Credit Points (ECTS points) are assigned two times a year, at the end of each semester and before the presentations. Each credit point represents 28 hours of ‘study load’. Students (both Bachelors and Masters) should earn a total of 60 credit points per year. Part of the courses are obligatory, other courses can be chosen regarding certain rules and besides that there are a number of credit points for elective courses or alternative study related activities (this is called the individual study trajectory (IST) or portfolio).
Credit points for participation in courses,MediaTechnology courses,KABK and KC courses are assigned on the basis of the evaluations given by the teachers of those courses.
The credit points for the individual study trajectory are assigned on the basis of written reports or other forms of project documentation. The student is expected tocheck beforehand with his/her coach whether the activity is applicable for IST. Afterwards, the IST report is evaluated by the coach and the head of department.
* The ‘ArtScience Courses of Choice’ in the curriculum can be chosen from all the courses offered by the department (or in collaboration with KC/KABK) that are mentioned in the Course Descriptions (including those in the Exchange Weeks with Sonology and Composition). The student is required to follow enough courses to obtain the amount of ECTS as mentioned in the Curriculum of his/her year of study. Eventually, other courses within KC/KABK and MediaTechnology (Leiden University) can alternatively be taken, but only after prior approval by coach or head of department and to a maximum of 6 ECTS. Courses part of the CASS Exchange Weeks count as normal ArtScience courses.
ArtScience B1 Curriculum
ArtScience B2 Curriculum
ArtScience B3 Curriculum
ArtScience B4 Curriculum
ArtScience M1 Curriculum
ArtScience M2 Curriculum
| ArtScience B1 Curriculum | ECTS |
| Ars Electronica | 1 |
| Art & Philosophy | 2 |
| Catching the Light | 2 |
| Introduction to ArtScience | 1 |
| Introduction to Electronics | 1 |
| Introduction to Programming | 4 |
| Intro Projection | 2 |
| Lighting as/for Performance | 2 |
| MetaMedia | 2 |
| The ‘Other’ Senses | 2 |
| Quick & Dirty | 2 |
| SoundWorlds | 4 |
| New Arts & Music Theory (Semester 1+2) | 3 |
| B1-Meetings (Semester 1+2) | 2 |
| Modular Mondays | 4 |
| IST | 1 |
| Semester 1 Presentation | 8 |
| Midterm Presentation (Semester 2) | 2 |
| Semester 2 Presentation (Propaedeutic Exam) | 15 |
| Total | 60 |
| ArtScience B2 Curriculum | ECTS |
| ArtScience Courses of Choice* | 22 |
| Studium Generale (Semester 1+2) | 1 |
| B2-Meetings (Semester 1+2) | 1 |
| Modular Mondays | 4 |
| IST | 7 |
| Semester 1 Presentation | 8 |
| Midterm Presentation (Semester 2) | 2 |
| Semester 2 Presentation | 15 |
| Total | 60 |
| ArtScience B3 Curriculum | ECTS |
| ArtScience Courses of Choice* | 18 |
| Professional Practice Preparation | 2 |
| B3-Meetings (Semester 1+2) | 1 |
| Modular Mondays | 4 |
| IST | 10 |
| Semester 1 Presentation | 8 |
| Midterm Presentation (Semester 2) | 2 |
| Semester 2 Presentation | 15 |
| Total | 60 |
| ArtScience B4 Curriculum | ECTS |
| ArtScience Courses of Choice* | 10 |
| B4-Meetings (Semester 1+2) | 1 |
| Modular Mondays | 4 |
| IST | 12 |
| Bachelor Thesis | 8 |
| Semester 1 Presentation | 8 |
| Preview Exam | 2 |
| Semester 2 Presentation (Final Exam) | 15 |
| Total | 60 |
| ArtScience M1 Curriculum | ECTS |
| ArtScience Courses of Choice* | 18 |
| Ars Electronica | 1 |
| Introduction to ArtScience | 1 |
| M1/M2-Meetings (Semester 1+2) | 4 |
| Modular Mondays | 4 |
| IST | 7 |
| Semester 1 Presentation | 8 |
| Midterm Presentation (Semester 2) | 2 |
| Semester 2 Presentation | 15 |
| Total | 60 |
| ArtScience M2 Curriculum | ECTS |
| ArtScience Courses of Choice* | 8 |
| M1/M2-Meetings (Semester 1+2) | 4 |
| Modular Mondays | 4 |
| IST | 11 |
| Master Thesis | 8 |
| Semester 1 Presentation | 8 |
| Preview Exam | 2 |
| Semester 2 Presentation (Final Exam) | 15 |
| Total | 60 |
Courses 2018-2019
This is an overview of ArtScience courses given this Academic Year, subject to the ‘ArtScience Courses of Choice’ stated in the curriculum. Some courses are mandatory for students of certain years, which is mentioned at the course description. All courses are open for students of the Bachelor as well as the Master programme, unless the course is full.
CASS Exchange Workshops are part of the exchange weeks (two weeks after the Autumn Break and two weeks after the Spring Break) between the Creative Departments of the Royal Conservatoire (Composition, Sonology and ArtScience), where all departments offer courses accessible to all of their students.
Master Primers are courses on a higher theoretical level. They are focused on our Master students. Bachelor students can attend, though they should realise the level. In cases of a limited allowed number of students to a Master Primer course, Masters will have priority over Bachelors.
Alternate Perspectives / The Alternate Perspective Machine
Ars Electronica
Art in the Making / Feedback Systems
Art & Philosophy
Catching the Light
European Affairs 4: Caen Caen
Exploring Production Issues
Geert Mul Adventures: The Last Bit of 2018
Hardware Barriers and Software Eyes: Security and Spatial Design in Software Culture
How to Write for Everything (Professional Practice Preparation)
Inner World Out
Internet Art
Introduction to ArtScience
Introduction to Electronics
Introduction to Optics
Introduction to Programming
Int(r)o Projection
Invisibility, Invasiveness and the Uncontrolled. Tackling Social Issues with Scent
Lighting Design for/as Performance
LMAO. Cultural Hacking and Cognitive Dissonance in Action
MAX/MSP
MetaMedia
Movement Matters 3.0
New Arts & Music Theory
‘Pataphysics
Patterns of Ebb and Flow
Presentation as Performance
Pro Projection
Quick & Dirty
RecPlay
Redeconstruct Media
Sensors, Actuators & Microcontrollers
Simplicity and Complexity
Sound == Image
SoundWorlds
SoundWorlds 2: Sounding Space, Spacing Sound
Spectra – Space as an Organism III
Studium Generale
Tension Machines II: Sound
The City as Performative Object
The Four Ecologies
The Materiality of Sound
The ‘Other’ Senses
Time as Matter
Transient Spaces
We Are Compost. Multispecies Storytelling in the Age of the Anthropocene
Writing as/in Research
Alternate Perspectives / The Alternate Perspective Machine
Renske Maria van Dam
Mandatory for: free choice (Master Primer)
Technological machines exist, of course, but there are also social machines, aesthetic machines, theoretical machines and so on. In other words, there are territorialized machines (in metal, electricity, etc.) just as there are also deterritorialized machines that operate on a completely different level of semiotization.’
Felix Guattari (Molecular Revolution in Brazil)
Early 20th century Russian painter-architect El Lissitzky started to use axonometry to eliminate all reference to the spectator’s point of view. Liberating the viewer from gravity, he hoped, would lead to foundering of the whole system of perception and our established ways of looking upon the world. Almost a century later, following contemporary media, we can see signs of the world’s center of gravity literally shifting. Migration, globalization and digitalization question Western/Europe’s centrality. We will explore alternatives to dominant Eurocentric discourse and reconsider our own habits. From alternate cultural (African, Eastern and Western) perspectives to minor paradigm shifts in perception, language and disciplines this course trains you to ‘liberate your point of view from gravity’. Philosophically, embodied and artistically we look upon the world from multiple perspectives at the same time. Theory in this course is considered to be a creative practice. Inspired by literature research you are challenged to put your thoughts into action. At the end of the course you are asked to present your own ‘alternate perspective machine’. For more information or literature overview contact Renske Maria.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To shift the bias from the Western cultural discourse into a wider perspective.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Ars Electronica
Robert Pravda, Taconis Stolk, teachers from MediaTechnology (Leiden University)
Mandatory for: B1, M1
Excursion to the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria: one of the most prominent festivals of new media art in the world.
Credits: 1 ECTS
No. of classes: excursion of approx 4 days
Objective:: To get a first contact with the context of the ArtScience realm and to get to know your fellow students.
Examination: attendance
Art in the Making / Feedback Systems
Marion Tränkle
Mandatory for: free choice
This workshop engages in system thinking and specifically focuses a lens on feedback systems, observing their occurrences in everyday life. It is a mixture between a reading course and an observational research lab.
We will take a broad theoretical approach, looking how feedback systems are conceptualized in systems theory and digital design and take a sidestep into political theory. What differentiates the different types of feedback systems and what are their implications? How to couple action and function through feedback and feedforward?
The observations we will undertake look into the circularity of everyday situations navigating urban environment and/or digital ecologies. How to detect and analyze feedback systems and how to reason about cause and effect?
Requirements:
This course requires reading and reflecting, as well as observational skills and an analytical eye. The willingness for active listening and giving feedback to others is vital. Assignments will be part of the course structure.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop deeper insight and skills in the artistic possibilities of feedback systems.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Art & Philosophy
Rob van Gerwen
Mandatory for: B1
Philosophical questions typical for interdisciplinary arts are just like those asked about the arts, traditionally so-conceived. Only with an interdisciplinary art, these questions tend to be more complicated and intertwined. Working from examples, we delve into the philosophy of art in an effort to understand what artscience is, or what it might be.
We look at questions such as: What is artistic material, what should happen for material to become artistic? How does something become a work of art? How do we find out what a work means—how can we discuss about such meanings: isn’t it all very subjective? How may we experience a work in the most fruitful manner—can someone teach you to discern something in a work which you failed to notice on your own? How can art forms be distinguished from each other, and why is it important to think about this? What are the differences between art and real-life, between art and science? Students are challenged to make a work with these questions in mind.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain basic understanding in philosophical issues when making art.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Catching the Light
Michiel Pijpe
Mandatory for: B1
A work of art does not often come to its maker mysteriously like a visionary dream or out of nowhere and already worked out. And even when this happens it remains a question how to continue from there? In normal circumstances, the best ideas come while fiddling around, but how do you fiddle constructively?
An important aspect of the craft of artists working in any medium is sketching; how to generate ideas and how to draw consequences from them. Sketching can be a method of recording or prototyping an idea but it is also a powerful tool for discovery. The process of sketching enables you to deepen a thought, explore a fascination or playfully engage with elements that open up new directions in a work. It is a method to find things that you would never have found otherwise.
In this (edition of sketching methods) workshop we will be working with light exclusively. With an array of light techniques, integrated in various configurations, we will observe and explore different qualities of light such as glint’s, emanations, flicker and other phenomena that occur in and out of our setups. Light itself is immaterial so we need tools to ‘catch’ it. Instruments and materials that enable us to control and compose with the projected light. Following a number of simple steps, the tools will give insight about the light phenomena that are explored, and provide ideas for further development and experiment. These steps involve observation and investigation as much as mental-projection and decision-making. Therefore, documentation and recording of the process is an important aspect of the workshop. Recording your process does not only help you in making decisions, it also enables you to learn more about your personal preferences and working methods.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain basic skills concering the creative process in the widest sense.
Examination: attendance, assignment
European Affairs 4: Caen Caen
Kasper van der Horst, Robert Pravda
Mandatory for: free choice
In the series European Affairs, we travel to a foreign city to collaborate with local students and to develop work based on the local contaxt. After Belgrade (Serbia), Kraków (Poland) and Budapest (Hungary) we will visit a Western European city — Caen, Normandy, France.
Please note: This course exists of two seperate parts. It is not possible to follow only one part of the course. The international excursion will be costing a yet unknow amount for travel and stay.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 2 classes of 6 hours in semester 1 plus an international excursion of approx. 10 days in semester 2
Objective: To develop a perspective on local context to develop (site-specific or locally inspired) work.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Exploring Production Issues
Marisa Manck
Mandatory for: free choice
In this course we will explore different ways of working in a project team or production team. We will look at the qualities you already possess and the qualities you can further develop as an organizer.
We will look at how to set up different kind of projects and develop practical skills like how to organize production and writing production scripts.
This course is for students that do not have a lot of experience in production and organization.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop productional skills.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Geert Mul Adventures: The Last Bit of 2018
Geert Mul
Mandatory for: free choice
Geert Mul will talk show and work with you on visual poetry, information, databases and collections and the culture of technology in relation to his own work and that of other artists.
The days will start with a lecture/discussion based on a text or artwork. (Borges, Tanizaki, Vertov, Christian Marclay etc.)
The 2nd half of the day we will engage in the practice. We will apply a data-based methodology on any medium you would like to work with; text, digital, movie, 2d or 3d. This means you will create your own collection (texts, images, data, whatever) apply only formal rules in order to form a structure which will serve an analogy for possible ‘meaning’. The other option to choose from is to create a generative / script based work in any given medium. Here we will investigate how the ‘Hollywood’ format is related to the Greek tragedy ‘format’ and how these cultural forms can be deducted a single line of script that can be applied or tweaked to generate all kinds of artworks.
On top of this, we will consider the double meaning of working with ‘conditions’ in Art: the condition as a limitation, and the condition as a foundation. In art we can only work with the latter, we will strive to produce an artwork free of compromises in just 8 days. How can art be free of compromises, yet at the same time deal with conditions that are set by limited (financial) resources?
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain insight and develop creative strategies that work with the cultural consequences of the implementation of invasive technology and to explore the concept of the Database; not so much as a ‘machine’, ‘device’, but rather as a ‘cultural form’.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Hardware Barriers and Software Eyes: Security and Spatial Design in Software Culture
Dani Ploeger
Mandatory for: free choice
Over the past few decades, camera surveillance of public space has steadily increased in most parts of the global north, while more recently, physical barriers have been installed around many prominent and politically sensitive places in response to terrorist attacks. In this two week course, we will examine the political, technological and aesthetic aspects of these instruments of control in relation to digital culture and critical media practices.
The course will consist of three components: We will engage with relevant theoretical perspectives on surveillance technology, security and space, by thinkers including Hannah Arendt, Guy Debord and Michel Foucault. We will also walk through the centre of The Hague to explore various kinds of security- and surveillance-related infrastructures, building on psychogeographical practices proposed by the French Situationist International movement in the 1960s and 70s. These two parts, thinking and walking, will then form the basis for practical work in digital art, combining self-made 3D scans of objects in public space with game development and video editing.
No prior knowledge of software or programming is required, as the course will include basic introductions to all the software we will use. You will need to bring your own laptop though.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain artistic insight in the role of surveillance in contemporary society.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Professional Practice Preparation: How to Write for Everything
Ine Poppe
Mandatory for: B3
As the Professional Practice Preparation course of ArtScience, this week offers specific training in writing, focusing on how to write clearly about your work for grant applications, catalogues and to sponsors and press.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn practical professional writing skills.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Inner World Out
Martijn Engelbregt, Taconis Stolk
Mandatory for: free choice
The student develops an inner-world self-diagnosis instrument to manifest a bite-sized self-portrait of the outside world with the help of internal kung fu.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop insight in one’s own (artistic) decision mechanism in order to get more grip in personal artistic processes.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Internet Art
Jan Robbert Leegte
Mandatory for: free choice (CASS Exchange Workshop)
The Internet is not only the central media for art discourse, art (re)presentation and artistic research, most of all the Internet is a progressively dominant influence on art itself. The web and the accompanying tradition of Internet Art is about 25 years old and offers a powerful and relevant playing field to add to the aspiring artist’s praxis.
In this course we will take a dive into a short history, look at existing artistic methods, the post-digital condition and how it can be used in visual but also sound art.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 5 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain insight in the internet as an artistic medium.
Examination: attendance, assignment
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Introduction to ArtScience
Taconis Stolk
Mandatory for: B1, M1
This course is an introduction to important developments through the history of the arts that are important to the ArtScience domain. Five approaches to interrelate selected art works will be presented in class. The presented works range from realized and unrealized artworks to concepts. The five approaches are chosen in such a way as to trigger discussion and reflection both on existing works and your own work.
Credits: 1 ECTS
No. of classes: 2 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain basic contextual understanding of the ArtScience domain.
Examination: attendance, participation
Introduction to Electronics
Lex van den Broek
Mandatory for: B1
This is a general introduction to working with electronics. It consists of three introductory classes. After those you are expected to finish your first electronic patch in individual appointments with Lex van den Broek.
Credits: 1 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 2.5 hours plus individual appointments
Objective: To gain fundamental skills in how to build electronic circuits for artistic purposes.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Introduction to Optics
Leandros Ntolas
Mandatory for: free choice (CASS Exchange Workshop)
During this course you will be introduced to a very fundamental, but very complex thing: light. Through the study of optics and through hands-on experimentation, the main properties of light will be explored and analysed, along with the basic tools involved when dealing with it. Also, the basics of visual perception and the human visual system will be presented.
For the ‘output’ part of this course, you will be asked to actively engage in the observation of light in your environment for the days that the course lasts, and to attempt to utilise what you learned and observed into creating something interesting using some property(-ies) of light; be it a sketch for an artwork, a simple light experiment, or something completely different.
There is the possibility that one of the days of the course–if the weather conditions allow it–we will move the course outdoors, and go for a small field-trip. First stop will be the work ‘Celestial Vault’ at Kijkduin, by the American artist James Turrell, and second stop will be the beach of the Hague (possibly at Zandmotor), where we will delve into the fascinating world of atmospheric optics ( aka light interacting with the atmospheric elements of nature).
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 5 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain fundamental skills in the workings of optical physics.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Introduction to Programming
Jeroen Meijer
Mandatory for: B1
This is an introductory course into computer programming, using the Python language. After following this course, students will have a basic insight into computer programming and will know where to start creating digital prototypes for future projects that involve interaction, image, sound, video, networks and electronics.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn the basics of computer coding for artistic use.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Int(r)o Projection
Kasper van der Horst
Mandatory for: B1
The intention of this course is to experiment in a playful way with projection in relation to your work. Besides displaying computer- and video images, projection is often used to define a space or, for example, to enhance the meaning of an object in a space. Also shadow and coloured light can be interpreted as projection.
As an assignment, you will be asked to make a projection design that connects with your own work and/or ideas.
keywords: •projecting on objects •surfaces •live playing •how to use audio signals •no-source •feedback video •minimal projection •ganzfeld projection •we’ll also briefly look into how tv’s, videorecorders and analog video mixers work.
For students who followed an earlier projection course, there will be some new topics to look into, such as video mapping, high quality projection and the use of the more advanced digital video mixers that combine analog and digital image sources.
Due to the available amount of equipment, there’s a limited number of students that can enrol.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn the basics of projection for artistic experiments.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Invisibility, Invasiveness and the Uncontrolled. Tackling Social Issues with Scent
Klara Ravat
Mandatory for: free choice
Scent is a powerful medium, it triggers memories and has a strong influence in people’s behaviours and choices. We know that, but what are the inner material and physical properties of scent? What is so special about it? Taking as a departing point the phenomenology of smells we will navigate together and find ourselves dismantling our society and building fragranced weapons. Smells good? Maybe not.
Invisibility, invasiveness and the uncontrolled, these three materialistic attributes sound like a perfect match to design a social revolution! How can we better communicate about injustice? Can we create a capitalist resistance via scent? Can we self-design social weapons with it? Or can we create a scent with a global signifier? Or simply inform population about minoritarian issues?
With this course we aim to explore pressing social challenges, we will imagine and create new solutions and we will rethink the value of our own artist practice, all through scent.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To (practically and theoretically) learn about olfactory art and its possibilities to address social issues.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Lighting Design for/as Performance
Katinka Marač
Mandatory for: B1
The goal of this course is to give an introduction to the theory and practice of lighting design and handling basic stage equipment. We will explore how meaning can be created using the exceptional possibilities of the medium light and how lighting design can be deployed in / as performance. During the course we’ll trace back the origins of lighting design in contemporary performance, by looking into the work and compositional methods of renowned American artists from the sixties and seventies and some of their contemporary predecessors as Xavier le Roi. In the seventies artists as Robert Rauschenberg and members of the New York based Judson group shared a keen interest in working at the intersection of (dance) performance, visual art and art & technology. They drastically changed (theatrical) performance, and the role of set and lighting design, freeing it from its former supportive role and incorporating them as equal elements in, or as starting points for performances. The course is set up as a creative lab. We’ll start with a short introduction in the various elements of a lighting design, including types of light, angles and colour and an introduction to technical aspects such as patch board, dimmers and the lighting board. We’ll research how lighting design can be used to create, structure and alter content, space and time and will work on lighting design as performance.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 8 hours
Objective: To master theory and practice of basic lighting design for artistic purposes.
Examination: attendance, assignment
LMAO. Cultural Hacking and Cognitive Dissonance in Action
Arthur Elsenaar
Mandatory for: free choice (CASS Exchange workshop)
LMAO is a participatory and practice based research project in the ongoing Cultural Hacking series that aims to explore humor and laughter as a means to create engagement in art. To this end we study a few classic texts about laughter and cognitive dissonance. The students are challenged to create a humorous cognitive dissonance. Will this be possible or will our attempts all be in vain?
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 5 classes of 8 hours
Objective: To understand cultural hacking and cognitive dissonance and how to work with it in an artistic manner.
Examination: attendance, assignment
MAX/MSP
Johan van Kreij
Mandatory for: free choice
An introductory course to MAX/MSP(/Jitter). MAX, MSP and Jitter form a graphic programming environment specifically developed for artistic use.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn the basics of MAX/MSP.
Examination: attendance, assignment
MetaMedia
Taconis Stolk
Mandatory for: B1
A work of art does not confine itself to an object, a picture or a sound composition. Especially not in the 21st century, where all kinds of communication technologies and strategies can be used to compose the context of art, or even to create works in disciplines and using methods that were never explored by artists before. In this course, students are given a theoretical and practical framework on how to compose concepts and context. Approaching contemporary art as a conceptual communication model opens possibilities for unusual works of art and a critical attitude towards traditional artistic paradigms, but it also creates a framework for students to develop new and effective strategies for a professional creative position in a media world. Students will create their own metamedial works during the course.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop a more abstract view on possibilities of artistic expression using media that are not normally used in an artistic manner.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Movement Matters 3.0
Cocky Eek, Renske Maria van Dam
Mandatory for: free choice
We do not move through space but space moves through us. MOVEMENT MATTERS is a two week hands-on course to explore the Japanese concept Ma, best translated as ‘gap’, ‘difference’ or integrated space-time. In the West space and time are understood as the empty distance between two objects or moments. Space-time in Japan is understood as a single charged field, a dynamic spatiotemporal interval. In two weeks we will revisit the exhibition Ma: Espace Temps du Japon as originally imagined by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki and presented in 1978 in museum Les arts decoratifs in Paris. In collaboration with Japanese fine artist, dancers and musicians Isozaki presented seven ways to address Ma in art and design.
In this course we will work on a new version of this transdisciplinary exhibition/experience by connecting it to our own context and interests. We will work individually as well as collectively towards a public presentation at TUDELFT on October 11th. Prepare to be fully committed during the two weeks. Classes from 10.00-16.00 including preparation in evenings or/and on Wednesdays. For more information (for example original exhibition catalogue) contact Renske or Cocky.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop new artistic visions on space.
Examination: attendance, assignment
New Arts & Music Theory
David Dramm (KC), Gabriel Payuk (KC), Eric Kluitenberg et al
Mandatory for:
This course is offered to all first-year students of ArtScience, Composition and Sonology. It provides a cross-disciplinary exploration of recent ideas, practices and techniques in music and related arts: verbal, visual, theatrical, and much else. New forms of creative practice and new platforms for its presentation are investigated, ranging from the conventional concert hall to the alternative spaces of galleries, installations, site-specific composition, the internet, etc. The relationship and the “fit” between new forms of thought and new forms of presentation will be a recurring topic throughout the course, as will the challenge of writing about such new media in the face of an evolving and still-developing critical language that attempts to avoid irrelevant criteria from past art forms.
Credits: 3 ECTS
No. of classes: approx 24 classes of 2 hours
Objective: To gain knowledge on recent theories and ideas in music and related arts and sciences.
Examination:
‘Pataphysics
Matthijs van Boxsel
Mandatory for: free choice
Morosophers are people with an evidently absurd theory about existence. Unlike the mediocre theories of New Age gurus, astrologers, ufologists and so on, morosophical studies are so queer that they cannot help acquiring a literary quality. The most important criterion of morosophy is originality: the less predecessors and followers, the greater the chance of being included in my book. The word morosophy [fool-osophy] means: foolish wisdom or wise foolishness. Morosophs operate at the crossroads of science, religion, art and madness. Is the earth flat? Was Dutch spoken in paradise? Are atoms spaceships? Is Delft Delphi? Can the floor plan of the pyramid of Cheops be found in the street plan of ‘s-Hertogenbosch? Is the world entering the Lilac phase? Did abstract thought commence when the clitoris evolved from the inside to the outside?
As a rule, a morosopher is somebody whose world has been destroyed by a shocking event. With the help of his theory he managed to reconstruct a new universe from the wreckage, for the sake not of a higher truth, but of an endurable existence. Morosophers are not dreamers; they are healthy thanks to a phantasm within which they are lord and master. To the extent that they bother to follow scientific insights, this is to stimulate their fantasy. Unimpeded by any scientific knowledge, their imagination enables them to force their way through to the world of science and technology. From there they design a parallel universe in which the limits of the possible are sought out and transgressed; they enter the area of the wondrous and the monstrous, and discover a world that, like the world of the comic and the fairy-tale, is out of the reach of the physicists. Morosophy is science in wonderland.
Matthijs van Boxsel will be giving lectures and a workshop on ’Pataphysics, the Science of Imaginary Solutions. ’Pataphysics feeds on metaphysical subjects, scientific discoveries, art and cabaret. The French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907), who developped the science of sciences, conceived a brain-washing machine, Perpetual Motion Food, and computed the surface of God.
’Pataphysics was at the root of futurism, dadaïsm and surrealism, but has since developped in the Oupeinpo (Ouvroir de peinture potentielle): it analyses the pre-existing constraints, and investigates new forms of potential creations within the arts.
On the one hand we will develop imaginary islands, languages, calenders etc.
On the other we will be looking for the pataphysical dimension of everday life by means of simple interventions: ’Pataphysics being the science of the exception.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn to think and act ‘pataphisically.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Patterns of Ebb and Flow
Cocky Eek, Kasper van der Horst
Mandatory for: free choice (CASS Exchange Workshop)
This week is an opportunity to experience to work with the natural elements, while being part of the process and to sense that everything is in continual movement. Can the “wild” elements like wind, water and sand be composed into a work?
We’ll reside on a relatively young sandy strip of Almere Beach, along the IJ-Lake where we will specific zoom in on its natural elements and patterns – movements of sand, wind, waves, reflections – and directly translate them into compositions. The interventions look for an immediacy of relating action to their natural sources, which encourages diligent observation and accidental discovery.
Test setups and prototypes are based on hands-on means of enquiry in the field and fully exposed to the elements. The closing friday afternoon your works will be presented to a small audience.
This exhange week is a 24/7 residence on site in Almere Beach, and needs your full-dedicated participation. We are there all the time, including sleeping, eating, hanging, and strolling around.
StrandLAB-Almere will arrange your lodging.
Your own costs will include; meals (which we aim to make as cheap and tasty as possible);
your travel costs: basically a two-way travel from The Hague to Almere,; and the material costs you want to invest in this project.
PLEASE NOTE: If you enroll for this course it is mandatory to come to the
prepartory meeting: Monday 4 March at 13:00h in room PB203 at the KABK
In this meeting Meta van Drunen the artistic director of StrandLAB-Almere will provide more details about the location, facilitation and the context of the project. Kasper and Cocky will give details on how to prepare for the artistic work for this week.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 5 classes of 6 hours, embedded in a 24/7 stay on location
Objective: To create artistic projects in the context of tidal movements in nature.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Presentation as Performance
Hilt De Vos
Mandatory for: free choice
In this workshop you will learn how to use your body and voice as communication tools for performance and presentation. How does an audience perceive you as a human being on stage. What role does your body play in communication. What tone of voice will work best in a given context and.. how to overcome anxiety and a possible nervous breakdown.
To reach these goals we will do exercises to effectively use your body and voice, while remaining yourself on stage.
The format is master class which means the focus is on the individual but is also a collective learning experience.
PLEASE NOTE: however called ‘masterterclass’, this course (like other courses) is available for Bachelor as well as Master students.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain insight and develop skills in physical presence in presentations.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Pro Projection
Kasper van der Horst
Mandatory for: free choice
The Pro Projection course is aimed at students who are planning to use some form of projection in their work.
Besides displaying computer- and video images, projection is often used to define a space or, for example, to enhance the meaning of an object in a space. In this very hands-on and practical course we’ll explore these aspects considering the projects or ideas that the students bring in individually.
We ‘ll explore how different technical resources are best put to use and what impact that could have on the experience of the work. This might result in some radical alternatives to the original plan! We‘ll try out and test a lot so that a high level of precision can be reached.
Hopefully in this way we’ll put the original ideas into an enriched perspective.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain advanced knowledge and skills in artistic possibilities of projection.
Examination:
Quick & Dirty
Cocky Eek
Mandatory for: B1
In this course you will be dipped in a method of the making process. The making process by its own nature, offers many surprising, irrational, accidental possibilities that the mind simply cannot predict or imagine.
The class will explore this creative process as a dialogue between maker and matter in diverse mediated forms, in which matter can be interpreted broadly, but which is always the available reality that is transformed in the making process. We’ll do quick hands-on experiments and dirty prototyping, with the aim to train our skills of perception, to learn to recognize when/where things get interesting, and to tap in the enormous potential that comes by working open-ended.
You will work on an individual base as well in a group process and documentation/recording can be helpful tool in the making process.
No Matter – Try Again – Fail Again – Fail Better, Samuel Beckett
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn how to master quick artistic sketching methodologies.
Examination: attendance, assignment
RecPlay (Sem1)
RecPlay (Sem2)
Kasper van der Horst, Robert Pravda
Mandatory for: free choice
Since 2001, RecPlay is the ArtScience improvisation ensemble. Some of the research topics that are adressed in the RecPlay are multi-player interfaces, improvisation structures, noise art, feedback in image and sound, realtime composition systems, spatial compositions and interaction with architectural elements. Its practical focus will be on developing improvisations and compositions and on developing ensemble playing using unconventionall instruments.
For a number of years, students have participated in this live electronica and mechanica improvisation group initiated by Robert Pravda. It has had regular performances in various well- known as well as obscure venues, for instance in places like Vooruit, Gent, Zeebelt, Den Haag, Worm, Rotterdam, TodaysArt festival and EXIS, Den Haag, RADIO West, STRP festival Eindhoven, Korzo, Den Haag, Transmediale, Berlin and many more.
Credits: 4 ECTS (first semester) + 4 ECTS (second semester). The first and second semester can be followed seperately or both.
No. of classes: approx 10 classes of 2.5 hours (first semester) + approx 10 classes of 2.5 hours (second semester) plus presentations
Objective: To learn how to work in an audiovisual improvisation ensemble.
Examination: attendance, performances
Redeconstruct Media
Kasper van der Horst, Nenad Popov
Mandatory for: free choice
In a number of steps, we aim to look a bit into the phenomena of fragmented media.We will look into ways of deconstructing ideas into smaller fragments, or constructing larger structures out of smaller pieces all the while trying to keep the original knowledge(idea) present as long as possible.“Ecological thinking” – we look at the artwork as an ecosystem of ideas: we try to think and find out in which way the fragments interact with each other. During the course, we like to look at media in the broadest (metamedia) sense – for example text, literature, data, music scores, dna, wikipedia articles, pixels, artworks, social interaction, audio and video can all be your point of interest. The course consists of a series of simple exercises, starting with the art of abbreviation, gently crossing the media boundaries and then getting into more or less speculative reconstruction methods of media.( veracious or manupilative : redeconstruct ) We also look into how the meaning mutates when the artwork passes through multiple minds. Our objective is to design individual systems, and because we can also design these systems in an artistic way, that is where we will focus on. Some participants will stay in the analogue domain, while others might find algorithmic solutions to work with. After the first steps of exploring we take our time to develop a very personal point of view for each individual student’s perspective. At the end of this two week’s course we ‘ll ask you to present your system in the format of a work or to present a conclusion of how your system works.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn how to handle the defragmentation of contemporary media in an artistic manner.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Sensors, Actuators & Microcontrollers
Lex van den Broek, Johan van Kreij
Mandatory for: free choice
This course is a continuation of the Introduction to Electronics that is given in the first year. It is open to other students who have at least some familiarity with the most basic concepts of electronics. In this course students learn how to understand and build simple setups consisting of a sensor, a controller and an actuator. The concepts behind controllers like the ipsonlab and the Arduino or Wiring board are introduced. The most common types of sensors are introduced and how to connect them and interpret the data they produce. Also the most common actuators will be introduced.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain more advanced insight in the creation of electronic circuits for artistic purposes.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Simplicity and Complexity
Marion Tränkle
Mandatory for: free choice
The goal of this workshop is to create a shared playing-field of research, and to experiment with rule-based collective performance/movement systems. We will look at how actions can be generated by setting simple rules and conditions, and how the coupling of those rules can give rise to complex behaviour.
Roughly speaking, one says that complexity depend on the concept of a system or structure, a set of components that relate to each other. Thereby, the behaviour of a complex system is particular, but at the same time not an obvious consequence of the known interaction among the parts. Examples of complex systems or phenomena are: The economy, the weather, ant colonies, earthquakes, traffic jams, living organisms, ecosystems, turbulence, river networks, zebra stripes, and sea-shell patterns.
During the four-day workshop, we will divide our time between learning, observing actions, and experimenting with collective compositions and performance systems – going through fast cycles of making and re-making.
There are no prerequisites to take the workshop, but the willingness of each individual to take part in a collective endeavour and to move in space is vital.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop insight and skills in the artistic possibilities of the relation between simplicity and complexity.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Sound == Image
Bas van Koolwijk
Mandatory for: free choice
About direct translations between sound and image, from its mechanical origins to its present day electronic and digital forms.
The objective is to build your own application.
PLEASE NOTE: There is a maximum of 10 students for this course.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn about relationships between sound and image and to explore them in your own work.
Examination: attendance, assignment
SoundWorlds
Robert Pravda, Milica Ilić
Mandatory for: B1
The goal of this course is to introduce the theory and practice of working with sound, to teach the handling of basic recording and studio equipment and to offer basic insight in general music theory. Also a short introduction will be given to the history of electro-acoustic music and basic concepts of composition.
The theoretical part will cover:
– Basic parameters of sound, such as the concepts of sound as change of pressure through the air, waveform and harmonic spectrum of the sound, wavelength, amplitude, frequency and perception of pitch and loudness. Also we will discuss the basics of analog sound, digital sound, synthesis basics (additive, subtractive synthesis, Frequency modulation) and MIDI.
– An introduction to the basics of musical dramaturgy, or “how to organise sound” – historical overview, explaining & exploring different musical tools and their practical use, demystification of the so called “classical music” world, with the goal of expanding the palette of means that can be used in artistic work which includes sound/music.
On the practical side an introduction will be given to basic studio hardware and software, such as the mixing desk, amplifiers, speakers, cables and types of microphones and their uses use: XY, AB, MS, Binaural. We will talk about recording, sampling, editing, sound effects and various software and plugins.
During the course we will listen to pieces from important composers and discuss them. We will discuss examples of noise music, musique concrète, soundscapes, electronic music, sound- plays and field-recordings, but also other types of music in order to see how musical systems work.
All the students attending the course are expected to finish a number of exercises in listening, recording and editing. At the end of the course each student is asked to produce a composition in sound.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain fundamental insight in the workings of music and sound.
Examination: attendance, assignment
SoundWorlds 2: Sounding Space, Spacing Sound
Robert Pravda
Mandatory for: free choice
As much as we experience our environment visually, we also have an ability to sense our environment through listening. We sense the spatial attributes through hearing as something parallel to our visual perception. What we hear is a complex mixture of the surrounding sound with its reflections, dispersion, refraction and absorption, all determined by the specific (unique) acoustic character of the space. While listening, we react both to sound sources and to spatial acoustics.
In the first week of the course, we will build upon the SoundWorlds introduction course, with emphasis on more advanced approach to different techniques in sound recording, synthesis, transformation and spatialisation.
The second week will be dedicated to development and hands-on experiments in; how to approach sound organisation for a multichannel sound reproduction, a live performance setup, or a sound installation based on individual artistic ideas of the participants.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain more advance knowledge in the workings of sound in its environment.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Spectra – Space as an Organism III
Julia Willms, Andrea Božić
Mandatory for: free choice (CASS Exchange Workshop)
In this in-disciplinary workshop we will approach space as performative and as an organism. We will explore a combination of live performance, cinematic/virtual and architectural space merging them into one layered hybrid space in their overlap, a merger between the physical, imaginal and virtual.
The students will work in small collaborative groups exploring performative and audio-visual installative spatial set ups and narratives. We will look at the development of dramaturgy, how a work works depending on its placement in space and time. We will work through a combination of making, presenting and feedback discussion. We will give some examples of our own work.
The students are asked to bring their own audio-visual digital devices that they normally use in their artistic practice. Further they are asked to bring a piece of material of their interest (text fragment, dream, visual narrative, piece of sound etc) which has an inherent dramaturgy, which can be analysed and used as departure point.
The first day of the workshop is used to give an introduction to our way of working and some background information. Full participation in the workshop is requested, as each day will build on the previous.
The workshop is part of Spectra – Space as an Organism, our long term artistic practice and research into attention and space and how their organisation affects our sense of embodiment, emergent realities and infrastructures. In Spectra we work with the whole space and the visitor’s presence in it as part of the work. There is no such thing as empty space or a position outside of space. We are not in the space but we are space.
Keywords: in-disciplinary, porous space, performance, live art, performative space, choreography of space, gaze and attention, space as an organism, audio-visual installation, architectural intervention, installation as a performance.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 5 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain artistic insight in how space, attention and their organisation affect our sense of embodiment, emergent realities and infrastructures.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Studium Generale
Hanne Hagenaars (KABK) et al
Mandatory for: B2
The Studium Generale offers a nearly weekly programme of lectures of very different nature, based around a yearly central theme. Mandatory for second year Bachelors, but highly recommended for all other years of the Bachelors and Masters!
Credits: 1 ECTS
No. of classes: approx 24 classes of 1.5 hours
Objective: To gain general contextual insight.
Examination: attendance
Tension Machines II: Sound
Michiel Pijpe
Mandatory for: free choice
note; For this 2nd edition of Tension Machines we focus exclusively on sound and sound properties, resulting in an array of SONIC Tension Machines.
Common usage suggests we speak of the machine as a subset of technology.
We could – however – consider the technological as dependent on machines and not the inverse. This is especially interesting if we look at how various technologies are applied in theater:
Technology has a significant presence in the theater space and it’s role is crucial in the historical development of theater, performance and dance. Ranging from a single light-bulb to more complicated electro-mechanical installations, the presence of any electronic or mechanic devices assists or, to a greater or lesser extend, influences the play.
However, apart from a few exceptions, the aim of these technologies remains to establish a space for concentration on the actions of human performers and musicians.
Considering the reversed notion of technology as dependent on machines, the machine is not simply a technical device with particular functions, but a bundle of forces.
This notion allows us to introduce the PERFORMER as OPERATOR: The performer becoming part of the machinery. Not only by creating controls or interfaces for it but also criss-crossing the mechanic and electronic with the living human form.
Staging the structural relation between bodies and materials in a machinic assemblage not only creates particular forms, it articulates forces. The assemblage then has the potential to develop into a highly condensed scene. A physical or conceptual Tension Machine.
Production
Depending on the participants choice of concept or objective an array of machines (materials and energies) is created in order to articulate various forces.
i.e. expand / fill / grow / lengthen / open / pull / inflate / run / span / spread / strain
In an effort to achieve a scene that is not just a scene but a demonstration of forces, each type of machine will be examined – not for it’s autonomy or function – but for what force it wants to articulate. The experiments consist of spatial, temporal and corporeal acts applied to shorter movement phrases or longer, durational sequences.
The human presence is subject to the assemblage, creating a set of operations that are co-produced ‘through’ the outcome of the chosen force(s)
Please note: This course exists of two seperate parts. It is not possible to follow only one part of the course.
Credits: 6 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours in semester 1 plus a working week with performance on location in semester 2
Objective: To work on a performative project on location in ZAAL3 in The Hague.
Examination: attendance, assignment
The City as Performative Object
Esther Polak
Mandatory for: free choice
The workshop focuses on performance art in public space. The course starts with student re-enactments of groundbreaking performances and will develop into a more student-directed approach where performances are produced either in groups or individually.
For art students, it is often challenging to contextualize their practice within existing art history. During this workshop, students are invited to research one aspect of the art history, performance art in public space, in a playful and participatory way. The research will be executed not from behind the desktop but by foot: literally by re-enacting historical performances in Den Haag. Students pick a performance piece and re-enact it in their city environment. Before going into the street students will formulate a question that they “ask the performance” and that will be answered after the re-enactment. The work method is inspired by experimental archaeology: a scientific approach where prehistoric situations are studied by re-enacting lifestyles, tool building, working practices. Applying this method to the recent history of performance art in public space will open up for a dynamic form of embodied knowledge concerning an ephemeral art form.
Example: A group of students wants to question Sophie Calle’s Suite Vénitienne (1980) and Vito Acconci’s Following Piece (1969). Their research question could be: “How do both works differ in their relation to surveillance issues.” They will do their research by re-enacting both pieces and answer from their experience. The outcome could be that “Calle focusses on one person, while Acconci work method is repetitive, choosing his subjects anonymously.” From experience, they might find that “the fact that Calle is female and Acconci male, makes the work function differently.” But of course, this could also be an entirely different answer. The answers can take unexpected forms; they could be new performances, images or poems. The question, re-enactment and conclusion are being shared for example on a blog. Students are encouraged to collaborate in documenting the work.
The course will start focussing on relatively famous works so that the feel of stepping onto “sacred art historical ground” is part of the experience. We will offer a set of performances to pick from (see the attached list with suggestions), but students are also free to choose their own. The only restriction is that the performance is executed in public space. During the workshop, the students will decide for themselves if they want to develop new performance pieces or to incorporate their experiences in any other way into their artistic process. The workshop is open for working alone or in groups.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To learn how to deal with the city as a medium for artistic works.
Examination: attendance, assignment
The Four Ecologies
Eric Kluitenberg
Mandatory for: free choice (Master Primer)
Forget about the anthropocene!
(for now)
Let’s talk about the escalating ecological crisis.
What is needed first is a broader synthetic perspective,
before deciding on what exactly is to be done.
Perhaps the most important book written by philosopher activist and psychoanalyst Felix Guattari could be The Three Ecologies. Originally published in 1989 it has lost nothing of its urgency and remains one of the most startling analyses of the unfolding (and escalating) ecological crisis ‘we’ — all living and sentient species on earth — are facing.
In the book Guattari argues that the ecological crisis is generally understood far too narrowly as ‘environmental pollution’, a managerial or engineering problem that should and can be solved with appropriate technocratic procedures. Guattari pleads for a much deeper and more layered understanding of this crisis, which should be addressed through three ecological registers at once, the material environment, the social relations, and subjective experience: the three ecologies.
Any approach to this most profound crisis ever faced by humans (and non-humans) should operate transversally, in across and between these three registers. The reduction to the material / environmental is a fatal misconception according to Guattari. For instance, can we really see and treat environmental degradation and global warming separate from the migration crises and geopolitical fall-out zones? Can we really see and treat the structures of contemporary economies and politics as unrelated to the explosive growth of mental disorders? Can we really be open and responsive to the earth-system (Gaia), without giving due recognition to the importance of a sustainable ‘mental ecology’?
Still, despite its radically enlarged understanding of what the term ‘ecology’ actually implies, and notwithstanding the inclusion of subjective experience as a crucial ecological register (which makes Guattari’s analysis so extremely productive for the arts), there is a severe limitation in Guattari’s perspective that needs to be urgently addressed. His analysis remains ultimately predicated on an anthropocentric perspective. Perhaps because his long and deep involvement with Deleuze’s neo-materialist philosophy of emergence blinded him to his own implicit biases.
Beyond anthropocentrism
Ecological thinking has since moved to critique exactly this human-centric perspective and made a strong plea for the inclusion of the ‘non-humans’ (animal and plant life, but also air, soil, minerals, materials, technological objects and systems) in any progressive ecological politics. Sociologist and philosopher of science Bruno Latour has undoubtedly been the most prominent proponent of this enlarged conception of ecology. His plea to bring the non-humans into the heart of democracy has received ever growing attention and support.
To address this limitation in Guattari’s otherwise brilliant analysis it is necessary to introduce a fourth ecological register: that of the non-human experience. Hence, the four ecologies.
This course will develop the conceptual model of the four ecologies to then ask what type of ‘deliberate interventions’ are required and conceivable to address the escalating ecological crisis? (beyond the buzzword of the anthropocene)
These ‘deliberate interventions’ can include interventions from the arts, from activism, policy interventions, research interventions, and political interventions. Together I call such an approach ecological design, where ‘design’ refers to ‘any deliberate form of intervention’.
Structure of the course
The course develops this broad synthetic perspective by first addressing the four ecological registers separately:
Ecology 1: The material environment. Ecology 2: The social relations. Ecology 3: Subjective experience. Ecology 4: The non-human experience.
In practice these four registers continuously fold into each other, so connections between the registers will also be developed throughout the discussion. Also, with respect to each of these ‘registers’ and across all of them we can ask what the role of the arts can be in addressing the ecological crisis? Most important of all, asking such big questions — of at least planetary dimensions — it is crucial to be attentive to detail and ethics: Proposing at first the smallest possible steps, before ‘scaling up’.
The second part of the course is devoted to these deliberate interventions: the smallest steps and their ability to scale up, and the question how to give voice to those who do not speak in a human voice: the non-humans.
Course participants will be asked to develop their own deliberate / designed interventions and present them as material / conceptual prototypes in the final session, where they will be put up for collective scrutiny and deliberation.
Principal literature
Felix Guattari (1989): The Three Ecologies, Athlone Press, London, 2000 / Editions Galilée, Paris, 1989.
Bruno Latour (2004): Politics of nature – how to bring the sciences into democracy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.).
Bruno Latour (2017): Facing Gaia : eight lectures on the new climatic regime, Polity Press, Cambridge / Medford.
Timothy Morton (2007): Ecology without Nature – Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.).
Brian Holmes (2015): The River and the Steersman – Capital Circulation in the Anthropocene (lecture transcript) – http://threecrises.org/the-river-and-the-steersman/
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To investigate theoretical perspectives on contemporary society alongside four ‘ecologies’.
Examination: attendance, assignment
The Materiality of Sound
Channa Boon
Mandatory for: free choice
The course works with sound, space, performance, the human body and takes on the Philosophical ideas around the Chtulucene (Donna Haraway) and that of the so called ‘New Materialism’ in a practical way. Stemming from this is the notion that sound is a ‘material’, physical phenomenon, as well as the fact that a sculpture from this perspective can be seen as a living object. The ‘abstract’ as well as the strict division between the so called ‘dead’ and ‘living’ material does not exist or, in case of the latter, is fluid. Through concrete exercises and investigations making use of the space of the building, its urban environment as well as the human body as ‘instruments’, these ideas will be taken on dby the students on an in2depth, broad, and as rich way as possible. Short lectures,
presentations and individual tutorials create a stage for the workflow that results in a final
presentation held for an audience of Art Science students; a clear momentum in which the
different ideas are being ‘tested’.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To become acquainted with and training the physical approach and quality of
sound and space, the acoustic body, the different relating philosophical concepts of these
phenomena and collaboration.
Examination: attendance, assignment
The ‘Other’ Senses
Caro Verbeek
Mandatory for: B1
The senses of smell, taste, touch and proprioception are powerful tools for engaging an audience in an intimate and often interactive way. They require little knowledge and they are strong inducers of vivid memories.
Whereas sound and vision always gained a lot of academic attention, the so called ‘lower’ senses only recently (re-)entered the artistic debate. The ArtScience Interfaculty, formerly known as the Institute for Image and Sound, underlines the importance of those other senses that go beyond our traditional occularcentric approach.
This course is about creating awareness and understanding of the role of the ‘other’ senses – smell, touch and taste – in (history of) art, education and science.
For they are not as divided as we assume, the correlation between the senses will also be addressed (synaesthesia).
Due to their animalistic nature important thinkers like Plato, and later on Kant and Hegel excluded the lower senses from the aesthetic debate. As a counter-reaction famous artists like Marinetti and Duchamp and composers such as Scriabin incorporated olfactory and tactile dimensions to their work. Unfortunately this quite volatile heritage was partially lost due to its fleeting nature and the impossibility of registering and preserving smells, tastes and tactile experiences. Museums and other institutes that address vision, have always been primed to collect and conserve. That is why many tactile and olfactory works of art never made it into written history. Anthropologists, art historians and other academics are now working on a reconstruction.
During classes students will encounter sensory art historical reconstructions to stimulate debate on the senses and as an inspiration to create small olfactory and tactile compositions. A colour-smell synaesthesia test will be executed on the first and the last day of the course.
Furthermore there will be a linguistic translation of a Futurist tactile poem, and an olfactory-musical recital composed by Scriabin.
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop knowledge about artistic practices for other human senses than the usual sight and hearing.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Time as Matter
Willem van Weelden
Mandatory for: free choice
Time as Matter is a seminar and workshop course in 8 installments, dedicated to the unravelling and inspirational use of the landmark manifestation ‘Les Immateriaux’, held 28.03.1985 – 15.07.1985 in the Centre Pompidou (C.C.I., Centre de Création Industrielle), Paris. This prestigeous and expensive manifestation was the first time a philosopher (Jean-François Lyotard, 1924-1998) was invited to operate as a curator and work together with a team of professionals (headed by Thierry Chaput). (Inaaa the limited period it was open to the public, it was visited by over 200.000 people.) The preparations took a few years in which Lyotard was invoved in the last 1½ year, determining its overall conceptual address: ‘Les Immateriaux’, the immaterials. This neologism, invented by Lyotard, pointed to the felt necessity to redefine and reconceptualize matter, as the emergence of new materiality had risen by the advancement in telecommunication technology. The prefix ‘im-’ announced a break from the modern conception of material, language, body, science, and art.
As a manifestation (it specifically avoided the term ‘exhibition’) it experimented with a multi-medial dramaturgy in its set up and delivery of its philsophical quests. For Lyotard, in the eighties, had dedicated himself to probe the possibilities to ‘do philsophy by other means’. His effort was to create with this dedicated team an interactive, self-authoring philosophical experience for its visitors, rather than a passive instructional exposure to philosophical discourse.
The seminar will consist of lectures on the conceptualisation of this manifestation, and its relevance today, its philosophical background and context, and a speculation on how to use its medial criticality to current usages of (interactive) media in both artistic and discursive manners. ‘Les Immateriaux’ as a dramaturgical set-up, and interactive parcours consisted of 67 sites and was designed with the inclusion of a grid of 26 dedicated audio-zones. Each visitor was equiped with an infra-red headphone to mark his specific pathway with these dedicated sounds. In this sense audio (as ‘the art of time’) became the important and critical agent to its address and ambitions. In the lectures special attention will be given to the dramaturgical aspects of its use of audio.
The workshop will consist of a series of 8 sessions in which the students are challenged to develop their own project based on actively following the seminar.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To understand ‘immaterials’ and to develop individual projects around them.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Transient Spaces
Benny Nilsen
Mandatory for: free choice
Through the means of field recording, we will explore and unfold so-called non-places or in-between spaces in our city and its boundaries.
Spaces that we pass through quickly or that we simply perceive as being convenient, such as short cuts, intersections, shopping malls, undeveloped areas or bridges.
Together we will expand on them, analyze them and give them a voice through recordings and compositions which will result in a short final presentation.
I will give advice on recording techniques, sound manipulation and composition. We will have listening sessions, excursions and practical exercises.
Definition of transient
1a : passing especially quickly into and out of existence : transitory transient beauty
1b : passing through or by a place with only a brief stay or sojourn transient visitors
2 : affecting something or producing results beyond itself
Reader:
Marc Augé – Non-Places, introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To understand and work with non-spaces in a sound environment..
Examination: attendance, assignment
We Are Compost. Multispecies Storytelling in the Age of the Anthropocene
Márton Kabai
Mandatory for: free choice
Crises, loss, alienation, and precarity becomes a defining trait of our everyday’s life. At the same time networks of new technologies promises steadiness, believes and a bright future, however, it makes us detached, anesthetized, sedated to confront with ourselves, our history and our contribution to the troubles. In this accumulating, systemic illiteracy foreshadows a very dark new age, where we need to rethink what is the human species if we acknowledge that design is what makes us human. How to design ourselves out of this gap or wound? What way we can collectively imagine, construct different forms of relationships?
Along the four days, we will undergo a trans-generational, intra-active, trans-species, symbiogenetic, speculative workshop inspired by Donna Haraway’s Camille stories. Each day, we will live and design props out of relationships of one generation (approx. 25 years) of the community of Compost. At the end of the four days, we will leave behind a speculative archeological site: physical or virtual props, poems, rituals, drawings, algorithms..etc that tells fragments of stories of four generations of an intra-species community of Compost. (approx: 100 years). Along the ‘workshop’, we will investigate and experiment different ways and forms of narrative and storytelling methods that respond to and challenging the condition of our critical times by rethinking and questioning the way we are and we will co-exist on Earth.
We are Compost is an ongoing research with Natela Lemondzhava as KLMN Salon
Part of the ArtFiction series
Recommended literature:
Donna Haraway: Staying with the trouble, Making Kin in the Chthulucene (Duke)
James Bridle: New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (Verso)
Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley: Are we human? Notes on the archeology of design (Lars Muller)
Credits: 2 ECTS
No. of classes: 4 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To gain designing skills in the context of contemporary ecological situation.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Writing as/in Research
Maya Rasker
Mandatory for: free choice
To write, means to allow ideas, notions, knowledge, nonsense to come into being – which is a good reason why so many fear the act of writing: once written, your thoughts become a reality of their own. During the workshop Writing as / in Research we will investigate what writing means – as an act of unravelling and discovering of the mind’s working, rather than to fixate embryonal cerebral thinking (that often should not see the light of day – yet).
Point of departure is you – a creative creature that oscillates between who you are, what you do, and where you are heading. Through a sytematic analysis of the creative process you will discover how different writing techniques support and enhance your personal search for artistic growth – no matter your medium or main artistic interest.
Language is our material, so the course encompasses lots of writing, reading, listening and taking notes. The use of pen, or pencil, and paper is obligatory. No laptops allowed in the classroom.
Credits: 4 ECTS
No. of classes: 8 classes of 6 hours
Objective: To develop writing skills as an artistic discipline, and/or as a tool to develop artistic research.
Examination: attendance, assignment
Faculty 2018-2019
Renske Maria van Dam
Cocky Eek
Arthur Elsenaar
Kasper van der Horst
Eric Kluitenberg
Marisa Manck (coordinator)
Michiel Pijpe
Robert Pravda
Taconis Stolk (head of department)
Marion Tränkle
Renske Maria van Dam
Since 2013 Renske Maria works as independent architect and artistic-researcher. In February 2017 she started her doctoral research at KU Leuven.
Always motivated to think and do Renske Maria initially started her studies in Fine Art and Philosophy, but finished her BSc and MSc in Architecture at the Technical University Delft. During her architecture studies she also followed courses in urban anthropology and worked for architectuurstudio Herman Hertzberger, Amsterdam and Atelier Li Xiaodong, Beijing.
From 2009 to 2011 she was part of Vision included; a co-initiated, pro-active design practice and discussion platform. From 2013 to 2016 she was part of ALEPH; a co-initiated artistic-research laboratory for the exploration of progressive heuristics focusing on philosophy as creative practice in its own right. If you feel inspired please feel free to contact us about possible collaborations.
http://www.renskemaria.com/
Cocky Eek
Cocky Eek studied Fashion Design at the Utrecht School of the Arts and graduated in 1993 with a final collection ‘Fashion is so ugly you have to change it every half year’. She did her Master degree European Fashion and Textiles Design in 1994 (FR/IT). After her studies she realized several experimental ‘wearable’ collections presented amongst Le Salon des Jeunes Stylistes in Hyeres (FR). Meanwhile she worked as a guest teacher (HKU, Rietveld Academy and Konstfack -Stockholm).
From 1999 – 2002 she collaborated with designer Maria Blaisse, investigating form and material in relation to the moving body, resulting in the Kuma Guna series (nominated by the Dutch Design Award). Together they gave a number of master-classes (MA European Fashion & Textile Design, the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, and the Curtin University of Technology in Perth).
Since 2001, Cocky Eek has been an active member of FoAM [Brussels]. In close collaboration with scientists, and media-designers she did the spatial designs for responsive environments as Tgarden, TxOom and TRG (presentations include V2 and Ars Electronica 2001). Since the millennium her work has been mainly revolving around lightweight spatial compositions and her favorite media have become wind and air. This resulted in floating or flying experiments or large, voluminous forms. Her Human-Kite performances with Patrick de Koning were shown along various coastal lines, such as the Oerol Festival (NL) and the International Kite Festival in Weifang in China. She is co-founder of FoAM [Amsterdam 2005] whose main focus is the topic of human-plant inter-relations. One of their sprouts Boskoi, a project on urban foraging received an honorary mention Prix Ars Electronica 2011, was presented at ISEA and implemented in many local community’s. In 2012 she created Sphaerae, an inflatable multi-dome pavilion for immersive and synaesthetic experiences (presented at Ars Elctronica, TodaysArt festival 2013). With Schweigman& she develloped two contemporary theater pieces; Frame (presented in Shanghai 2012) and Blaas (Oerol, Torino, Boulevard, Utrecht 2013).
cockyeek.com
Arthur Elsenaar
Arthur Elsenaar is an artist, electrical engineer and facial hacker. Since 1993, Elsenaar has investigated the computer-controlled human face as a site for artistic expression. He holds a Ph.D. in Art and Design from Nottingham Trent University in the UK for his thesis entitled “Facial Hacking: The Twisted Logic of Electro-Facial Choreography.” Elsenaar’s work has been shown at many internationally renowned conferences, festivals and institutes such as Ars Electronica, ISEA, DEAF, SIGGRAPH and MIT Media Lab. In 2008, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam acquired the algorithmic facial choreography work “Face Shift” for their permanent collection. He has been a core member of the Institute of Artificial Art in Amsterdam whose work received several awards; a Prix Ars Electronica honorary mention (1997), the Leonardo Award for Excellence (2003) for a paper on the history of electric performance art. For his most recent work, Elsenaar received the Technarte Best Speaker Award (2012) in Bilbao, Spain.
artifacial.org
Kasper van der Horst
Kasper van der Horst studied photography at the School of Photography in The Hague. During his studies he developed an interest in video, computer animation and computer graphics and started his own studio, Sparks.
In 1988 he was invited to teach video at CAM, and a year later to become a teacher at the Interfaculty Image & Sound, where he first taught analogue video and, since 1993, digital imagery. During his classes at the Interfaculty students started to develop moving digital graphics, resulting in some of the earliest VJs and visual musicians who created visuals and moving images that accompanied DJ acts, shown during the Sonic Acts Festival in 1994. During the collective research projects he often works with a small group of students on special visual effects that relate in delicate ways to the general theme of the project. In 1998 his research on dynamic video projections resulted in an astounding contribution to the closing night of the Holland Festival in Paradiso. For the ArtScience curriculum he developed many introductory courses on the subjects: Freestyle Video, Image & Sound (with Robert Pravda) and MetaMedia (with Taco Stolk). Next to these courses van der Horst organised many video workshops and collaborated on almost all of the large-scale projects at the Interfaculty. The resarch project “Structet : Building Music” in 2006 was one of the most successful performances in the Todaysart festival that year and it is the only project in the festival ́s history that was invited again, in 2011.
Since 2010 van der Horst has been directing multi screen installations for Rockheim, the museum for Norwegian pop music in Trondheim. He also designed 3d avatars for the interactive part of the museum. His work engagements range from established art institutes to broadcast and commercial media production. He directs and produces audiovisual projects. As a multidisciplinary art and technology advisor Kasper works with students, art-collectives and media-companies.
Eric Kluitenberg
Eric Kluitenberg is an independent theorist, writer, curator, and researcher on culture, media, and technology based in Amsterdam. He has been head of the media and technology program of De Balie, Centre for Culture and Politics in Amsterdam since 1999. He taught theory of interactive media and technological culture for a variety of academic institutions, including the University of Amsterdam, the University of Professional Education of Amsterdam, Academy Minerva Postgraduate Studies in Groningen, and he was a scientific staff member of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. Recent publications include The Book of Imaginary Media (2006), Delusive Spaces (2008) and the theme issues of Open, Journal for Art and the Public Domain, “Hybrid Space” (2006), and “(Im)Mobility” (2011).
Next to an extensive series of festivals and public events he was project leader for the practice based research trajectory “The Living Archive” at De Balie (2004 – 2010) and currently is Editor in Chief of the Tactical Media Files, an on-line documentation resource for Tactical Media practices worldwide.
Marisa Manck (coordinator)
Marisa Manck studied Cultural work at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam and proceeded to work as a project-manager at the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam where she managed in-house production for big festivals like the Drum Rhythm festival and put effort in professionalizing cultural entrepreneurship on this unique site of industrial heritage. In the following years she produced several exhibitions and events at W139. As senior project manager at the Dutch Theatre Institute and Museum, Marisa produced several exhibitions and programs. After the Theatre Institute had to close its doors due to government budget cuts, she started studying at the Master of Education department at the HvA. Besides attending classes, she continued working for several smaller projects.
Michiel Pijpe
Michiel Pijpe graduated with distinction in 2005 at the Interfaculty Image and Sound, and studied narrative techniques and style procedures for film at the University of Leiden (2002-2004). Afterwards, he briefly studied at the Dutch Art Institute (MA) in Enschede. Within the context of the curriculum of the former interfaculty his athletic background led to his development as a performance artist in 2001, specializing in visual art performances in various productions and coproductions. The correlation between play and technology is an ongoing experiment and is generally applied in the theatrical works of Pijpe: the results are minimalist but visually rich solo performances that can be characterized as both formal as well as expressive.
In recent years his work within performance and theatre has come to include the development of ideas for scenography and lighting setups for theatre and opera productions.
Apart from his stage work, Michiel Pijpe has been working on an ongoing project involving liquid experiments for film wich he started in 2003. After many years of experimentation and research he is now working with methods and techniques for a higher and more detailed control of chemicals, light and optics. He is continuously refining these techniques which resemble the traditional methods of 18th century painting combined with current technologies translated into innovative printing techniques.
http://www.michielpijpe.eu/
Robert Pravda
Robert Pravda studied engineering from 1987 through 1991 at the Technical University of Novi Sad (former Yugoslavia), after which he dedicated himself to making music in experimental underground circles. His interest in the interdisciplinary arts brought him to the Interfaculty Image & Sound, where he earned his degree in 2002. In 2001 he started WEIM, a workshop for his fellow students on electro-instrumental music. When he became a teacher at the Interfaculty, this workshop was transformed into the electronica improvisation ensemble RecPlay. During his studies he concentrated on building instruments for multimedia performances and making algorithmic compositions for spatial sound and light installations. His examination project, the sound-light installation 5x5x5, was awarded with the visitor’s prize of Shell’s Young Artist Award.
Recently he has been developing new musical and light instruments, performing in many formations and contexts, and he worked as composer and sound designer for several theatre productions.
Taconis Stolk (head of department)
Taconis Stolk is a conceptualist and metamodernist. He is the initiator of WLFR, studio for conceptualism in Amsterdam. Since the mid-nineties WLFR has been developing metamedia projects and theory concerning the aesthetics of concepts and contextual technology, often at the intersection of art and science.
WLFR projects have been exhibited, performed and published in Europe, the Americas and Asia. They deploy a wide range of media and disciplines. Examples through the years are P.I.A (interactive audio performance for magnetic card readers, 1994), fZone (website generating audio compositions based on weather conditions in the world’s time zones, 1995) PARR (research project on nano-aesthetics resulting in computer generated books and animations, 2000), BuBL Space (pocket device to disable mobile phones, 2002, with Arthur Elsenaar), Gradually Zero (experimental theatre on the beauty of numbers, 2003, with Sanne van Rijn), Genetic Design (media project on art education in genetic modification, 2004), o—o—o—o (project on intention hacking the game of chess, 2010, with ConceptsAssociated), Wf–– (nanotechnology project on creating magnetic fragrances, 2011, with Radboud University Nijmegen) and WLFRGB (video series exploring ‘impossible colours’ by hacking stereoscopic technologies, 2013).
Stolk earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the ArtScience Interfaculty. He lectures at the Interfaculty since 1998. Current other lecturing and consulting activities include MediaTechnology MSc programme of Leiden University (since 2001), STEIM Amsterdam and the Dutch Arts Council. He is a regular speaker and writer on topics related to his practice.
wlfr.nl
Marion Tränkle
Marion Tränkle is an artist and designer based in Amsterdam. Her work engages systems thinking, cross-disciplinary perspectives, and experimentation. She preferences live-performance as her artistic environment and to constantly negotiate between the carefully constructed and generative processes, between risk and responsibility, and between autonomous performance and human intervention.
She studied architecture at the TU Berlin, hold degrees in Contemporary Dance from the Amsterdam School of the Arts and from the Media Technology program at Leiden University, and was awarded her PhD from the School of Arts, Brunel University London in 2012. Last year she spent focussing on software engineering.
Her stage scenarios and installations have been shown internationally including Thessaloniki Biennale at the State Museum of Contemporary Art, OK Centre for Contemporary Art in Linz, Netherlands Media Art Institute Amsterdam, University of Michigan, Bavarian State Opera Munich, State Theatre Saarbrücken, and the Artefactfestival for Art and Media.
Marion has taught at Universities and Art Institutions in the Netherlands, Canada, and her native Germany. Currently she is associated with the Department of Industrial Design at TU Eindhoven.
http://mariontraenkle.eu/
Guest Teachers 2018-2019
Merel Boers
Matthijs van Boxsel
Channa Boon
Andrea Božić
Lex van den Broek
Hilt De Vos
Martijn Engelbregt
Rob van Gerwen
Milica Ilić
Márton Kabai
Bas van Koolwijk
Johan van Kreij
Katinka Marač
Jeroen Meijer
Geert Mul
Benny Nilsen
Leandros Ntolas
Dani Ploeger
Esther Polak
Nenad Popov
Ine Poppe
Maya Rasker
Klara Ravat
Caro Verbeek
Willem van Weelden
Julia Willms
Merel Boers
Merel Boers (that is Frau Dr. Boers to you) has a background in history, argumentation theory, journalism, public speaking… She likes her sherry bone dry and her risotto all’onda, please. She collects historical cookbooks and is still mourning Iain M. Banks. At the ArtScience department, she is a thesis coach.
http://www.merelboers.nl/
Matthijs van Boxsel
Literary historian Matthijs van Boxsel (b. 1957) has been studying the topic of stupidity since 1980. In 1999 he published De encyclopedie van de domheid (The Encyclopedia of Stupidity), which was nominated for the prestigious Generale Bank Prize for Literature. In 2001 the sequel Morosofie (Morosophy) appeared, studying the 100 most stupid Dutch theories of the 20th century. This was followed in 2006 by a volume on stupidity as an art of living: Deskundologie of Domheid als levenskunst. Van Boxsel is now working on De topografie van de domheid (The Topography of Stupidity), in which he gathers all the cities and regions that are proverbially known for stupidity. De encyclopedie van de domheid has already been translated into more than 10 languages.
http://www.matthijsvanboxsel.nl/
Channa Boon
Channa Boon (1967) investigates the thin line between ‘dead’ and ‘living’ material through multi -media works encompassing film, video, performance, drawings and installation works. Her practice is often research based while in her works, space, the object, and living body are part of the so called ‘acoustic body’, bearing all the potentiality of sound. Boon teaches at the Fine Art and Composition departments of the KABK and Conservatory in The Hague and holds an MA in Film from the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam. Her work is shown throughout the world, including the 56th Venice Biennale ‘All The World’s Futures’ (IT), the EYE Film Museum, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (NL), MINUS SPACE Brooklyn, NY, the Sioux Art Center, Iowa (USA), the CAC in Vilnius (LT), Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich (CH), the Kunstfabrik Am Flutgraben, Olaf Stüber Gallery Berlin (GE), the Mudeung Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwanju, Gallery Loop, the Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (KR), and many others.http://www.channaboon.com/
Andrea Božić
Andrea Božić (HR/NL) is a choreographer based in Amsterdam with a degree in Comparative Literature and English Language from the University of Zagreb, the School For New Dance Development and the Amsterdam Masters of Choreography, both at the Academy for Theatre and Dance Amsterdam.
Andrea’s work revolves around the choreography of attention, space and gaze. It is in-disciplinary and takes form of live performance, installation, attention exercise and collaborations with the weather and night sky. The work reorganizes perception combining conceptual with sensorial and physical, creates paradoxical situations and asks questions about the effects of attention and imagination, perception of presence, the politics of viewing, presentation of reality and distribution of authorship.
Her work was produced by the Frascati and she was artist-in-residence at the International Choreographic Arts Centre Amsterdam (ICK). She has collaborated with visual artist Julia Willms and sound artist Robert Pravda since 2005 with whom she founded in-disciplinary platform TILT in 2009, a platform that currently produces the work. Her work has been presented internationally in performing and visual arts field (Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Centre Pompidou Metz, Vooruit, Gent, ImpulsTanz, Vienna, the Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam, Frascati, Amsterdam, HAU, Berlin, a.o.).
Andrea is tutor at the DAS Theatre (formerly DasArts, master of theatre programme, Amsterdam), was mentor at the Amsterdam Master of Choreography 2012-2015 and has given workshops and lectures and mentored many artists internationally (ICK, Interrarium – the Banff Arts Centre, ArtEZ, a.o.). Andrea is co-initator and curator of the We Live Here – summer academy and the Come Together Festival in Amsterdam and is one of the co-founders of BAU – dance and performance Amsterdam.
http://www.andreabozic.com/
Lex van den Broek
Lex van den Broek finished his studies Electronic Engineering and Information Technology at the Hogeschool Rotterdam in 1993. After a couple of years designing sound amplifiers for active speaker systems, he started working as the head of the Electronics Workshop at the Royal Conservatoire in 1997. He gives courses to students of Sonology, The Art of Sound and ArtScience departments. He also guides students in realising their own projects involving electronics. In its long history, the Electronics Workshop at the KC has collaborated on many impressive interfaces and installations and is a center for developing musical interfaces and computer installations. Lex has been developing various interfaces and controllers that are available for students to assemble, such as the IpSonLab, Microlab and MTVlab.
http://www.koncon.nl/lex/
Hilt De Vos
Hilt De Vos is a professional Belgian director and actress that has worked extensively in theatre, for television and film. Hilt is also a dancer and teaches yoga and pilates.
http://www.hiltdevos.com/
Martijn Engelbregt
Circus Engelbregt is a unifying disruptive organisation aiming to increase social sustainability in the world. We initiate and develop (art)projects aiming to change people’s perception of the habitual and the seemingly obvious. From the calmness that comes with not knowing, we try to create new movement. We are not afraid to create some friction or to take on a confronting position in our projects, because we don’t believe in a society stuck in stereotypical thinking.
http://circusengelbregt.nl/
Rob van Gerwen
Rob van Gerwen, Ph.D., is senior lecturer in philosophy at Utrecht University. He taught at University College Utrecht, The Royal Academy for the Arts, and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and The High School of the Arts in Utrecht. He is co-founder of the Dutch Association of Aesthetics, and owns a company, Consilium Philosophicum.
He wrote numerous articles and books on aesthetics: among others a survey of modern aesthetic theories (in Dutch, 2016, Moderne filosofen over kunst); a dissertation on Art and Experience (1996); he edited Richard Wollheim on the Art of Painting with Cambridge University Press; co-edited a book on Experiencing Music (in Dutch, 2014); and published Watching art in museums (in Dutch, 2003). He is currently working on a book on Art as a Moral Practice. You can download his writings from his website: http://www.phil.uu.nl/∼rob He also maintains a weblog and is on Twitter. He is former president and current vice-president of the Dutch Association of Aesthetics, and editor-in-chief of Aesthetic Investigations (aestheticinvestigations.eu), an Open Access, peer reviewed journal in aesthetics.
http://www.phil.uu.nl/~rob/
Milica Ilić
Milica Ilić, born in 1985 is a is a pianist from Serbia, specialised in opera and chamber music. Her repertoire covers a wide range of musical styles and she performs in various types of chamber ensembles. She is full time employed as an repetiteur and vocal coach on the department of Solo Singing at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade, Serbia.
Next to her employments as a pianist, Milica works as a composer and librettist. Her latest works include Higher, for two pianos, baritone, actor, singer and choir of shouters, The Chamber Thriller Opera in Episodes (a)Mantis Religiosa performed both in Belgium and Serbia, Lego project series I for voice and piano as well as other song cycles. Exploring new possibilities and combinations in the classical musical repertoire, and connecting different styles, genres and forms in her creative work are the main characteristics of Milica’s artistic practice.
Márton Kabai
Márton Kabai (HU), graphic designer based in The Hague, NL. He started his graphic design study in the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (HU), but he graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague, NL. His works can be located around the subjects of posthuman, anthropocene, speciesism and crisis. He believes in a research driven, post disciplinary, slow and personal design practice. He works in various media where he tries to materialise hidden concepts, demystify ideologies, beliefs, unveil biases, fixations that has mistaken as truths, legal or unbreakable. He works for commissions and initiate own projects.
http://www.martonkabai.com/
Bas van Koolwijk
Audiovisual artist Bas van Koolwijk uses both sound and image, be it analogue or in numerical code, as interchangeable data. He produces visual and acoustic compositions in which both manifestations interact.
His often formalistic approach is reflected in live AV performances, installations, devices and videos.
http://www.basvankoolwijk.com/
Johan van Kreij
Johan van Kreij is a musician whose artistic output focuses primarily on improvisation and composition using electronics. He studied music at the Institute of Sonology from 1994 at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, graduating in 1998. Frequently he performs his music, both as a soloist and with other musicians.
Starting in 1998 van Kreij has participated in a long running and intensive collaboration with choreographer Ted Stoffer. This resulted in music composed to a great number of dance choreographies that were performed throughout Europe and the United States. And for more than a decade he has been active within the field of music theatre trough cooperations with Dick Raaijmakers and Paul Koek.
Another important aspect of his work is the development and realization of his own instruments. This development covers the fields of hardware—sensors and other electronics—used for gestural input, and software employing a wide range of sound synthesis models. In the role of developer, he has participated in many projects in the field of music, visual arts and architecture. Since 2001 he has been a permanent member of the teaching staff at Sonology.
http://jvkr.nl/
Katinka Marač
Katinka Marač studied theatre design at the Utrecht School for the Arts. Since 1997 she has worked both as a scenographer and lighting designer for contemporary dance performances and installations in the experimental circuit. Among others she has collaborated with Golden Palace, Sara Wookey, Lidy Six, Martin Nachbar, Sanja Mitrović, Seon-Ja Seo, Daniel AlmgrenRecen en Roser Lopez Espinosa.
Katinka writes regularly on lighting design and scenography in Zichtlijnen, the Dutch technical journal for stage technology. She also advises students at the School for New Dance Development and at the master Choreography at the AHK Amsterdam. Katinka’s preference for experimental works is based on the significant role played by space and spatial experiences, and as co-maker in multi-disciplinary productions in which space and light exist as partners. Her lighting designs possess a particularly physical quality and encourage and generate movement. In addition to her work as a designer, she has made short video films, so-called audio- visual choreographies, which bring together her fascinations for the body, movement, space and rhythm.
http://www.katinkamarac.com/
Jeroen Meijer
Jeroen Meijer is an independent creative technologist, trainer and filmmaker who bridges the disciplines of art, science and technology. His background in Artificial Intelligence reflects his broad and interdisciplinary thinking. He is an experienced software architect, specialized in developing tools for scientific research, simulation and realtime 3D visualisation and is proficient in a multitude of programming languages, frameworks and design patterns. Hardware and electronics also have his interest and create a rich toolset when working on (art)projects. As a passionate and sociable trainer he specifically focuses on teaching foundational and conceptual technical knowledge to fascilitate self-learning. Ethics and critial thinking currently motivate him to research the social, ethical and political implications of the growing asymmetry of knowledge and control in a society that has grown fully dependent on deeply intrusive information technology, hardly understood by it’s users. Jeroen is a promotor of free (libre) software and it’s philosofy and advocates critical and conservative usage of information technology.
Geert Mul
Geert Mul (b 1965) is a media artist based in Rotterdam. Originally known as a VJ (one of the country’s first), he currently works in a range of media, producing video and interactive or generative computer installations but also prints and light objects. He combines free work with commissioned work, for a variety of clients and sites (businesses and governments; museums and public space). His works have been exhibited both in the Netherlands (Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam) and abroad (Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; Museum of contemporary Art, Chicago). See his homepage for more information.
http://www.geertmul.com/
Benny Nilsen
BJ Nilsen (Benny Nilsen) is a Swedish composer and sound artist based in Amsterdam. His work is primarily focused on the sound of nature and its effects on humans. His two latest solo albums released by Touch Eye Of The Microphone (2013) – a personal audio rendition based on the sound of London – and The Invisible City (2010), have explored the urban acoustic realm. He has collaborated with Chris Watson on Storm and Wind, released by Touch (2006, 2001).
His original scores and soundtracks have featured in theatre, dance, and film, including Microtopia and Test Site (2013, 2010, dir. Jesper Wachtmeister), Enter the Void (2010, dir. Gaspar Noé), and, in collaboration with Jóhann Jóhannsson, I am here (2014, dir. Anders Morgenthaler). In 2014, he co-edited the book+CD publication The Acoustic City (jovis) together with Matthew Gandy.
http://bjnilsen.com/
Leandros Ntolas
Leandros Ntolas is an interdisciplinary artist from Greece, currently based in the Netherlands. He has graduated from Athens School of Fine Arts and is a recent graduate from the master course of the ArtScience Interfaculty. With a background in sculpture and spatial studies, his practice spans many different mediums; having in its core a specific interest in the use of light as an artistic medium. Ntolas has been researching light through the study of optics, atmospheric optics, and the study of visual perception. He is as well involved in theoretical research around the topics of history and philosophy of science–with a specific focus in astronomy and archaeoastronomy–and the field of philosophy of perception.
http://www.leandrosntolas.com/
Dani Ploeger
Dani Ploeger combines performance, video, computer programming and electronics hacking to investigate and subvert the spectacles of techno-consumer culture. Re-purposing, misusing, and at times destroying everyday devices, his work exposes the beauty, dirt and power of seemingly banal and taken-for-granted aspects of digital culture.
Among others, he has worked with traditional metal workers in the old city of Cairo to encase tablet computers in plate steel, attended firearms training in Poland to shoot an iPad with an AK47, made a VR installation while embedded with frontline troops in the East-Ukraine, and travelled to dump sites in Nigeria to collect electronic waste originating from Europe. In autumn 2018, he will be working at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, looking at the aftermath of the state of emergency in Paris, which lasted from 2015 until the end of 2017, in relation to public space and digital culture.
Dani holds a PhD from the School of Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex and has been a lecturer in digital arts and performance at De Montfort University Leicester and Brunel University London. Until 2016, he was Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for Performance Arts at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, where he is currently a Research Fellow. He is also an artist-researcher at Leiden University, where he forms part of the Critical Making consortium.
http://www.daniploeger.org/
Esther Polak
Esther Polak is a visual artist active in new media. She is most well-known for her locative media projects. Polak studied at the Royal Academy for Visual Arts in The Hague from 1981 till 1986, and at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunst in Amsterdam from 1986 till 1989. With a consistent interest in landscape and in contemporary ways of visualizing space and geography, Polak turned to visualization and mapping as artistic tools, and an integral part of the basic concept of her work. In several of her long-term projects such as Amsterdam Realtime, the MILK project and NomadicMILK, Polak makes mobility, routes and trajectories visible from the perspective of participants, in an intuitive and personal manner.
With the MILK project, Esther Polak won the Gada Balva Prix (Riga, Latvia) in 2004. In 2005, she was awarded the Golden Nica for Interactive Art at Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria. Since the beginning of 2010, Polak collaborates full-time with Ivar van Bekkum. Both live and work in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Nenad Popov
Nenad Popov is a media anarchist whose interests lie in, or better, between art and plain research. The output of these processes are live cinema pieces, sound installations, film installations, weird sound making contraptions, impossible collaborations and occasional parasitism on public cultural funds.
Not just that: huge amount of written code, public and private, interfacing this with that, embodied algorithms, alleged bar fights, organizing workshops and giving classes.
He has collaborated with many artists working in similar fields, such as Daan Brinkmann, Electronic Opera, Thomas Köner and Lillevan/Rechenzentrum. Solo performances include Dis- Patch, TodaysArt, E-Pulse and Share.
His latest research topics are possibilities of collaborating with non-human entities.
http://morphogenesis.eu/
Ine Poppe
Ine Poppe is writer, teacher, journalist and artist. She did art school in Utrecht, was an intern in Hamburg and studied Dutch literature in Amsterdam. Became internationally renownded for her project Mothermilk cheese, in the 80-ties. Poppe wrote the tv-script for Necrocam: death online, directed by Dana Nechustan (award for best dramascript European Broadcasting Union -EBU- 2002). She made tv-programs and wrote scenario’s for computergames. Ine Poppe directed the documentary Hippies From Hell, about the group of hackers and activists that introduced the internet in the Nederlands and Them Fucking Robots about the Canadian robot artist Norman White.
Poppe nowadays leads the Hacking department at the Willem de Kooning Academie in Rotterdam, makes documentaires and contributes to transmedial projects. Ine just finished ‘Teeth‘ a documentary about her obsession with teeth in the broadest sense of the word. She wrote for Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad for more than ten years and recently wrote the scenario for The Modular Body, a trans medial project with Dutch artist Floris Kaayk that was released in April 2016. This project was awarded with a ‘Gouden Kalf’ -the Dutch equivalent of an Emmy award- for the best interactive project of 2016.
http://poppeenpartners.nl/
Maya Rasker
Maya Rasker (b. 1965) wrote articles and essays for the daily newspaper Trouw and other publications before debuting in 2000 with the novel Met onbekende bestemming (Unknown Destination). The book won her the Gouden Ezelsoor (Golden Dog-Ear), the prize for the year’s best-selling literary debut. She has further published the novels Rekwisieten (Props, 2003) and Xenia (2005). Her work has been translated into English, German, Spanish and Hungarian.
http://www.mayarasker.com/
Klara Ravat
Klara Ravat is a Berlin-based an olfactory artist an experimental filmmaker.
After studying qualitative trend research in Barcelona Klara moved to The Netherlands where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (ArtScience at The Royal Academy of Arts). At the same time, she studied Psychology at the Open University of Catalonia. Klara is the co-founder and director of the Smell Lab (https://www.smell-lab.org/), a community project that focuses on the investigation and practice of the art and science of the sense of smell.
By opposing the division between the realm of memory and the realm of experience, Ravat absorbs the tradition of remembrance art into daily practice. By investigating the concept of landscape in an adventurous and exploratory way, she wants to amplify the wonderment of the spectator by creating compositions or settings that generate tranquil poetic images that leave traces and balances on the edge of alienation and recognition.
http://www.klararavat.com/
Caro Verbeek
Caro Verbeek (1980) is an art historian specialized in art and the senses. She graduated at the University of Amsterdam on the topics of olfactory (MA) and tactile (MA) art. She writes and lectures on olfactory and tactile art accompanied and designs multi-sensory tours for museums. She is currently working on a PhD on the role of olfaction during the avant-garde, which consists both of theory and actual olfactory (re)constructions that will enable us to literally inhale history of art.
http://www.caroverbeek.nl/
Willem van Weelden
Willem van Weelden (1960), has a background in social philosophy and visual art. As a former visual artist he never stopped linking media theory to the dilemmas and intrinsic ‘problems’ within the tradition of the visual arts, and probes network culture from the vantage point of trying to open new vistas and habitats for the arts and social emancipation. He is committed to new media culture from 1990 onwards and has published on this topic in various magazines and catalogues. He was involved in numerous new media projects as a creative director and coach. In the summer of 2018, as a research fellow, he completed a research Master at the Sandberg Institute (department Critical Studies) with a project on Jean-François Lyotard’s media theory and his will to develop a way ‘to do philosophy by other means’. Currently his main focus is on research, writing and teaching.
Julia Willms
Julia Willms (DE/NL) studied Visual Communications at the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastricht (The Netherlands) and Media Art at the University for Applied Arts in Vienna (Austria). Her work deals with the nature of perception, the very act of viewing itself and the shifting position of the spectator within the proposed environment. It takes form of video installations (often site specific) for the borderlines of spaces and architectual environments, performances, photo collages as well as installations and paintings.
Her works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions (GAM | Obrist Gallery/Essen, MUSA/Vienna, De Appel/Amsterdam, BNKR/Munich, Altana Kulturstiftung/Bad Homburg, a.o.), as well as in media & video art and performance festivals internationally (EMAF/Osnabrück, Almost Cinema/International Filmfestival Ghent, Netaudio London a.o.).
Since 2003 she has collaborated closely with choreographer/director Andrea Božić (www.andreabozic.com) on in-disciplinary performance projects and installations. In 2009 she co-founded in-disciplinary platform TILT with Andrea Božić, and sound artist Robert Pravda.
Julia is one of the co-founders of BAU – space for performing arts Amsterdam and teacher at the Royal Academy of the Art The Hague and mentor at the Amsterdam Master of Film. Julia has given workshops internationally (Royal Academy of Art The Hague, ICK, SPRING Festival, Interrarium – The Banff Arts Centre, a.o.).
www.willmsworks.net
