VAV

What you will learn during the programme is to translate an idea into an image and to communicate through images. You will learn to adopt a position within current social developments in the worlds of art and film and the digital world. Another important part of the programme is learning to plan, organise and produce your own work. The department uses an audio-visual workshop and a media lab, and students are instructed in various software programs. Work is carried out based on the belief in a relationship between the different disciplines. A painter who has grappled with film will make different paintings, and vice versa. Apart from the assignments, your participation in various projects is also important, both within the school as an exercise in collaboration and organisation, and outside the school, as a confrontation with the outside world. While the development of autonomous work is the focus within the department, a student can also develop in a more practice-oriented direction within the available spectrum.

Courses offered

Various disciplines are taught in the department, including visual arts, video, new media, film, animation, audio, and art & film history.

Study structure

First specialisation year

During the first specialisation year, classes will be taught in small groups. All subjects are compulsory. You will also take most of the technical courses in this year. During the first year, students will work on a project led by two lecturers, leading to an exhibition in the former gym of the Rietveld building. In addition, you will also go on regular excursions during your first specialisation year.

Second and third specialisation year

During the second and third specialisation year, you will register for individual or group discussions with lecturers, and you will have an opportunity to take part in projects and excursions. If desired, you can take part in an exchange programme or undertake a work placement. A number of rooms in the department can be booked as project rooms, and students may also use a small study room from the third year.

Third specialisation year

During the third specialisation year or final examination year, you will gradually work towards the final examination exhibition. The lecturers consider it important that you continue to research and experiment in relation to the theme you have found, and produce your final examination work based on this attitude. External examiners will be invited to provide their views on the work for the final examination. The examination will be concluded with a large exhibition of all of that year’s final examination students, in the Academy’s buildings at the end of June, which will be open to the public.

Projects

Projects are an important teaching tool in the third and fourth year. They can be projects within or outside the Academy, led by one or more lecturers or guest lecturers. Such a project may, for example, focus on performance, building installations, filming or making an exhibition. During the study programme, you will regularly visit museums and galleries, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Visits to the Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht and the Film Festival in Rotterdam are standard parts of the curriculum. in May an excursion of several days will be organised to a city that is of interest due to an exhibition, film festival or other event.

Theory

In the VAV department you will be taught art history, film history and philosophy. The theory taught in the final examination year is characterised by reflection on your own development in relation to visual art, but also to film, audio, music or literature. As a theoretical final project, students will give lectures to their lecturers and fellow students. In addition to the lectures given by the department’s lecturers, lectures will also regularly be given by invited guests, such as artists, former students and art critics. Lecture subjects vary from students’ own work, art history and philosophical or ideological subjects to lessons on specific techniques. The Studium Generale is also a standard part of the theory education in the VAV department. The Studium Generale provides a general historical context concerning current themes in the contemporary international art world. The Studium Generale brings in prominent speakers from the Netherlands and abroad to give lectures. For more information, see Studium Generale

Work placement and exchange

Students may take part in exchange programmes and undertake work placement during the second specialisation year, but this is not compulsory. At the beginning of the third year, students will be given the opportunity to take part in an intensive period of work abroad. Through the European Exchange Academy in Beelitz near Berlin (an initiative of Harry Heyink, one of our lecturers), students will be given the opportunity to spend a month working with students of other academies from surrounding European countries. This programme is supervised by lecturers of the different academies. The period will be concluded with a presentation in the form of an exhibition.