An honours program for Rietveld students interested in artistic research. Now open for applications for the academic year 2023/2034.

Introduction

Are you interested in further developing your research skills? Would you like to step beyond the boundaries of your art education to spend a year working side by side with students from all kinds of disciplines from the University of Amsterdam?

Starting at the beginning of September 2023, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie (GRA) will be offering the multidisciplinary ART and RESEARCH Programme.
The programme has place for 20 talented, motivated students from the GRA and the UvA. Participants spend one year pursuing project-based artistic and academic research under the supervision of experienced tutors and distinguished guest-lecturers. If you are interested in research, this programme is your chance to gain first-hand experience with both theory and art practice at an early stage in your studies.

The programme’s premise is that artistic practice operates on a similar level as academic thought. When brought together, they complement and, to some extent, overlap with one another. The ART and RESEARCH Programme provides participants with the incentive to relate different perspectives and methodologies to each other, as well as to challenge traditions, in order to create and develop innovative and hybrid modes of research, while learning from other fields of study throughout the process.

You can apply for the 2023-2024 edition of the ART and RESEARCH programme until 31st of May 2023.

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For whom?

The ART and RESEARCH Programme is open to students from the GRA and the UvA, including the Amsterdam University College. A maximum of two places is also available for students from the VU University Amsterdam. Applicants from the Rietveld should have an interest in research and in working together with university students, and can come from any department (Fashion, Image and Language, VAV, etc). The applicants will be selected on the basis of motivation, ambition, ability to engage with academic thought and to deliver a contribution to the programme’s group process.

Aims

The participants in the ART and RESEARCH Programme gain insight into the complex relationship between artistic practice and academic thought. They learn how to address potential differences, while identifying similarities and continuities between artistic processes and academic research. They will establish links to other practices and explore creative ways to collaborate in developing specific themes within group projects. As the programme progresses, participants are increasingly expected to show initiative and independence while formulating challenging research questions and producing group project outcomes (i.e. texts and artworks). This programme gives art students the possibility to engage in text writing together with fellow art students as well as the participants from the university. This provides the Rietveld participants with useful insights that they may use for further theoretical research during their art studies (and beyond).

Period and study load

The programme covers the period from the beginning of September 2023 to the end of June 2024. Most of the group’s activities take place on Friday afternoons, when the tutors meet with all the participants for the weekly gatherings at the GRA (and sometimes at the UvA).

The ART and RESEARCH Programme in its dual approach of theory and practice adds breadth, depth and extra dimensions to your study. This requires an investment of additional time and effort from your side.
The study load averages one and a half days a week, which includes the weekly class and the independent research and production work carried out within the group. This is, however, an average since the need to condense certain activities during specific periods may cause the actual study load to vary.

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Rietveld-UvA certificate

Students who graduate and successfully complete the ART and RESEARCH Programme will receive a Honours Programme certificate alongside their GRA diploma.

Application and admission

First-year students, and also those who started their second academic year in September 2023, are eligible to apply for the ART and RESEARCH Programme.

Students who wish to apply should submit the following documents:

- A letter of motivation in which you explain why you wish to participate in the ART
and RESEARCH Programme and what makes you a suitable candidate;

- A CV;
- A Portfolio;

Send your application to Paula Albuquerque (paula.albuquerque@rietveldacademie.nl) before May 31st, 2023.

All applications will be reviewed and a select number of students will be invited for an interview on the 19th and the 20th of June 2023.

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ART and RESEARCH curriculum

The programme begins with an intensive three- to four-day workshop where the students get to know one another by engaging in Socratic dialogue and other exercises specifically designed to stimulate the exchange and discussion of ideas. This normally takes place at Wongema. During the workshop the participants will tackle and consider potential research themes and subjects.

Throughout the programme students work in mixed GRA/UvA groups on themes of their own choosing. This will be carried out by collaborating, exploring and experimenting together, with students contributing from within their own specific artistic or academic discipline.

All the projects are supervised by experienced tutors. In addition, guest lecturers provide the students with new perspectives on their field. In accordance with the special needs of the group projects, students are welcome to suggest professionals from academia and the art circuit to share their expertise and insights in class.

Students conclude the programme by presenting their artistic experiments and research results in the form of a publication and an exhibition, symposium or other appropriate format. All aspects of the various projects, down to their production and organisation, are in the students’ hands, supplemented by the tutors’ supervision and advice from experts in the relevant domain along the way.

For examples of projects developed by the latest edition’s groups, visit:

Website: http://www.artandresearch.nl

Instagram: @artandresearchamsterdam