OPEN CALL: Master in Transdisciplinary Studies in the Arts, Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

The master’s programme in Transdisciplinary Studies in the Arts at Zurich University of the Arts does not view transdisciplinarity as a fixed set of methods or a label. Instead, it is considered a situational practice. It emerges from the collaboration, friction and research-oriented, experimental work processes that take place at the intersection of artistic, scientific and social fields. The programme enables students to work in cooperative constellations, developing suitable processes and formats based on interdisciplinary methods.

Throughout the academic year, the programme unfolds in practice-based labs, seminars, and project formats that explore questions of knowledge production as well as perspectives of institutional critique, cultural analysis, and mediation. Against the backdrop of social issues that transcend disciplinary structures, the programme aims to develop working methods that bring different disciplinary orders, perspectives, and forms of knowledge into relation. 

The practice-oriented Master’s programme supports students in situating themselves within such interfaces and integrating artistic processes and/or aesthetic strategies into transdisciplinary constellations and projects. Students work in changing constellations and develop projects that combine artistic processes with theoretical engagement. This work often takes place in exchange with external partners, at specific sites, and in relation to non-academic publics.

Examples include a project week in collaboration with the Alpine Research and Training Station Furka (AlpFOr), based at the University of Basel, and project-oriented formats developed with students from ETH Zurich in Surselva, a Swiss Alpine region particularly affected by climate change. Next summer, a summer school will also be offered in cooperation with the Zürcher Theater Spektakel. Additionally, the programme collaborates with the Transdisciplinarity Research Focus, also based within the department.

The courses in the Master’s programme are based on three content-related approaches that function as conceptual frameworks and thematic areas in which disciplinary orders are questioned, broken up or transcended: (I) Other places, other ways of working, other publics; (II) Forms of knowledge and thought practices in the arts and elsewhere; (III) Mediators and hybrids: figures of the in-between.

Applications for the next academic year, starting in autumn 2026, will be accepted until March 2.

Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) is a vibrant centre for teaching, research, and production. While firmly anchored in Greater Zurich, our influence extends well beyond Switzerland to the wider international stage. We offer a broad range of degree programs in education, design, film, art and media, dance, theatre, music, and transdisciplinarity. Closely interrelating teaching and research, we provide an ideal setting for transdisciplinary projects. Committed to bridging higher education, professional practice, and the interests of the wider public, we showcase the work and achievements of our faculty and students in our own exhibition spaces, theatres, and various dance and concert halls.

Further information and contacts: here.