The International Alumni Archive (TIAA) is a growing archive. It was initiated to shed a light on the history of the international alumni of the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (Hochschule für bildende Künste – HFBK), and to give a history to our international students: after all, they make up for roughly 50% of our student body as we’re launching this project, in early 2025. The website therefore will, in the biographies’ section, host a growing number of entries providing information on, or interviews with, HFBK’s international alumni. We are starting with the years 1945-1985, but will eventually also look at the years prior to and after this period. This is the first time that those data have been gathered with regards to our former international students.
This archive will also reflect HFBK’s history as to its structure and curriculum. The year 2006, for instance, marked the end of the department of architecture a HFBK which is now housed with HafenCity University. The beginnings of the film department, however, only date back to the year 1965. Diplomas were introduced as late as in 1984; since 2008, Bachelor and Master degrees have replaced the diploma. (For a short overview of HFBK’s history, please see: hfbk-hamburg.de/en/hochschule/geschichte).
As it turns out, researching international alumni is no easy task. We are in pre-internet times; names as they are listed in the records may not always be correct. There are issues with transcription; names were made to fit into the German standard, women changed their last names upon marriage. It proves especially challenging to find alumni from African countries. The fact that this website starts with artists predominantly from Western countries is due to those difficulties – we have first looked at alumni who were somewhat easier to identify, but this does not reflect the focus of this project.
The HFBK Hamburg archive is a treasure with regards to figures and statistics. The website’s statistics section (still under construction) will provide visual material as to the number of international students per year, gender ratio, countries of origin, percentage in relation to the entire student body, the time spent at HFBK Hamburg, and much more.
The research we are doing also touches upon many economic and socio-political topics. There may have been monetary reasons or other pressures why some alumni didn’t continue with their artistic practices. These are questions this project raises and will think about in its essay section.
The language used is English, the art world’s lingua franca, with the occasional contribution in an additional language. Since most of us are not native speakers, we have decided to allow for some of our idioms to shine through.
We hope that this website which invites everyone to participate will be of interest beyond the scope of HFBK Hamburg and will contribute to the research carried out in the field of international academic exchange.
Please refer to the contact section if you would like to get in touch.
TIAA is a project by Dr. Astrid Mania, professor of Art Criticism and Modern Art History at HFBK Hamburg, with great support by many members of the university: Beate Anspach, Publications and Digital Projects, Eliane Kölbener who has worked her way through the archive, Dongseok Lee who has designed the website, Nicholas Mboya who supports this project in so many ways, Julia Mummenhoff, Publications and Archive, Yelyzaveta Musiienko who has designed the website, Konrad Renner and Christoph Knoth, professors of Digitale Grafik, Patricia Ratzel, Webmaster / Content Manager of HFBK website. Thank you to all the students and to the guests in our international exchange program ASA who have shared extremely valuable knowledge on their cultures of origin, who have contributed and will contribute content and everyone else who will do so in the future.