University of Bergen KMD & Sabancı University VAVCD Collaboration

In November 2020, Siavash Kheirkhah from University of Bergen, Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (KMD) contacted Sabancı University VAVCD program on behalf of the dean of faculty Prof. Frans Jacobi, for a possible bilateral cooperation in different disciplines of fine art. The initial plan was produce a collective exhibition between students in Sabancı and Bergen universities.

Following a mandatory break Covid-19 pandemic imposed, Sabancı University VAVCD program members saw this as a valuable opportunity to cooperate with KMD in the future within the Erasmus Programme. The first step was to issue a call to the students for the collective exhibit. 2 students from Sabancı University VAVCD program and 6 students from KMD reacted to the call.

First SKAP (Sabancı KMD Art Project) show was organized as both physical / online in Bergen at KMD venue and the opening took place on the 18th January 2022. Sabancı University team joined the opening event with a Zoom session.

Second show opened at Sabancı University SUSAM building on the 6th of June 2022. More students from our VAVCD program joined the exhibition and some of them showed their works in an "open studio" format. Same 6 KMD students' works were displayed digitally through TV screens and projectors, specially installed for this purpose in SUSAM. During a meeting that followed the opening, deans of both universities discussed the prospects of future cooperation and details of the ERASMUS agreement to be initiated as the next step.