The FMI Masters (Frank Mohr International masters) are named after Mr A. Frank Mohr (1931-1998), cultural advisor to the city and province of Groningen and chairman of the advisory boards of the School of Fine Arts, Design & Pop Culture MINERVA and the Prince Claus Conservatoire. He was a fervent advocate of independence and innovation in art education in the North Netherlands.
There are three FMI master programmes: Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Interactive Media and Environments (IME), MFA Painting and MFA Scenography.
Elements of these programmes are offered in conjunction with the University of Groningen. Your practical and theoretical development, and the strengthening of your own individual position within your specialist field are central planks. Supervised and encouraged by expert and authoritative core lecturers, semester lecturers and guest lecturers, you work independently and formulate your own goals and ambitions.
The FMI master programmes are internationally recognised, and were last accredited in 2007. On completion of the course you are awarded a master degree.
When we set the study programme, we are guided by your vision of what it means to be an artist, and the practical side of the professional fields. The starting points here are engaged autonomy, artistic and critical thinking, theoretical reflection and artistic research. Theoretical reflection is the ability to interpret fine
and applied arts, your own work and that of others, and to place it in a social, cultural, aesthetic and historical perspective. You contemplate your working methods, the choices you make and the disciplines you employ. By looking inwards you learn more about your own artistic practices. Artistic and experimental research, for example when you create art, gives you new insights. These insights are then brought into the artworks themselves and also into the process of playing and experimenting with images, working methods and techniques.
The School of Fine Arts, Design & Pop Culture MINERVA is known for its historical location and its significance for the city and region of Groningen. It is a leading institution with strong local roots and a global outlook, a combination that creates ‘glocal’ opportunities.Glocality is achieved by practice-oriented, experimental research into worthwhile and appropriate ideas that take account of the local artistic, economic and/or political conditions. Within a glocal cultural sector, through international crossovers involving artistic and cultural practices, new open time and space is created for communal activities at local level. All of this begins with support for and strengthening of authenticity, specificity, sustainability, innovation, expression of individual cultural identity and preservation of the collective memory. In addition to the glocal research environment, the centre of applied research and innovation is also a bridge between two types of knowledge: artistic or intuitive knowledge, and scientific or rational knowledge. This synergy,between the local and the global, between the subjective
and the objective world, is what makes the centre of applied research and innovation so influential and differentiates it from other knowledge institutes both in the Netherlands and abroad.
Alongside your individual artistic research, conducted within the context of the FMI Masters, the Image in Context, Pop Culture, Sustainability & Innovation, and Lifelong Learning in Music & the Arts professorships enable you to contribute to research into one or more social issues.
As FMI a student you have your permanent workstation or studio, which you can access seven days a week. You can also attend lectures at the University of Groningen and make use of all the facilities at the Academy Minerva. The FMI Masters are part of a cooperative programme involving Hunter College in New York, the Master of Fine Arts programme at the University of Pennsylvania, and the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. We also work with a variety of educational institutes, cultural bodies and festival and event organisers, in the Netherlands and abroad,on activities such as exhibitions, presentations, shows, projects and workshops. As part of the programme you can also take a study trip to New York or another destination that appeals to you, which can help you to broaden your knowledge, experience and vision.