Contexts & Situatedness MINOR

Tutors:

Bruno Setola

Peter Kalkman

Do you want to challenge the status quo, create innovative tools, and shape our shared future in ways you never imagined? Are you seeking for meaning and value in your work? Do you wonder what it means to make a living from art and design practices in these times of transition? This minor equips you with tools and methods to navigate the interconnections of technology, culture, identity, and community.

In the minor Contexts & Situatedness we don’t offer you a theme or subject. Instead, you bring your own. What do you want to work on, what is your passion, and what concerns you in the world? That forms the starting point of your minor. We help you to research that content through exploring the contexts they are part of and help you to understand how you can create value with it. You will develop a research and prototyping trajectory, connecting ways of observing and understanding the world, to artistic experimenting. We help you to put your work in the context of market trends, discourses, and societal concerns, and to create value, for yourself as well as for the world.

What we offer:
On a practical level, the program of the Minor Context and Situatedness is structured into two interrelated components. A practice-based course where you develop your project prototype. Context research, a theory-based course where you analyse your work and research interconnecting cultures and contexts, classes will consist of workshops and individual guidance meetings. You will also formulate your position within a broad professional domain. Added to this program, guest lectures are organised covering relevant topics, as well as related external art/museum/institution visits.  

Learning Outcomes:

• You are able to position your work in a relevant societal context and add value to that context.
• You are able to use design as a critical tool to question everyday contexts, both current realities as well as possible futures.
• ·You are able to experiment and critically interrogate the role of design/artistic tools, technologies, and approaches within various contexts (e.g. space, time, and culture).
• You can re flect on and experiment with alternative modes of organization and production
• ·You are able to make work that creates not only economic value, but also social, cultural, and environmental value.

What we expect: We expect students to engage with the group discussions and your peers and to have a self-driven initiative. You will be taking ownership of your project. A show and share attitude are required for the creative process . Experiment, trial and error, test. Open to collaborative and interdisciplinary working environments. Open to critical -constructive feedback. Be present.

Research methods and approaches:

• Critical thinking, systemic thinking, value creation, artistic research, field research, production -material research, concept development, prototyping, testing, and positioning.

Deliverables:

• Concept Prototype
• ·Process document (physical-visual collection of all your process and research)
• Research document (3000 words max.)
• ·Pitching presentation during the assessment week
• A collective final public presentation is required.

Working method:

• Collaborative and individual

Assessment:

•  Individual

PPLICATION PROCESS (KOM)

Are you a student from another educational institution and would you like to follow a minor at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences? If so, you must apply in two steps:

Step 1
Register for the minor of your choice via the blue Apply button. You can find this button at the top right of the minor’s page.
Download the learning agreement and complete it.
Submit this learning agreement to the examination board of your study programme.
Once the examination board has granted approval, register for the minor in Step 2 no later than 01-07-2025 at 9:00 a.m.

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

https://osiris.hr.nl/osiris_aanmeld_hrprd/Welkom.do?proces=KOM2609&opleiding=MINOR-WDK-VT 00

Part of the application process is uploading 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 be informed by Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences whether your application has been approved.

In OSIRIS Application, you must also upload the Proof of Paid Tuition Fee (BBC) for the academic year in which you wish to follow the minor. This can be done from 01 May 2026onwards. You can request the BBC from your institution after you have signed or issued an authorization for the payment of the tuition fee for the relevant academic year. You may also choose the option for your institution to send the BBC directly to collegegeld@hr.nl.

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