Institute for Contemporary Art ResearchInstitute for Contemporary Art Research

IfCAR stands for an integrated concept of art and research and promotes diverse practices of engagement with the worlds we live in. By focusing on the synergies between artistic, curatorial, and scientific approaches and collaborating with partners from wide-ranging contexts, the institute continuously negotiates how research can generate innovative perspectives on changing social, cultural, and political environments.

IfCAR supports the implementation of third-party funded research projects at the DFA. Most of the projects are funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and focus on specific contexts, phenomena, and social developments. The project leaders and their teams thus shape international discourses and advance methods from diverse artistic-scientific contexts through peer exchange.

The IfCAR team is committed to an open and diverse research culture. The institute produces excellent contributions to the international research field and strengthens synergies between artistic, curatorial, and scholarly practices. Drawing on the perspectives and expertise of DFA members, an ongoing negotiation of art and research takes place at IfCAR that moves beyond existing notions of artistic research. The goal is to foster innovative research practices and initiate transformative processes in the face of changing social, cultural, and political conditions.

The PhD programme Transforming Environments of the Department of Fine Arts (DFA) is carried out in cooperation with international universities. The programme consists a predoc and a PhD level. In the predoc stage, artists, curators and artistic researchers go through a structured process that supports their positioning in the academic field, the conceptualisation of their research approach and the development of their PhD project. Participants who successfully complete this process and enrol as PhD candidates at a partner university join the DFA PhD group. The PhD group meets regularly for peer exchange and mutual support in the research process. All participants are supervised by members of the DFA's artistic and scientific faculty.

Every year, the Research Board of IfCAR awards project grants to members of the department for the testing of process- and practice-oriented research interests. The funding is open to students, mid-level faculty, lecturers and professors and aims to develop new and innovative research approaches in the sense of "risky projects". IfCAR grantees present the outcome of their projects at the biannual DFA Research Colloquium.

Head Office

Team

Research projects

IfCAR Grants

Research Board

Address:
Zurich University of the Arts
IFCAR Institute for Contemporary Art Research
Pfingstweidstrasse 96
P.O. Box
CH-8031 Zurich

Office: Room 6.C07

Institute coordination:
Silvia Wambululu
Administrative Assistant
E-Mail
Tel. +41 (0) 43 446 61 01