The Maumaus Association was founded in 1992 as an institution focusing on the teaching and promotion of contemporary art. Initially, the teaching component aimed to transmit knowledge about Photography in the most classical sense – teaching the techniques of its practice and its theory. This approach soon evolved into an internationally recognised Visual Arts programme, with participants using all kind of artistic mediums and techniques. Today, the core activity of Maumaus comprises an Independent Study Programme (ISP) that offers artists an intellectually dense and practically demanding “Think Tank” atmosphere, which is oriented towards expanding and deepening students initial studies and first experiences in the art field.

The Programme runs for 25 weeks, with 312 teaching contact hours, and is devised and organised by the art theorist and curator Jürgen Bock – Director of the Study Programme as well as a Residency Programme and its associated exhibition space, Lumiar Cité. The ISP takes place each year from the beginning of January until the end of July. During these seven months, a one-week carnival break and a two-week spring break around Easter are scheduled.

The ISP is open to a maximum of 23 participants, who can be artists or art-related researchers or other arts professionals. The ISP is designed to encourage the participants to analyse and develop their art practice in a stimulating, intellectually rigorous, yet informal environment. The ISP offers a fertile context for the internalisation and comprehension of knowledge through discussion and critical thinking.

The ISP seeks to instigate discussions on contemporary philosophies concerning phenomena of our contemporary being – from artistic, historical and art historical, political and sociological perspectives. Relevant issues explored at Maumaus and the ISP include: authorship and anthenticity; modernism and modernity and their myths of originality and Utopia; modernity and post-modernity; Cultural Studies; colonialism, post- and neo-colonialism; and questions concerning the current status quo in art production, exhibition curating and art criticism. Texts and essays by authors from different fields and works by artists and filmmakers are studied and discussed in terms of their general significance, as well as their specific relevance to the practices of the participants in the programme.

Besides critical studies classes and group discussions, seminars, workshops and lectures will offer insights and multiple perspectives on current thinking inside and outside – but always in relation to – the field of art, and are devised and delivered by a range of internationally renowned artists/filmmakers. Recent and current contributors include: artists Ed Atkins, Gerry Bibby, Manthia Diawara, Jihan El-Tahri, Loretta Fahrenholz, Renée Green, Florian Hecker, Tonio Kröner, João Enxuto/Erica Love, Uriel Orlow, Christodoulos Panayiotou, João Penalva, Simon Thompson and Fredrik Værslev; curators N’Goné Fall and Milan Ther; art historians Sabeth Buchmann, Helmut Draxler, Toni Hildebrandt, Gertrud Sandqvist and Kerstin Stakemeier; philosophers Stefanie Baumann, Paula Caspão, Bojana Cvejić, Alexander García Düttmann, Michael Marder, Samo Tomšič, Alberto Toscano, Sjoerd van Tuinen and Giovanbattista Tusa; sociologist Avery F. Gordon; writer Anne Boyer; dramaturge Sarah Lewis-Cappellari; and social theorists Brenna Bhandar, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Jules Gleeson and Manuela Ribeiro Sanches.
Tutorials will enable participant-practitioners to develop their work by engaging in discussions with regular teachers such as Jürgen Bock, N’Goné Fall, Uriel Orlow, João Penalva, Gertrud Sandqvist, Milan Ther and Simon Thompson.

The ISP does not have an overarching theme that teachers and their sessions respond to. Instead, each contributor discusses topics that they deem relevant and important in the present day and in relation to the cohort’s concerns and interests.

Maumaus does not provide accommodation or studio spaces, nor does it lead to a formal academic qualification. Classes are usually held three days a week, although the days may vary from week to week. Schedules are sent out one month in advance. Most seminars require participants to study texts and/or other materials beforehand.

The language used at ISP Maumaus is English.
The programme is subject to change.