After 22 years as the Rector of Malmö Art Academy, I’m now leaving and hand it over to artist Maj Hasager, member of the staff in the last ten years and initiator and leader of our MFA-program Critical and Pedagogical Studies. Welcome! Maj will start as our new Rector from January 1 2021.

I’ll continue as  vice – rector , professor and responsible for the theory program at the school, and as responsible for our PhD Program, together with Professor Sarat Maharaj.

It has been wonderful to be able to build up an art academy from start and see it grow and develop. I feel immensely proud over our achievements! I’m so happy and grateful for all wonderful artists and colleagues I have had the favour of working with, with professors such as Lars Nilsson, Matts Leiderstam, Jimmie Durham, Sophie Tottie, Andrea Geyer, Simon Sheikh, Annika Eriksson, Haegue Yang and now Joachim Koester, Fredrik Væerslev and Emily Wardill. I’m happy to welcome Verina Gfader as our newest professor. And all our tutors, Nina Roos and Olav Christopher Jenssen, dear friends who has been with us from the start, Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Berend Strik, Nathalie Melikian, Joao Penalva, Charif Benhelima, Rosa Barba and Alejandro Cesarco. Your glamour and radiance as extraordinary artists have made the school to shine. In particular I want to thank our great inspirer, our honorary doctor professor Mary Kelly, and our great collaborator since 2004, Maumaus with its director Jürgen Bock. And of course,  special thanks to Anders Kreuger, director for the school 2007-2010. That enabled me to spend some unforgettable time at the International Art Academy Palestine in Ramallah.

We had never been able to get where we are now without all the support, we got in the start from the Vice chancellor of Lund University, professor Boel Flodgren and university director Peter Honeth, and of course the invaluable dean for many years , Håkan Lundström. I’m taking the opportunity to thank you in particular.

I thank the whole staff , my valued colleagues Maria Hedlund, Per-Olof Persson and Youngjae Lih, and our excellent administration and technicians , under the lead of Silvana Hed – we’ll continue to work together although a bit differently. The same goes for our sister schools, the Theatre and Music Academies.

And of course, all students – up till now more than six hundred. It is quite simply wonderful to work with you, and follow you in your splendid careers. I hope that I now will get some more time to do so!

Gertrud Sandqvist