Participants have the possibility to pursue a self-initiated research project with great autonomy, working individually or collectively with supervisors of their choice. Research projects are presented in a series of regular colloquia, which function as spaces for collective discussion and exchange. In addition to this, participants are provided with the support and resources for the development of collaborative projects related to their research, such as publications, exhibitions, screenings or symposia.

Alongside the research trajectory, participants take part in a programme of seminars, lectures and workshops. This programme provides a thorough introduction to key concepts in critical theory and continental philosophy, explores research methodologies in relation to cultural practices and supports participants in the development of a writing practice. In addition to this general programme, specific themes are addressed in depth each month during lectures and seminars given by visiting speakers. Participants take an active part in shaping the educational programme and have the opportunity to organise workshops, seminars and excursions in parallel with it.

Critical Studies welcomes applicants from a range of backgrounds, including writers, editors, theorists, artists, curators, educators and other cultural practitioners interested in exploring points of convergence between research, practice and writing.

With a trust-based educational model (filled with extreme talent, positive energy and a spirit of equality), the Design department stimulates people to feel both free and passionate about engaging in the things that they love or care about, through making and collaborating. We welcome students who embrace the vulnerability, doubt and unpredictability of where design can lead them. They are investigative designers, critical optimists, generous collaborators, storytellers, eternal students, friends, lovers, fighters, or sensitive guides for our precarious future.

Global challenges are approached from a personal and human point of view, where the different perspectives within the department are articulated; identities, stories and visual strategies merge throughout the practices in personal, specific and committed manners. Forms become relations, disciplines turn into mentalities and the internet is used as a continuous common canvas for trying new things. The self-initiated projects that are developed present new disciplinary frameworks, start movements, construct collectives and invest in alternative models of living.

Although the Dirty Art Department arrives from a shared background of design and applied art, it seeks to reject the division between the pure and the applied. Since ‘God is dead’ and ‘the spectacle’ are omnipresent, it sees the creation of alternative and new realities as the way to reconsider our existential situation on this planet.

The Dirty Art Department is open to students from all backgrounds, including designers, artists, bankers, sceptics, optimists, economists, philosophers, sociologists, independent thinkers, poets, urban planners, farmers, anarchists and the curious. Please enjoy the trip.’

The aim of the Dirty Art Department is to develop singular individual and collective practices, distinct from medium or subject, and to give an insight into how to place these practices into the existing contexts of art, design, performance, writing, pizza making, etc.

Currently the Dirty Art Department focuses on activism, spiritual enlightenment, education, and dealing with the actual reality as a pre cursa to the ‘revolution’ and as an inquiry on how to live with it. Following the department’s nomination for the Milan Design Prize and its close relationship with the Macao Organisation in Milan (IT), the department will collaborate with both Macao and the Athens School of Fine Arts to co-produce The Wandering School Part 2: Revolution or Bust! which will be presented in both Athens and Milan in 2018. Additionally, this year sees the establishment of the Dirty Art Foundation and the creation and building of the autonomous project space AutomagiA in the NDSM-werf in North Amsterdam, which will be run by current and past students of the department.

The final challenge is to create new context; that is, the transformation of reality. The Dirty Art Department promotes a strong theoretical and philosophical agenda and is open, in practice, to dangerous attempts and spectacular failures. It sees itself as a journey, and wherever it stops off, it remembers that ‘Any Space is the Place’.

Several times a year, students come together with staff and tutors to discuss common interests that have emerged and can be addressed with the help of experts who, following these sessions, are invited accordingly. Student-led activities, such as group crits, film nights and Monday lunches are encouraged, while internal platforms such as The Stolen Studio are in place to promote small-scale tryouts and experimentation in presentation.

Throughout the two years, the Sandberg Instituut functions as a base, while encouraging participants to develop and test their practice both within and beyond the school. The programme unfolds across three open modules over the course of two years, structurally redefining conventional notions of artistic labour.

Language
The Language module concerns actual language as well as ‘language as description’ and the languages of what is seen, heard and written. The programme is divided between developing artistic practice and broadening (through specific tasks) ways of seeing and working. Language takes a holistic approach to the making of art, expanding and exploring our notions of what artistic practice can include

Image
The Image module centers on the notion of representation, time and context in various visual and audio-visual practices. Although the programme does not disregard technical or formal considerations, nor public presentation, the emphasis lies in developing individual production strategies: strategies for processing and materializing thought, intuition and knowledge; and strategies commonly developed through production experience and through considering the strategies of others.

Play/Object
The Play/Object module focuses on contemporary constructions of ‘performativity’ and object-based productions within a cross-disciplinary, public context. It concentrates on the creation and practice of production, with particular attention paid to how objects interact with time, space and value.

Students
The Fine Arts Department is looking for eager, active and ambitious students who are willing to participate in group tutorials, workshops and other forms of education. We are looking for authentic makers and thinkers who are open to fundamental reflection on their work. A sound background in art or possession of equivalent expertise in affiliated fields is required. Candidate students will be evaluated on their motivation, previous experience and portfolio. The admissions committee will focus on the authenticity, artistry and autonomous visual quality of the work presented.

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The two-year programme proposes an alternative take on the field of interior architecture, exceeding the boundaries of its traditional curriculum. The interdisciplinary environment of the SIS is a platform for debate, opening up new terrains and allowing for the development of independent practices. Here, exploration fuses with reflection; design is an instrument of research, research is an instrument of discovery. We provide the tools for inquisitorial investigation to reveal unseen contemporary territories. Design methodologies focus on urban investigations and building processes, promoting a hands-on approach and DIY culture as a means of emancipation, celebrating craftsmanship and the immediacy of space making.

The backbone of the course of the SIS is formed by five studios (Construction, Context, Content, Writing and Theory), which are led by tutors active in different fields and offer strong support to individual projects and experimentations. In addition, eight times a year, the SIS welcomes a guest who introduces their methodology and personal research through an intense week-long workshop. These Methodology Weeks focus on field research and hands-on production. These immersive experimentations confront the participants with specific ways of working, thoughts and production methods.

The SIS delivers an MA in Interior Architecture. Although we always question the very definition of this practice, we are nevertheless also strongly grounded in this field and its history. At the crossroad between multiple arts, the profession has a unique role to play. We like to question the politics underlying the traditional and future practices of this field in terms of production, consumption, and mediation to define a common ground for our reflection. By investigating preconceived notions and searching for new strategies, we aim to dismantle the syntax of today’s urban spaces and expand the definition of interior and exterior forms of architecture.

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The human voice has always been an integrated part of modern art, notably within performance art, sound art and conceptual art. However, this programme starts from the notion of the voice as a single subject. Isn’t the voice, with its capacities to embody and adapt to all disciplines, the ultimate medium?

Master of Voice examines the voice and its prominent role in our post-industrial society. Our students are from different artistic backgrounds, including fine arts, design, choreography, dance, theatre, performance, music and documentary and other film. The curriculum combines research, study, experimentation and production in order to develop new artistic forms – individual or collective – which take the human voice as its primary material.

The Master of Voice reflects an increasing interest amongst a new generation of artists and writers, often female, who use the voice – subjectively and objectively – in their work (often described as a means to define their intimate relationship with the computer). This points to a condition: that ‘orality’ – spoken or in written text as the first person – has become a big issue today, a condition which, without doubt, is informed by processes of digitization and new technologies.

Taking the human voice into consideration could lead to new paradigms of the relation between technology and what is human. The Master of Voice provides an environment for this investigation.

The idea for Reinventing Daily Life started with the observation that the gap between common life and the performing and other arts has become bigger in the last few decades. This raises questions about the romantic idea of the artist as the autonomous and only starting point of a work, focusing on the aesthetic result and not on the capacity that is needed for creating connections with the community in which they live.

Reinventing Daily Life investigates the connections between performing arts and daily life, between people and art, between society and the artist. During this Temporary Programme we will dive into the role of the artist and integrate the process of connecting as a new part of the artistic process; taking it as a point of departure. Students are on a quest for pressing questions and issues that people are struggling with and to make a connection between the autonomous power of their work and the audience. Reinventing Daily Life functions as a laboratory where we find ways to improve the quality of life with the result of integrated fantasy and creativity. Starting from the world of music and theatre, but with a multidisciplinary group of artists, we offer alternatives for what is common and normalised in order to eventually attribute to a new status quo.

The participants, guests, tutors and head of Reinventing Daily Life work predominantly as a collective, but there will be a lot of focus on the personal creative process as well. Guest tutors from theatre, music, visual arts, philosophy and other relevant fields propose assignments that are inspired by their experiences. Each course includes many joint and solo presentations in an organised communal space, always embedded in environments outside the academic structure. In addition, there are lectures and the viewing of theatre productions, installations, performances and exhibitions through a critical lens.