RASL minor+ 

(This programme is only taught in person, not online—unless specified differently). 
 
How can we learn to approach the complex issues of the 21st century (such as the waste problem, climate crisis, global poverty, etc.)? These issues are of such a different size, complexity, and scale, that dealing with them has to contend with methods, attitudes, and expertise that transcend disciplinary confinements. Alternative futures have to be imagined and visualized, and this can only be achieved through the combination and validation of different bits of knowledge (societal, artistic, academic), through which we can start to create, to re-imagine, and to decompose and recompose. In this minor, students from various fields and backgrounds develop theoretical competences in the area of transdisciplinary research, and together with teachers and societal partners, a setting is created in which theory and practice, and academic and artistic practices interact to identify and reframe a complex societal issue. 

This minor was created to facilitate transdisciplinary learning and collaborative research across and beyond the arts and sciences. While there are many definitions of transdisciplinarity, we use it to allow for different disciplines and knowledge to come together and to explore what happens when they do. We depart from the notion of transdisciplinarity as a means to identify, question, and disrupt existing boundaries and binaries, among which, but not restricted to, the boundaries that separate artistic and scientific disciplines. Through interrogating and dissolving these boundaries, we are curious to find new ways of researching, thinking, and making. 

We do not teach you one specific way of doing collaborative, transdisciplinary research. Instead, we give you the space, examples, insights, and tools to develop your own specific approach to collaborating in a transdisciplinary setting, and continuously reflect on the process. 

What we offer: 
 
Transdisciplinary collaborative skills 
Rethinking language in transdisciplinary collaborations. 
Questioning the limits of your own discipline. 
Mapping complexities. 
Guest lectures by established artists and thinkers. 
A shared studio space for all the students.  
Small excursions. 

 
What we expect: 

The willingness to be proactive in your study trajectory. 
The willingness to collaborate with people from other disciplines. 
Having an individual and collective study approach. 
The willingness to self-organize. 

• You are able to select, map and frame a complex societal concern from a specific angle, through collaborative undisciplinary/transdisciplinary research;  
• You are able to reflect on how you engage with, and position yourself in relation to your fellow students, the researched topic, your audience and the particular context in which you work;  
• You are able to collaboratively develop a transdisciplinary approach for multi-sensory and situated research;  
• You are able to demonstrate how the research relates to existing academic, artistic and/or societal practices.  
• You are able to work and do research in, and from, a particular societal context.  
• You are able to justify and take responsibility for the choices you make throughout the learning and research process. 

This minor is open to WdKA students. Students from other institutes are required to send a portfolio and motivation. You will receive more information about this after you have registered for this minor. We advise students from other institutes to register at least one month before the deadline. The admission procedure takes at least two weeks. In case you are not accepted into the minor, you might need some time to register for another minor.

Deliverables: 

Written research document (2000 words). 
Collaborative project. 

Assessment: 
 
The written document will be individually and asynchronously assessed. 
The artistic component will be assessed after being presented in class.