During the past year, participants have discussed their respective projects, approaches, methods, dilemmas and possible outcomes in monthly meetings chaired by Janneke Wesseling. On Friday 13 May from 14.00-17.00h they will share the various directions their projects have taken during a public programme which comprises short lectures and performances. There will be ample opportunity for group discussion and the afternoon will be concluded with informal drinks.

The presentations are open to anyone interested in doing research undertaken within the context of the Royal Academy of Art, including students of all departments.

PROGRAM

14.15-14.30
Introduction by Janneke Wesseling on the aims and the set up of the Research Group.

14.30-15.00
Ewoud van Rijn – Fine Arts I am (not…)
The research project ‘The Archaic Revival Research’ by Van Rijn, teacher at the KABK department of Fine Arts, sheds light on the relationship between contemporary art practices and spiritual practices. Van Rijn departs from the question of how spiritual practices manifest in our time, how they influence our thinking and doing and from which historical cultural developments they are incurred. To this purpose, research, play and ritual are brought together in a setting which allows participation and contributions from the public. Van Rijn has developed a ritual game that helps participants to travel into their imagination, activated through and propelled by guided meditation, shamanic journeying and storytelling.

15.00-15.30
Judith van IJken – Photography Reconsidering the making of the photographic portrait
Van IJken combines an art practice with lectures and workshops at art schools, such as St Joost Masters in Breda, Parsons School of Design in New York and a teaching position in the third and fourth year of the Photography Department at the KABK. Her research project departs from the observation that today, more than ever before, we are surrounded by pictures of ourselves. What is the influence of this (hyper)consciousness of the representation of the Self on the development of the photographic portrait? This question encouraged her to engage in a sequence of actions and reflections in which making and thinking actively coalesce.

15.30-16.00
Els Kuijpers – Graphic Design Staging the message – mentalities in [visual] communication
Kuijpers is critic, teacher and curator in the field of visual communication and culture. At the KABK department of Graphic Design, she teaches ‘visual culture - theory, history, discourse’. Kuijpers regards design (like writing) as cultural (that is: value) production, an interest that stems from the assumption that language (visual and textual) constructs meaning in dynamic, social processes. This afternoon, she will deliver a short lecture based on a text she wrote for a publication about the Dutch design duo of Richard Niessen and Esther de Vries (forthcoming). This text is part of her overall project entitled ‘The politics of design: the liberating potential of communication design in post/modern times – Towards a critical methodology in communication design’.

16.00-16.30
Anja Hertenberger – Interactive/Media/Design Intuition and e-textiles
Anja Hertenberger investigates identity in relation to media, monitoring, control and power. She focuses on the interaction between man and machine, which results in interactive installations, performances and e-textiles. Anja researches her work-praxis in soft electronics / e-textiles. Her project revolved around the question: how can an analytical way of working with electronics and programming be combined with a more intuitive working praxis with material and body movements / body awareness? This afternoon, she will present some of her work in progress.

16.30-17.00
Joost Grootens – PhDArts Why is the blue dot blue?
Grootens is graphic designer and educator. As doctoral student in the PhDArts programme he investigates the influence of digital technology on the graphic language of maps. Digital technology has opened up the domain of cartography. New democratic tools gave access to new players in this field. At the same time a power shift between designer and user can be seen in the information age. Design has ceased to be an exclusive domain of specialists. Digital technologies, new mapping practices and the more significant role of the user resulted in a change of the map’s graphic language

17.00-18.00
Drinks