University - The Particular

HKS – University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Ottersberg is a place of comprehensive artistic and artistically applied education and training, and a driving force for social innovation.

Creative, accessible and responsible learning takes place through the use of transdisciplinary and artistic-performative methods. The aim of these approaches is to create activating, supportive and healing effects in different social fields.

Throughout their time here, each student has his or her own space in a studio. The pastoral, natural location of the university contrasts with the urban centres of arts of Bremen and Hamburg.

Background - The Insight

Currently, HKS is establishing a key research area entitled "Artistic Interventions in Health Promotion and Prevention", underwritten by the Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung). The project is applying what are known as "evidence-based and artistic research methods" to social fields of action such as hospitals, law enforcement agencies and companies.

An award-winning ecologically oriented dining hall system with a chef and teams of students implements the principle of "caring for one another". Moreover, additional participatory project opportunities enrich life on campus in the fields of marketing and art in public spaces.