Ambition 1: Towards a Leading Role in Artistic Research 

KiT seeks to develop and strengthen an artistic research environment that is internationally oriented, interdisciplinary, and firmly grounded in NTNU’s broad knowledge landscape. Through our academic distinctiveness, our research practices, and our educational programmes, we enable innovative artistic research that generates new insights, perspectives, and methods in response to complex societal challenges. We achieve this through the following: 

• KiT aims to establish itself as an internationally recognized centre for artistic research and artistic research-based education. 

• KiT will advance pioneering artistic research as an equal and complementary form of knowledge to scientific research, fostering an open and interdisciplinary environment for exploration and experimentation across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities at NTNU. 

• Our PhD education aspires to become a European flagship for artistic research—combining research excellence with experimental, interdisciplinary, and process-oriented approaches to visual art education. It will be internationally leading in training the next generation of artists and interdisciplinary researchers. 

• Expand Research Infrastructure and Visibility: KiT will develop shared platforms and resources that support artistic research, ensuring visibility and accessibility for collaborative projects across NTNU and international partners. 

• Integrate Artistic Research into Education: We will embed research methodologies into education by holistically linking study programs at all levels, creating coherence between artistic practices, research, and pedagogy. 

• KiT will continue to build strong collaborations with national and international partners, leading knowledge environments, and communities. All researchers and collaborators at KiT will be held to the highest standards of research ethics and sensitivity to diverse knowledge and cultures. 

Ambition 2: Art as a Catalyst for Societal Transformation

KiT will strengthen the role of art as a critical, creative, and exploratory force in addressing complex societal challenges. Through artistic research, artistic entrepreneurship, and transdisciplinary partnerships, we develop new perspectives and fields of action that can influence technology, policy, culture, and social structures. Our position within NTNU’s broad academic environment provides unique opportunities to question established paradigms and advance artistic intelligence as a vital resource for more sustainable and just societies. We achieve this through the following: 

• KiT positions art as a transformative means of addressing complex societal challenges through artistic research and artistic entrepreneurship. 

• Artistic entrepreneurship will be integrated as a core competence, enabling graduates to navigate and contribute to shaping a changing world by creating new roles for art and artists that propel transformation. 

• We will advance artistic intelligence—a creative capacity to generate insight and innovation—as a critical approach to, for example, artificial intelligence. Leveraging our unique position within NTNU, we will use artistic methods to question technological and social paradigms, expose their societal implications, and imagine alternative futures. 

• Through partnerships with public and private sectors, as well as municipal and community organizations, we will explore how art can impact societal innovation and policymaking, while contributing to global networks through programs such as Erasmus+, KUNO, HEU, NFR, and more. 

• Our research and education will foster critical thinking and creative agency, foregrounding diversity through feminist, queer, and intersectional perspectives. 

Ambition 3: Develop a Profile of Artistic Practices Informed by Collective and Transdisciplinary Collaboration 

KiT will develop and strengthen artistic practices that emerge through collaboration, shared processes, and encounters between diverse disciplinary and cultural perspectives. Collective work, transdisciplinary methodologies, and international exchange are central drivers of new knowledge and artistic expression, forming the basis for educating artists capable of navigating and contributing to complex societal contexts. KiT’s position within NTNU’s wide-ranging academic landscape offers unique opportunities to explore how creativity, co‑agency, and diversity shape future artistic practices. We achieve this through the following: 

• KiT will advance creative skills as a cornerstone of artistic education and research, rooted in collective practices, interdisciplinarity, and diversity. We will nurture our unique position within NTNU to create learning and research environments where collaboration across cultures, disciplines, and sectors drives new forms of knowledge and artistic expression. 

• Internationalisation will be understood as transversal and inclusive exchange, ensuring that diverse perspectives enrich artistic research and education. 

• By cultivating co-agency and shared responsibility, KiT will prepare students and staff to lead collaborative processes that address global challenges and shape future artistic and societal landscapes. 

• KiT will position artistic practices as critical tools for competitiveness—where competitiveness is reimagined as a collective, generative process that values generosity, creativity, and shared experimentation. Thus, KiT aims to generate artistic practices that emerge through dialogue and the ability to navigate complexity.