or economics (http://www.aalto.fi/en/ ), in addition to the societal, cultural and educational contexts explored at the Art Department and School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Candidates are expected to have a strong ambition for developing the field, and educating students to participate critically in, and broaden, the field of contemporary art.

Requirements

The Professor of Practice position is considered a professor position subject to external evaluation. Applicants will be reviewed on the basis of the following areas: artistic merits, teaching, collaborative and multidisciplinary competencies, and activity and leadership in artistic and academic communities. Artistic merits will be emphasized in the selection process: the applicant is expected to have significant artistic qualifications and achievements and wide practical experience in the field. The applicant is expected to have strong and well-articulated vision regarding the field and how it should be developed.

The main teaching language is English. Strong written and verbal communication skills in English are required.

Salary

Aalto University follows the salary system of Finnish universities, but applicants may also provide salary requirements.

 How to apply

The application process includes two phases. In the first phase the applicants are required to submit the following material:

• Motivation/cover letter
• Curriculum Vitae (including contact information, max 5 pages)
• Artistic portfolio (max. file size 100 MB)
• Summary of teaching experience (max. 2 pages)
• A description of your views regarding the present situation and the future development of the field in the context of a multidisciplinary university such as Aalto University (max 2 pages)

All material must be in English. The application material will not be returned. Aalto University does not accept any recommendations for applicants.

Please submit your application with attachments (in PDF-format, max 100 MB) through the eRecruitment system no later than 31.7.2016 (Finnish time UTC +2). The link to the eRecruitment system (‘Apply for this job’) can be found at the bottom of the page. Please use the following file naming convention: lastname_firstname_attachmentname_YYYY-MM-DD.pdf (for example applicant_anna_cv_2016-07-04.pdf).

From amongst the applicants in the first phase, Aalto University will select those who will be asked for supplementary application materials, including a teaching portfolio and other supporting documents. Supplemented applications are submitted for review by external experts (the second phase of the application process).

General instructions for applicants including language requirements and guidelines for compiling CV and other supporting documents are given at www.aalto.fi/en/tenure_track/for_applicant.

Aalto University reserves the right for justified reasons to leave the position open, to extend the application period and to consider candidates who have not submitted applications during the application period.

For more information

For additional information, please contact the Chair of the Departmental Recruitment Committee, Professor Kevin Tavin tel. +358 50 434 2961, e-mail: kevin.tavin(at)aalto.fi (or in recruitment process –related questions HR-coordinator Päivi Niemi, tel. +358 50 449 9349, email. paivi.j.niemi(at)aalto.fi).