Job Information
New York University Part-Time Lecturer in Sound Design in Berlin, Germany
New York University (NYU) Berlin is seeking a part-time lecturer for a course called “Projects in Digital Art – Art of Noise: Sound, Environment, Installation .” The course is offered by NYU Berlin in conjunction with the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
The course is taught in English and runs during NYU Berlin's Summer 2025 session, roughly May 19 to June 27, 2025. The course meets once per week for three hours on NYU Berlin’s campus. The sessions are a mixture of lecture, discussions, practical exercises, and guest visits and excursions.
Sound art is perhaps the multidisciplinary art par excellence. Eluding most attempts at tidy classification, sound art can share formal elements and concerns with traditional sculpture, film and video, performance art, conceptual art, architecture, installation, and of course with music. This studio course will explore sound across its many and sometimes contradictory vectors, allowing students intensive work on sounds and their composition, as well as on projects that explore the broad and rich interaction of sound with other disciplines of art.
There are two main tenets of the course. The first is that issues fundamental to sound art engage some of the key problems of modern and contemporary art. Rather than viewing sound as a peripheral practice, we will see how it has been decisive in the narrative of 20th and 21st century art, exciting many of the key debates that carry through to this day. The second principle is that listening, or careful observation, can be primary in the creative process, coming before expression. From John Cage onward, the value of listening, of observation as a primary creative act, has reattuned many strains of western art (from conceptual, minimal, and land art to media and installation art) to new ideas of process, complexity, and ecology.
This course can be approached from any level of experience. No previous work with sound or with digital media is required, only a willingness to explore the boundaries of art-making that is a natural outgrowth of working with sound as an artistic medium.
About New York University (NYU) and NYU Berlin
NYU Berlin offers you:
An inspiring and rewarding teaching position in an innovative university setting with opportunities to co-design and co-shape our processes. You would join a diverse, engaged and welcoming team.
Opportunities for personal and professional development, including access to NYU's Global Faculty Fund, participation in NYU Berlin's IDBEA (Identity, Diversity, Belonging, Equity, Accessibility) Council, as well as training in topics such as, for example, anti-racist teaching and syllabus design.
About New York University
Founded in 1831, New York University is one of the largest and most prestigious private universities in the United States. NYU is based in New York but also operates branch campuses and research programs in other parts of the U.S. and around the world. NYU Berlin is one of NYU’s global study-away sites and provides NYU students with the opportunity to spend a semester studying in Berlin. The program is fully integrated into NYU’s curriculum and designed for BA students in the social sciences, arts and humanities who want to earn credit in their major – including art, art history, drama, environmental studies, European studies, German, history, music, politics, psychology, and sociology – while having a transformative experience abroad. Seminars and lectures take place at the academic center located within the complex of the Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg and at NYU Berlin’s art and drama studio in Kreuzberg. The program size is 120 students in Fall and Spring semesters, as well as various January Term and Summer Schools.
NYU aims to be among the greenest urban campuses in the U.S. and carbon-neutral by 2040. Learn more at nyu.edu/nyugreen .
Qualifications:
Ideal candidates should be excellent teachers and accomplished professional artists in their own right, who can demonstrate an ability to connect theory and practice with young artists with a varying degree of experience with course themes, and encourage student-led inquiry in the classroom.
Additional Qualifications:
Professional experience in an international environment.
A minimum of 3 years teaching experience at university level.
Fluency in English and experience teaching in English.
German work-permit and tax number at the time of application, covering the entire period of the employment.
Preference will be given to candidates who have international teaching experience.
Women, ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation or gender identity, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.
Terms and conditions will be discussed with the successful applicant.
All applications must be made online through Interfolio at apply.interfolio.com/149784 . The deadline is November 15, 2024 . In your cover letter, please address your approach to teaching and learning, how your particular specialization may influence the teaching of the course, what you believe to be the most important learning outcomes from the course for the students, and what particular strategies you are using to empower your students to thrive. Please also upload either a list of at least two referees under “Contact Reference” or upload two finished letters of recommendation under “Non-Confidential Letter of Recommendation or Evaluation”. If available, please submit past syllabi/workshop programs that illustrate your teaching philosophy.
NYU is committed to providing a campus community that reflects and enacts the values of inclusion, diversity, belonging, and equity that inform academic excellence. NYU Berlin is an equal opportunity employer committed to equity, diversity, and social inclusion. We strongly encourage applications from all interested persons including without limitation under-represented individuals in the profession, across religions, color, creed, race, ethnic and national origin, physical ability, and gender and sexual identity. NYU Berlin affirms the value of differing perspectives on the world as we strive to build the strongest possible university with the widest reach.
Applications will be reviewed jointly by NYU Berlin and NYU New York. Interviews of short-listed candidates will be held online or in person at NYU Berlin and with faculty from NYU New York.
Please direct any inquiries to berlin.academics@nyu.edu.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
NYU is an equal opportunity employer committed to equity, diversity, and social inclusion. For people in the EU, click here for information on your privacy rights under GDPR: www.nyu.edu/it/gdpr
For people in the EU, click here for information on your privacy rights under GDPR: www.nyu.edu/it/gdpr
NYU is an equal opportunity employer committed to equity, diversity, and social inclusion.