Merz Akademie – University of Applied Arts

The “Free Academy for Cognition and Design,” as the Merz Akademie was called in 1918, the year it was founded, already sought to integrate intellectual and physical work into a single process. In 1985, three years after the academy was taken over by Markus Merz, the Merz Akademie was granted state accreditation as a college of higher education [Fachhochschule] by the Ministry for Sciences and Art.

The various aesthetic practices in design, art, film, or new media at the Merz Akademie do not simply treat existing knowledge; rather, they produce it as their own media and formal conditions in the sense of artistic research.

In its research activities, the Merz Akademie is particularly dedicated to the process of mutual exchange between design, technology, art, and scholarship, thus opening up a field for research and artistic practice that is meant to speak to artists and designers as well as to scholars in the humanities.

The investment in studying is worth it. How do we know? The Merz Akademie regularly takes part in a nationwide graduate study conducted by the Institute for Applied Statistics (ISTAT). Questions asked include the evaluation of the range of courses on offer, student satisfaction and the professional situation after graduation. In comparison, the graduates of the Merz Akademie have had significantly better experiences in many fields than their fellow students at other design colleges and art academies.