Content:

Critical Studies brings together artistic expression and social criticism. They may appear unfamiliar to each other at first. Philosophers use words to understand culture, but politically active artists, designers, and educators use objects, actions, and pictures. During this minor, you will discover how society is built on ideologies, norms, and beliefs, and how to critically engage with them in your work as an artist, designer, or teacher. You will comprehend how power dynamics in society result in an unequal distribution of money, social opportunities, and resources based on economic, racial, and gender hierarchies. You'll learn how to utilize art, design, and education to analyze, expose, and challenge power structures.

 

Format:

This minor allows you to focus on specific topics like precarity and care, inequality, decolonization, or institutional critique. You will learn and use techniques like artistic research, reading/desk research, and action research. Additionally, you will choose your own goals and assignments, as well as create your own working techniques, drawing on critical studies, ideas and analytical tools. The result could be an art or design object, a service, a publication (such as artists' books), a multimedia installation, a performance, an exhibition (curatorship), or another kind of project.

Keywords:

Autonomy, cultural emancipation, institutional critique, social justice, equality, decolonization, critical theory, intersectionality.

 

Goals:

• Explore and delve deeper into areas of interest that intersect with one or more critical theories relevant to the identified keywords.
• Question, address, and actively seek to rectify existing hierarchies and power structures within the chosen domains.
• Develop strategic tactics aimed at challenging established norms while engaging in innovative and autonomous ways of doing theory through the practice of artistic research.

Learning outcomes

•  You can create a visual work that is research-based and expresses your artistic vision.
• Through artistic research, you can examine, analyse, interpret, problematize, position, and evaluate your own work and work process, as well as that of others.
• You can keep an active and critical attitude toward the environment in which you create and present your work.
• In a collaborative effort, you actively help to create an artistic product or process.
• You can critically examine and challenge power structures in society through your work.

Research Methods:

Artistic research, reading/desk research, action research.

External partners :

Students interact with professionals at the intersections of DIWO (Do It With Others), bottom-up, and collaborative work through quest lectures, collaborations, and short excursions. The program aligns with ongoing discussions in Autonomous Practices, emphasizing the meaning of autonomous creative practice. Dialogues and engagements with local organizations and self-organizing practices continue, resulting in a comprehensive learning experience.

Deliverables & Assessment:

• · Written research document (max. 2000 words).
• An atistic project.
• The written document will be evaluated individually and asynchronously.
• The artistic component will be assessed after being presented in class.

Entry requirements (Non WdKA students HR + KOM)::

• · This minor is open to WdKA students.
• Students from other institutes at Hogeschool Rotterdam are required to respond to a few written questions.
• You will receive more information once you have registered for this minor.

 

Goals:

• Explore and delve deeper into areas of interest that intersect with one or more critical theories relevant to the identified keywords.
• Question, address, and actively seek to rectify existing hierarchies and power structures within the chosen domains.
• Develop strategic tactics aimed at challenging established norms while engaging in innovative and autonomous ways of doing theory through the practice of artistic research

Learning outcomes:

•  You can create a visual work that is research-based and expresses your artistic vision.
• Through artistic research, you can examine, analyse, interpret, problematize, position, and evaluate your own work and work process, as well as that of others.
• You can keep an active and critical attitude toward the environment in which you create and present your work.
• In a collaborative effort, you actively help to create an artistic product or process.
  You can critically examine and challenge power structures in society through your work.

Entry requirements (Non WdKA students HR + KOM):

·This minor is open to WdKA students. Students from other institutes at Hogeschool Rotterdam are required to respond to a few written questions. You will receive more information once you have registered for this minor.

 

Deliverables & Assessment:

• Written research document (max. 2000 words).
• An atistic project.
• The written document will be evaluated individually and asynchronously.
• The artistic component will be assessed after being presented in class.

Are you a student from another educational institution and you want to take a minor at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, you can apply in 2 steps as follows:

1)     Register for the minor of your choice via the blue button Enroll. You can find this button at the top right of the minor's page.

Download and fill in the learning agreement

Submit this learning agreement to the Exam Board of your study programme.

Once the Board of Examiners has given its approval, please register for the minor in step 2 no later than 23 may 2025

 

2)    After approval, register in OSIRIS Aanmelding of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences via the link below (create an account first).

           https://osiris.hr.nl/osiris_aanmeld_hrprd/WelkomPagina.do?proces=KOM2509&opleiding=MINOR-WDK-VT+00

Part of the registration process is to upload the following documents:

-   The learning agreement signed by you and by your institution;

-   A scan or photo of your passport or ID card;

You will receive a message from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences whether your application has been positively assessed or not.

In OSIRIS Aanmelding, you must also upload the Evidence Paid Tuition Fee (BBC) for the academic year in which you want to follow the minor. You can request the BBC from your institution after you have signed or issued an authorization for the payment of the tuition fees for the academic year in which you want to take the minor.

You will receive a message from Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences when your application has been approved.