Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, received two ED.VITA 2026 Grand Prizes, a national award for sustainable initiatives and practices in higher education, for the project “Illustrating the Invisible: Design for an Inclusive Society. Scientific Illustration for People with Visual Impairments” in the Research and Innovation category and for the project “Slušavidalke” in the Contribution to Society and the Environment category (photo: Katja Poštrak).
At the 6th International Scientific Conference of the Department of Theoretical Sciences at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, titled “Between Eco-Agitprop and the Aestheticization of Environmental Ethics? The Role of Visual Arts in Addressing Environmental and Climate Change.” It took place on September 24, 2025, in the Auditorium of the National Gallery (photo: Žiga Gorišek).
In 2025, the long-awaited academic monograph Illustrating the Invisible: Towards an Inclusive Society for Blind and Partially Sighted was published. This is one of the outcomes of the Visual Literacy Research Program P5-0452 at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana, which is co-funded by ARIS.
The Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana (UL ALUO) is the oldest and leading Slovenian higher education institution in the fields of fine arts, design and conservation-restoration, which marked its eightieth anniversary in 2025.
Despite numerous national and international achievements – of its students, alumni and staff alike – UL ALUO remains the only art academy of the University of Ljubljana that, notwithstanding its key national mission, still lacks adequately arranged spatial conditions. The need for a purpose-built facility that would support the specific requirements of pedagogical, artistic, research and experimental work therefore proves to be imperative.
Yet our strength is already evident, even though we are dispersed across too many locations. Our students, alumni and staff shape our shared everyday life, critically interrogate the state of society and envision its future. It is precisely this last point that allows us to understand how exceptional and infused with youthful creative energy the Academy will be once we are finally brought together under one roof, where annual processes of education, research, experimentation and collaboration can take place at a single, shared location.
Moreover, we firmly believe and advocate that contemporary, shared and purpose-built premises for UL ALUO would enable the delivery of internationally comparable, high-quality study and research processes, thereby ensuring continued competitiveness in both the regional and global academic and creative environments.
As an educational, research and artistic institution, UL ALUO is committed to responding responsibly and proactively to social and environmental challenges. However, appropriate spatial conditions are a fundamental prerequisite for the development of new knowledge, competences and practices – which are not only essential for the disciplines we cultivate and advance, but are also of strategic importance for the wider Slovenian cultural, artistic, design and societal landscape.
The new building is – and will remain – alongside sustainable development, the commitment to ensuring conditions for high-quality education, the further strengthening of research activity, and the establishment of the Academy’s systematic integration into the international environment – the central guiding thread for the years ahead.
Let us not forget: Things are only impossible until they are not.
Assoc. Prof. Dr Barbara Predan, Dean