Professors in Audiovisual Arts (4 x 100%)

LUCA School of Arts is a creative hub for nearly 5,000 people: more than 4,000 students and 800 colleagues. To them, LUCA offers an educational and research environment to further develop their creative talent. We do this through higher education programmes in the broad field of the arts, and through artistic research. LUCA has campuses in four cities: Ghent, Brussels, Leuven and Genk. For LUCA, KU Leuven is the research environment in which artistic research is embedded. An associated Faculty of Arts was established within the Human Sciences group, of which the researchers in the arts are members. Almost 150 lecturers, postdocs, doctoral students and project staff have been appointed with artistic research assignments in audiovisual arts, visual arts, design, music, drama, etc.

The Audiovisual Arts program is offered at two campuses, Genk and Brussels. LUCA Audiovisual Arts is part of FilmEU (https://www.filmeu.eu/) in which four European higher education institutions collaborate around the common objective of jointly promoting high-level education, innovation and research activities in the multidisciplinary field of Film and Media Arts. This new partnership will also create international possibilities for research as well as education in Film and Media Arts. The program is also one of three international partners that develop and organize the international, English-language joint Master's in Documentary Filmmaking DocNomads. The research units Interactions (Genk) and Intermedia (Brussels) coordinate the research and advocate critical awareness on artistic practice and research.

The Audiovisual industry and art education are urgently in need of new, future-proof ways of working, reflecting and creating to inspire, guide and support the further development of research in television and film (documentary, experimental, …) and their industry. Digital technology, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, advancements in (interactive and digital) materials, as well as the renewed foregrounding of ethical and societal aspects of making and storytelling have a strong and growing impact. Responsible Design, Critical Making, Art-Science collaborations, and Transdisciplinary approaches will help to conceptualize, develop and research alternatives to the yet dominant systems in Television/Film or broader, the audiovisual landscape; to shape and disseminate the new narratives that are called for; to experiment with alternative (hybrid) formats and materials; etc. with the aim to explore innovative paths in creating and making, to educate the ‘makers of the future’ who will further develop the audiovisual domain.
Equally, Film/Television have always been great media to inspire or serve as a tool for societal and cultural change. They can also make audiences experience different kinds of emotions, expose them to new perspectives, and most importantly they can serve as a medium for makers, creators, producers and communicators to bring more awareness to certain issues or causes, helping to change the hearts and minds of people regarding urgent topics. Discussions around the impact of societal and cultural change have become increasingly important and urgent. Communities themselves who have been directly experiencing the effects of societal and cultural change in their daily lives are also using social media, television, and film as tools to report issues faced by them. In this way, these creations act as activism and social change platforms, raising awareness of topics that often have no space in the mainstream media.

We are seeking a colleague with a passion for teaching, research and dissemination of the art and science of audiovisual art. The appointees will join the Department of Audiovisual Arts, which delivers teaching and research that stretches across the audiovisual medium - from film and television, to documentary, experimental film, augmented reality and beyond. Among the responsibilities of this position are developing, implementing, and coordinating practice-based artistic research, and educational tasks. S/he/they operates in a changing, ever-evolving audiovisual landscape, wherein the arts education must be infused with innovative visions. Sustainability, technology, and diversity are the basis for an education that trains for game changers. In the virtual and online age, the television/film set is for and of everyone. This demands a novel position of an educational program and research in the audiovisual arts. A plethora of stakeholders (artists, professional film-makers, researchers) will benefit from education and the research outcomes and process which will contribute to the further development of expertise and research in audiovisual arts. At undergraduate level, the Assistant Professor will be expected to contribute to the teaching and examining duties of the curriculum. S/he/they will also have the opportunity to participate in teaching and examining at postgraduate level (Master, PhD, Post-doctoral) in their field of expertise. The role includes a contribution to the administration of the Department’s activities and of those of the Faculty more broadly. More information on the research units: https://gfk.kuleuven.be/english/research/research-unit-inter-actions/interactions and https://gfk.kuleuven.be/english/research/research-unit-intermedia/intermedia.

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• You are prepared to provide scientific, social and internal services.

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Interested?

More information can be obtained from head of research Inter-Actions Niels Hendriks (niels.hendriks@luca-arts.be), Intermedia Steven Devleminck (steven.devleminck@luca-arts.be), head of Audiovisual Arts Genk Dirk Reynders (dirk.reynders@luca-arts.be) and Brussels Maarten Vanvolsem (maarten.vanvolsem@luca-arts.be).

KU Leuven seeks to foster an environment where all talents can flourish, regardless of gender, age, cultural background, nationality or impairments. If you have any questions relating to accessibility or support, please contact us at diversiteit.HR@kuleuven.be.