Two Norwegian artists are planning to set up an international art academy in North Korea that is scheduled to open in August 2015, according to The Art Newspaper.
Artists Henrik Placht and Morten Traavik got the green light from the North Korean government to open the academy, which the artists believe is the first of its kind in the self-isolated and highly secretive state.
"There have been few international photography exhibitions in Pyongyang, but it is the first that artists from all sides are meeting to exchange ideas and create works," Traavik told The Guardian.
Placht and Traavik plan to name the academy DMZ, after the demilitarized zone between North Korea and its archrival, South Korea.
The academy is set to take place for two weeks in August next year and, if it proves to be successful, will blossom into a permanent international art institution eventually.
Traavik, who was in the country with Placht in July to work on the foundation of the school, said that they "hope to use the concept of art to challenge preconceptions both inside and outside North Korea."
While the academy is primarily for North Korean artists, one of the goals for the academy is to allow creatives in the country and foreign artists to collaborate via a student exchange program, noted Quartz.
Notably, the famously repressive country limits interactions between ordinary citizens and foreign visitors and such conversations are strictly supervised by minders.
Traavik, who has has been involved in a number of art projects in North Korea with cultural authorities in the country, is looking to gather around six artists from the outside to study in the academy. He admits there will be limitations as to what students can communicate through their works.
"Explicit criticism of the leadership is out of the question, of course, but I have no problem with that at all," he said. "It is a question of respecting cultural and political norms," Traavik said.
He has received criticism for this endeavor, with some saying he is at a tellingly short distance from a government alleged to have committed extensive rights abuses against its own people.
He responded to the accusations, saying he believes establishing communication with North Korea is the only way to destroy the myths created by "the government's propaganda and the world media echo chamber."
