World class along the river – opening of Umeå Arts Campus
NEWS
The Umeå Arts Campus at Umeå University formally opens this weekend. It’s a unique melting pot for design, architecture, art and digital experiments. Creative students, researchers, teachers and artists from all over the world meet together here. The ambition is that it will be one of the most creative centres in the world.
“Umeå Arts Campus is the single largest project in Umeå University's history since its founding in 1965,” says Lena Gustafsson, Vice-Chancellor of Umeå University. “The goal is for Umeå to become a creative centre on the world map.”
Umeå Arts Campus brings together the university's art colleges: Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå Institute of Design and Umeå Academy of Fine Arts. It also includes Bildmuseet - the university's museum of contemporary art and visual culture, the digital experimental workshop HumLab-X and the ‘Sliperiet’ incubator which opens next year.
The educational level at Umeå Arts Campus is of the highest excellence. Umeå School of Architecture is the first architectural school in Sweden with an artistic profile. Umeå Institute of Design has been at the top of many international rankings. Umeå Academy of Arts has a focus on the individual artistic expression and the art critical potential of art.
All the new buildings have been designed by the Danish Agency Henning Larsen Architects in collaboration with White Architects. The most recently constructed building – Bildmuseet - is the only museum of contemporary art in Sweden, which is affiliated with a university.
“It's an unbeatable combination,” continues Lena Gustafsson. “The new Bildmuseet is also a fantastic building and its facilities provide opportunities for exhibitions that resonate far beyond Sweden's borders.”
On the surface, the buildings at Umeå Arts Campus appear to be separate, but underground, they are all linked. This was designed to create opportunities for spontaneous meetings.
“The establishment of Umeå Arts Campus means a lot to Umea’s business and cultural life, says Lennart Holmlund, municipal commissioner of Umeå. “It will be a vibrant meeting place, even to the public. The face of the city is now turned in a completely different way to the river.
Facts about Umeå Arts Campus
• Consists of Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Bildmuseet museum, the digital experimental den digital experimental workshop Humlab-X and the ‘Sliperiet’ incubator. • Umeå University, Umeå Municipality and Balticgruppen property management has funded the investment. • 600 students 150 employees • All master’s degree programmes have English as the instruction language and the majority of the students are international. • Umeå Institute of Design has been ranked 2nd in the Americas and Europe by the Red Dot Institute. • Umeå School of Architecture is the first higher education architecture school in Sweden with an artistic profile • Bildmuseet is the only museum of contemporary art in Sweden that is affiliated with a university • Humlab is a source of inspiration for the prestigious Stanford University in the United States, as they are building their own digitial humanties lab.
