Welcome to Oslo National Academy of the Arts

From the study catalogue:

This catalogue gives an introduction to The Oslo National Academy of the Arts – Norway's largest college of higher education in the field of arts, with over 550 students, 200 employees and more than 900 guest teachers and teachers on short-term contracts, all of whom are leading practitioners in their own discipline.

Our aim is to educate artists and designers with the ability to both reflect on, and experiment in, their chosen field and make lasting contributions to the diversity of our society.

The Oslo National Academy of the Arts currently offers 24 study programmes divided into three faculties. The Faculty of Performing Arts is located in newly renovated premises at Fossveien 24 or the "Seilduken" campus, formerly a sailcloth factory in the urban district of Grünerløkka in Oslo. Here, 137 students of acting, opera and dance share 10 dance studios, an opera stage, 3 rehearsal halls, 8 stages, of which two have specialist flooring adapted for dance, 12 practice rooms for singing and one sound studio.

The Department of Design and Visual Arts (part of the Faculty of Visual Arts) is currently located at Ullevålsveien 5, a monumental building constructed for this purpose in 1904. Students of visual arts and design are all given the same grounding in fundamental skills relating to visual arts idioms. The Art Academy (also part of the Faculty of Visual Arts) is currently situated at St. Olavs gate 32, in a listed building originally constructed for the organisation Norwegian Ordinance Surveys in 1877. In addition, the Academy has premises at Mølleparken, Oslo, at its disposal.

Quite soon, in autumn 2010, all KHiO's faculties will be located together in newly renovated, customised buildings on the Seilduken campus. The building was originally one of Oslo's pioneering factories: Christiania Sailcloth Factory, founded in 1856, hence its name "Seilduken" (sailcloth). The architecture from this era influences the design of KHiO's workshops and workplaces and will provide space for a new interdisciplinary library, a gallery and exhibition rooms, a canteen open to all, well-equipped workshops and light, spacious classrooms/studios.

The Oslo National Academy of the Arts is a cultural institution of significance – not least for its surroundings; one of our objectives is to develop KHiO as a cultural venue and the academy offers a wide-ranging and varied programme of cultural activities that are open to the general public. The move to the Seilduken campus will give fresh impetus to the student environment of all our specialist departments. We look forward to welcoming our students to the new future era for our study programmes in the arts.

We hope that this catalogue will provide useful information about all the study programmes at KHiO. On our website, you will find news of activities taking place at all the faculties. You are very welcome to visit our exhibitions or watch our performances.

Greetings from,

Cecilie Broch Knudsen
Principal