MA Theory and Practice of Experimental Performance
The four-semester Master’s program »Theory and Practice of Experimental Performance« gives students the opportunity to further develop and deepen their artistic practice in the field of performance. Performance is understood here as an artistic and social practice between disciplines, drawing on various contexts and traditions. Under the roof of the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, the program offers a transdisciplinary environment and invites students to explore performative concepts in areas such as music/sound, dance/choreography, theater, installation and visual art, activism, technology, social practice, and architecture. Both practical and reflective ways of working are important, enabling students to develop a discursive practice and to describe their own work and its context.
The program focuses on the development of individual and collective work. It offers a space for methodological development and experimental collaborations. Students explore what performance can be and how it enters into dialogue with current issues. Exchange among students, learning from one another, and a productive feedback culture are central.
The program consists of ongoing seminars with HMDK faculty as well as workshops and lectures by international guest artists and scholars. The small number of students allows for individual supervision.
The Master’s program is part of CAMPUS GEGENWART, a transdisciplinary center for artistic and theoretical exchange as well as collaboration between the three art universities and the university in Stuttgart. CAMPUS GEGENWART therefore enables students to take part in courses at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design as well as the Merz Akademie – University of Applied Sciences for Art and Media. In addition, CAMPUS GEGENWART collaborates with a broad range of cultural institutions in and around Stuttgart. This gives students the opportunity to explore fields of work and to develop future collaborations.
The program is aimed at students who:
- pursue an artistic practice situated in the field of performance or based on performative concepts
- wish to deepen, expand, or shift their practice within a transdisciplinary study environment
- want to take part in an ongoing process of exchange and help sustain a culture of feedback and mutual support in artistic development
- want to expand their own ideas of performance and try out new ways of making art
- want to develop their skills in reflection, (verbal) expression, and scholarly/academic practice
- are motivated to take part in collaborative learning and production processes
- are seeking an interdisciplinary curriculum and interdisciplinary collaboration with other students
- are motivated to commit to a four-semester full-time program
Admission requirements
● a Bachelor’s degree or an equivalent degree
● in exceptional cases admission to the study program may also be granted if applicants have acquired the necessary admission requirements for the program in the form of substantial professional practice
● proof of particular artistic ability in the field of performance
Accessibility
If you have questions about the accessibility of the application process or the program, please contact: britta.wirthmueller@hmdk-stuttgart.de
Degree: Master of Arts (MA)
Duration: four semesters
Language of instruction: German and English
Next intake: Winter semester 2027/2028
Application period: Spring 2027
Places available: four per year
Faculty: Prof. Dr. Christian Grüny, Prof. Britta Wirthmüller, Prof. Julian Warner, Maria Huber