intermedia class

Zielvereinbarung (Objective agreement)

With their artistic project the Intermedia class focuses on the financial structures of educational policies in Germany, and in particular on the current situation in Saxony. The slow yet persistent erosion of higher education funding in past years is a result of the budgetary crisis of the German federal states, as they try to rebalance their budgets following the introduction of the debt limit through cuts in the education sector.

The objective agreements which were signed on 11 December 2013 by the Ministry of Science and Arts and the university level institutions of Saxony have the effect that the features of the entire field of higher education in Saxony is undergoing change as if by a surgical operation: the result is an education facelift. The present funding and budget cuts lead to a reduction of staff and to the closure of whole departments: at the University of Leipzig this includes theatre studies and archaeology (to name just one striking example). These developments are the result of long negotiations in which the university level institutions did hardly have a say. Besides the reduction of their staff, the institutions – including the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts – are required to raise increasing amounts of third party funds. The relation between basic funding through the public sector and third party funding, mostly sourced from the private sector, represents a serious threat to the liberty of science and the arts.

At the Rundgang 2012 a group of students explored the problem of private funding of university level institutions in their project »VISION2020« and presented visionary ideas of an “economically successful” art academy in the year 2020.

Sadly, under the present objective agreement the financial means of the Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts have been cut so drastically that the continuation of the “regular” teaching programme is at risk! The year 2020 is no longer a vision, but a reality. In terms of these circumstances and requirements we, the Intermedia class, have decided to react to the problem with our project for the Rundgang 2014: by means of an “example” we will hand over a site of art (our class room and exhibition space) to the economy, putting it on offer by the cubic metre as a platform for investors and sponsors who would like to present their logos and products during the Rundgang. With the support of the artists companies may present the individuality of their own enterprise to a creative audience from Leipzig. This is our first attempt to generate third party funds through the efficient use of market-oriented strategies and the creation of surplus value.