Magazine ArtEZ Theatre & Dance 2025

Magazine ArtEZ Academy of Theatre & Dance

ArtEZ University of the Arts (ArtEZ Press, 2025)

Texts: Iris Janssen, Fabiola Camuti, Janneke Duister, Arjen Hosper, Iris Peters, Marijn van der Jagt, Lotte van den Berg, Maritska Witte, Kir Robben and Jasmijn van Meurs, Pavlos Kontouriotis and Andrea Pagnes

Translation: Textual

Photography: Olivier Kriek, Fabiola Camuti, Edwin Smits, Joep van Aert, Niek van Remmerden, Rolf Hensel, David Berg, Steef Kersbergen, Jesper Pouw, Sjoerd Derine, Maritska Witte, Studio Blauw Rood

Art Direction: Meester Ontwerpers

Design: Studio Remco van Baren

Studio Rachelle Jeuring

Studio Laura Swart

Editing and final editing: Marijn van der Jagt

Coordination: Jan Smeets

Printing: Drukmotief

A word in advance

We are proud to present this magazine, an inspiring overview of the lessons we have learnt in recent years and the ideas we are using to shape the future. It is not a traditional retrospective, but a result of the insights and visions that emerged during our journey with the Plan Kwaliteitsafspraken (PKA, Plan for Quality Agreements). We used this additional investment, which is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), for long-term improvements to our education.

In this magazine, we not only look at what has been achieved, but especially at how these achievements prepare us for a meaningful future. In recent years, we have worked on projects that put inclusion, flexibility, innovation and collaboration at the centre. These themes were organised within circles targeting Diversity & Inclusion, Mapping the Work Field, Student Support, Technology and Flexibility. These circles were not only places for knowledge sharing, but also dynamic networks where students, teachers, alumni and external partners met. They provided us with a structure to thoroughly explore fundamental issues and take meaningful steps towards an inclusive and flexible learning environment.

Projects like Who am I not? by Fabiola Camuti, Pleasure Island 2024 and the collaboration with Speels Collectief (Playful Collective) show how art can inspire and challenge. The collaboration between the Dance Artist programme and the School of Drama illustrates how interdisciplinarity strengthens our programmes and prepares students for a multifaceted field of work. At the same time, initiatives like the Future Storytelling Lab and the publication SHIFT have brought technology and performing arts closer together, not only enriching the present but also laying a foundation for future innovations.

Inclusion is a core value reflected in many of our projects. Whether it is Scalabor Bruist (Scalabor Sparkles), where inclusion in dance took on a new dimension, or the HOME module Bodies in Dissent, which brings together performance and social issues: these initiatives highlight our commitment to making art accessible to all. We are proud of the way we have broken down barriers and created space for diversity, both on stage and off.

In addition, our collaborations with external partners, such as in Rabat and with Burgers’ Zoo, have been important anchor points. These projects have shown how we connect with society and the field outside our walls, allowing students to place their practice in

a broader context. With our site-specific courses in Arnhem, Belfast and Rabat, we give plenty of room for that. The Leerpodium (Learning Stage), which in the meantime has won an onderwijspremie (Dutch education award), has provided a platform for both learning and creating, helping to strengthen the relationship between education and the field.

This magazine is also a moment of reflection. The stories of Arjen Hosper, who became director of the Podiumkunsten (Performing Arts) department at Hogeschool Zuyd (a university of applied sciences in Maastricht), and the ‘key moments’ of our students and teachers, remind us that our work is more than implementing projects. It is a shared vision: to train artists who make an impact, push boundaries and inspire the world around them.

We invite you to become part of this movement Together, we can build a future where art, education and society go hand in hand, and where every step forward offers a new opportunity to grow and connect.

Maritska Witte, director Academie Theater en Dans (Academy of Theatre and Dance)

A Retrospective with Pride

Arjen Hosper

He helped shape the renewed Artist Educator programmes, the digital community Leerpodium (Learning Stage) and No University’s multilevel collaboration. With this retrospective, Arjen Hosper bids farewell to ArtEZ.

After almost nine years, it is with pride and gratitude that I bid farewell to ArtEZ. As head of the Artistic Educator in Theatre & Media programme, I have been able to make great strides, together with an inspiring team. I had the privilege to work with talented students full of innovative ideas and enthusiastic colleagues who make a difference with their great passion and creativity. Together, we transformed the programme from Drama Teacher to a contemporary and innovative profile: Artist Educator in Theatre & Media.

When I started at ArtEZ, I stepped into a world that inspired me from the first moment onwards. Led by Gaby Allard, director of the Academy of Theatre and Dance, we had in-depth discussions on the network society and circular valorisation. These ideas became my compass, a solid foundation that gave direction to the course I was going to chart with my colleagues. Together with my colleague Cormac Burmania, we were given the challenging task of redesigning our Drama Teacher programmes. At the time, these programmes were closely intertwined and both required their own distinctive profile. We began our journey as young pioneers, determined to create innovative and futureorientated programmes. With my team in Zwolle, I opted for a fundamental review of the curriculum, testing and assessments, inspired by a circular approach.

A change in course full of challenges

This journey required bold steps and sweeping changes. We transformed teaching from subject-oriented to integral, with large projects, design thinking and prototyping as core methodologies. Iterative working and circular processes became the basis of our educational concept. My dream was to create an environment where students not only learn from teachers, but also from each other – and where teachers in turn learn from their students. Step by step, we realised this vision together. In the social-artistic work and during field orientations, the programme already made frequent use of visualisations of networks and communities. The corridors regularly filled with impressive overviews of subject areas and structures of neighbourhoods, which

fitted perfectly with network thinking and the principles of circular valorisation. This led to the introduction of mapping, a methodology to visually explore networks, communities and knowledge. It grew into a new way of thinking.

As a theatre maker with a background in mixed media, I knew how important technology is for art and education. For this reason we created a studio where students were free to experiment with projection, sound design and new technologies. This space became an incubator for innovation, bringing together opportunities for theatre, installations and film. It even led to a new module: Artist Educator in Film, accessible to all educational programmes within ArtEZ.

A digital transformation

Testing was no longer seen as separate from practice, but as an integral and developmental part of the learning process. We developed assessments in which students could show their progress, which encouraged reflection and strengthened the connection with the field. To support this process of renewal, a digital transformation was needed. In the early days, everything was still on paper. Would we be able to create a digital environment where students share their work, receive feedback and build a community?

Through my network, I discovered Leerpodium (Learning Stage). Together with students and colleagues, I had the chance to experiment and develop it further. What started out as a small-scale initiative grew into a broad working method within ArtEZ. This platform has now gained recognition; together with the AHK, we received an education innovation award for it. This award will allow ArtEZ to further develop Leerpodium into a fully-fledged digital community: a place where learning and collaboration come together effortlessly.

Cooperation across borders

One of the most extraordinary projects I was privileged to contribute to is No University. Drawing on Jeroen Lutters’ thinking, which seeks to break down the boundaries of traditional education, I explored how we can renew education by engaging in collaborations outside the beaten track. To what goal? Contributing to solutions for the big challenges of the future – the so-called wicked problems.

With No University, we brought together students from different levels and from arts as well as science disciplines to jointly discover new perspectives and solutions. A highlight was organising NEXT GENERATION, a two-day event in cooperation with the Zwolle municipality. At this event, artists, scientists and students explored how art can play a role in the transition to a sustainable and resilient society. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved with NEXT GENERATION. It was an inspiring example of how education, research and art can reinforce each other to tackle complex issues.

From this emerged the Future Storytelling Lab (FSL), a place where students from various programmes can research new technologies. With support from the quality funds, this lab has been given a solid foundation and now has its own office and studio in the Spoorzone innovation area. There, students experience what it is like to work in a professional environment and meet like-minded people who share their passion for innovation and technology. I hope these initiatives will grow into a fully-fledged centre of excellence.

On to Zuyd Hogeschool

From January 2025, I will be the director of performing arts at Zuyd Hogeschool. There, I get to manage the Drama Academy and the Conservatory of Music in Maastricht. Although I have mixed feelings about saying goodbye to ArtEZ, I am looking forward to this new challenge. What I learned at ArtEZ I will take along with me: the importance of connection, experimentation and the power of art education. At Zuyd, I want to continue building an environment where art continues to inspire and enrich.

I look back on my time at ArtEZ with deep gratitude. To my colleagues, students and all partners: you have inspired and challenged me and made me grow. This does not feel like a farewell, but more as a see you soon again. And the legacy we created together – from Leerpodium to No University and Future Storytelling Lab – will live on. That makes me proud. My new position at Zuyd will be a new chapter, but the experiences of the past nine years remain a source of inspiration.

De Mapping Method

“Mapping literally means: putting information on a map,” explains Lex Prinzen. “This can be as simple as visualising your own timeline.

“The Mapping Method helps students formulate and use the places or people they are connected with or want to touch on.“

Where do you come from?

Where have you been

What are your experiences?

Who did you meet on your life journey?

“Students learn to become aware of all the knowledge and experience they already carry with them, and how those develop.”

The art

Mapping for social change

Using three mapping tools, students get to work on mapping and maintaining their personal network:

Sharing knowledge

Learning to connect with your network and share knowledge from personally gained experiences.

Mapping the field

Mapping your network within the socio-artistic field.

Soft Mapping

For example, collecting personal stories from the neighbourhood in which you are active for an artistic project Alumna and drama teacher-researcher Dieuwke Slump is part of an ArtEZ circle concerned with mapping. Sharing knowledge is often a hierarchical and top-down process. Instead, this circle adopts a horizontal collaboration between students, teachers, alumni and the media library, with the aim of further shaping mapping for education. Dieuwke researches mapping and explains why the method brings about social change in addition to personal change:

“Power structures that exclude what deviates from the white, healthy, heterosexual cis male norm are deeply embedded in our society and the art world. Fortunately, there is a movement going on that positions other perspectives alongside that norm. I believe that conscious and artistic mapping, and thus sharing and making visible personal knowledge, experiences, stories and resources, contributes to this movement.”

ofVisual and communicative tools for a strong and artistic network

A strong network is an important part of successful artistic entrepreneurship. If it were up to internship coordinator Lex Prinzen, such a web of connections should form already before graduation. With first-year students of the Artist Educator programmes in Theatre and in Media, he will work on mapping skills that will ensure arts start-ups have a soft landing in the field.

Visualise your information

By making your network visual, you activate both hemispheres of the brain. This way, you establish a professional structure while learning to recognise personal connections and patterns.

Your existing network is bigger than you think

Which professionals do you know? What social media connections do you have? Who do you know from the past? Be aware of which contacts you have.

Do research within your area of interest

Actively research and visualise which organisations and individuals work in a way similar to yours or in a way you want to know more about.

Plot out your network and actively use it

Who is in your phone contacts? How do you keep someone’s personal info and what do you include? How can that person help you?

Tips for mapping

With the help of good artistic connections, you have a stronger position in the field. Lex Prinzen has some practical tips for building a strong network.

Encounters are relevant

As early as during your studies, connect with networks inside and outside school. What expertise do you find there? Which relevant people will you meet? Consider guest lecturers, discussion partners and facilitators.

A website or database helps make information about you or others clear. Consider the purpose and how you want to make information and data clear. Digitise your network

Your network keeps moving

A good network grows with your development. Participate in social artistic gatherings, informative app groups, go on a walk where you exchange knowledge and archive all the information you gather.

Studio Ravenna Buijs

Who am I (not)?

Exploring identity through artistic research

At the invitation of Dance Artist, guest lecturer Fabiola Camuti developed the project Who am I (not)?, based on her knowledge of artistic research and her experience working with students. She led the project for the second time this year. Camuti is lecturer and professor of Critical Creative Pedagogies at HKU, and sets up research projects at various universities and art schools.

Who am I (not) when I encounter others? What role does artistic research play in this exploration? These are questions I, along with students in the Dance Artist program, explored in the Who am I (not)? project. This course invited students to delve into questions of identity and relationality, helping them understand their roles as artists and individuals in society. In the past two years, I worked with a different group of students each year, dedicating one week to exploring their creative impulses, questioning assumptions, and situating their personal fascinations within broader social and political frameworks. Using methods from Art-Based Learning to exploratory approaches in artistic research, students engaged in a transformative process, discovering that their identities are deeply connected to larger social, political, and cultural dimensions..

The course introduced students to tools for reflecting on creative motivations and considering them within a social context. Art-Based Learning encouraged them to develop personal questions linked to their core as artists and individuals through four reflective steps: formulating a personal question, observing an object in detail, imagining a story inspired by it, and sharing this story collectively (Lutters, 2019). In a traditional ABL setting, participants might select an artwork from a museum, choosing one that intuitively captures their attention rather than the most famous or beautiful piece. Since our sessions took place in a studio, I asked students to bring a personal object that held meaning or simply drew them for any reason. The choices ranged from a favorite spoon to a daily fragrance or even a lighter—everyday items that reflected unique connections. Reflective discussions followed, linking insights back to the original questions, creating a dynamic and open-ended process. This structure moved students beyond conventional thinking toward a more interpretive understanding of their roles and creative impulses. A daily logbook served as a personal journal for documenting activities, discoveries and questions, helping students to reflect on the process and to track their growth.

In this, artistic research was our primary framework, encouraging students to develop research methodologies suited to their unique inquiries while grounded in a shared framework of artistic reflection. Artistic research here involved more than expression; it asked students to cultivate a reflective approach to concepts like research, methodology, and data. Artistic research benefits from a shared language and collaborative understanding (Hübner, 2024). This collaborative and reflective practice encouraged students to connect personal passions with broader social and cultural themes, helping them see their practice as a meaningful contribution to public discourse.

The project also focused on how artistic identity intersects with professional practice and political awareness. Students engaged with the feminist concept of “The Personal is Political,” which frames personal experience as inherently linked to societal structures (Hanisch, 1969/2006). This perspective supported them in recognizing their individual stories and creative work as parts of larger systems. Similarly, the idea of “Situated Knowledges” reinforced that knowledge is shaped by specific social and cultural contexts (Haraway, 1988). These frameworks encouraged students to see their creative inquiries as subjective, challenging them to appreciate multiple perspectives over a single, objective narrative.

Autoethnography emerged as a particularly valuable tool, bridging the personal (auto) with the social or political (ethno) through expressive form (graphy) (Camuti & van der Schaar, forthcoming in 2025). Through autoethnography, students explored how their personal narratives could reflect and even challenge social norms, positioning their creative work within a socially aware framework that deepened their research practices.

Several key themes emerged. Embodied knowledge allowed students to recognize that dance, as an embodied art form, communicates complex social narratives, challenging norms and generating empathy. This understanding underscored the idea that dance is a powerful medium (also) for political expression.

Fabiola Camuti

Social and political engagement became a core insight, helping students see themselves not only as individual artists but as contributors within larger social frameworks, understanding the potential of their work to inspire critical reflection and social awareness. Finally, collaborative and reflective growth was essential. Through group discussions, presentations, and logbook reflections, students developed a shared vocabulary around artistic research, equipping them with tools for articulating complex ideas and building community. The journey we embarked together on Who am I (not)? aimed at fostering self-inquiry, social awareness, and reflective practices. It invited us to view ourselves as both individual and socially engaged artists resarchers. By evolving from a structured Art-Based Learning approach

References

◊ Camuti F. and A. van der Schaar, ‘Autoethnography in Performance Studies: The performativity of queer parenting,’ in Interdisciplinary Handbook of Performance Research Methods, redactie Laura Karreman en Liesbeth Groot-Nibbelink, Open Book Publisher (verwacht in 2025).

◊ Hanisch, C. (1969/2006). The Personal is Political. https://www.carolhanisch.org/ CHwritings/PIP.html

◊ Haraway, D. (1988). ‘Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.’ Feminist Studies. Vol. 14, No. 3 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 575-599

◊ Hübner, F. (2024). Artistic Research. Methods, Methodology and Research Design. Routledge

◊ Lutters, J. (2019). In the Shadow of the Art Work. Art-Based Learning in Practice. Amsterdam: Valiz.

to a broader framework in artistic research, we have together explored different ways of connecting personal narratives with wider social and political contexts, highlighting the value of including personal experiences in the artistic research process, and pointing out the difficulties and the vulnerabilities such work entails. This reflective and socially aware experiment offered a foundation for further exploration of identity, situatedness, and creative expression, supporting students as they navigate the complex intersections of artistic identity and social consciousness. I am deeply grateful to have been a part of this process, witnessing the students’ growth and their ongoing exploration of identity, art, and society.

The power of interdisciplinary working in

theatre and dance

The growing collaboration between the Dance Artist programme and the School of Drama offers ArtEZ students a unique opportunity to take their physical expression and performativity to new heights. Here, the magic of interdisciplinary work becomes reality, boundaries between dance and theatre get blurred, and students are challenged to discover themselves as multifaceted performers.

Iris Janssen

What makes the collaboration between a dance and drama programme so powerful? It is the dialogue that emerges between both disciplines. For the Dance Artist programme, it is about developing the dancer’s performativity: the ability to tell a story through movement. For the School of Drama, the focus is on the physical development of the actor: learning to use the body as an instrument. Together, these programmes create a space where dancers and actors complement, inspire and challenge each other.

In the lessons and projects offered to the students, they not only encounter new techniques, but also new perspectives. Dancers and actors work together, learn from each other’s expertise and develop themselves in a creative exchange that enriches their work as artists. The collaboration between teachers from both programmes, such as Hendrik Aerts from the School of Drama and Reut Aviran from the Dance Artist programme, reinforces this cross-pollination of ideas and techniques. The result? Students who not only deepen their own discipline but also experience the power of interdisciplinary work. They learn that dance and theatre are not mutually exclusive, but rather mutually reinforcing.

More complete performers

“Dancers and actors are increasingly working together. Interdisciplinary work is more a standard than an exception,” says Ernst Braches, director of the School of Drama. “The collaboration between actors and dancers focuses on enriching each other’s craft through interdisciplinarity,” adds Hendrik Aerts. “The aim is not to emulate each other completely in technique and craft, but to understand and learn from each other’s ‘language’. Actors and dancers keep to their own expertise, but influence and enrich each other in their approach: actors learn abstract physical thinking and dancers develop their capacity for contact and psychology. Actors learn through body training and improvisation techniques to deepen their acting and become physically expressive, while dancers learn to work from a broader, conceptual framework and connect interactively. Joint investigations,

“Dancers and actors are increasingly working together Interdisciplinary work is more a standard than an exception.”

Ernst Braches, School of drama

Image: Olivier Kriek

in lessons and by working together, bring both disciplines together, creating a balance between abstraction and intention, thought and physical action. The interaction makes for more complete performers and synergistic collaboration.”

Sytze

Bouma and Sofia Norman’s artistic encounter

A striking example of this special collaboration is the story of Sytze Bouma, alumnus of the School of Drama, and Sofia Norman, alumna from Dance Artist. Sytze recalls the first time he worked with dancers: “In my first year, we had a course together called ‘Kinesthetic Awareness’. It was the moment I started to understand how important it is to know your body as an instrument, especially as an actor.”

In his second year, Sytze really began to experience the power of dance. “The first time I had the feeling of physical expression was during the dynamic training classes; the duets project took that to a new level. It was a journey of discovery that made me look at my own body in a different way. It became clear to me how important physical expression is in storytelling.”

In his third year, Sytze was introduced to the work of Dance Artist student Sofia Norman. “Sofia had created a performance where she gave the audience headphones and made them shake hands with a partner. The handshake lasted as long as the music played. It was the first time I really felt how strong performative presence can be. It wasn’t about text or words; it was about the physical experience you created.”

This moment set something in motion for Sytze. It inspired him to approach Sofia for their joint graduation project: ONDIER (BEAST). In this duet, together they explored the interaction between language and movement, physical and emotional. The performance, which was infused with experimentation in form and expression, uniquely brought together their artistic visions.

Playing makers and making players

“What I learned from working with Sofia,” Sytze says, “is how important it is to give space to different perspectives. We were both creators and players at the same time. We gave each other feedback and made each other stronger. It was a process of discovery and growth, during which I learnt a lot about myself.” For Sytze, this collaboration was crucial to his development as a maker and performer. It allowed him to push his creative boundaries and collaborate with someone who had a completely different approach to creating and performing.

After graduating, Sytze is still active as a performer and maker. He is currently working on a new solo performance in which he is once again both maker and player. The play, written and created by Sytze, is about a drag performer who used to live in his parents’ house in Amsterdam. It will be shown at the Café Theaterfestival (Café Theatre Festival) in Utrecht in March. It is directed by Mara van Vlijmen. “The physical aspect of my work will always remain part of who I am as a maker,” he says. “It is an unmistakable part of how I tell stories.”

Last season, Sytze also worked at MAAS Theater en Dans (Theatre and Dance), where he was on the floor with dancers, mimes and actors. Next spring at KASKO, he will again be part of an interdisciplinary group, with singers, dancers and actors this time. “I will stick to working in an interdisciplinary way, because that cross-pollination of disciplines keeps inspiring me.”

A unique opportunity for those choosing what they will study

For possible future students looking for a programme in which they can push their physical and performative boundaries, the collaboration between the School of Drama and Dance Artist offers a unique opportunity. In this environment, disciplines merge and students learn not only about themselves but also about others. They are given the tools to develop as versatile, multidisciplinary artists who grow physically as well as creatively and personally.

Bodies in Dissent: A Module on Transgression, Care, and Diffraction

Dr Pavlos Kountouriotis & Andrea Pagnes

In the Performance Practices master’s course, students explore the intersection of performance studies, dance, social sciences, politics, psychoanalysis and philosophy to uncover the transformational potential of performance. The module Bodies in Dissent delves into the socio-political and philosophical dimensions of performance art, with transgression as a central theme. Curator Dr Pavlos Kountouriotis and co-teacher Andrea Pagnes explain what the module entails.

The Bodies in Dissent module at the HOME OF PERFORMANCE PRACTICES examines the intersections of performance, politics, and philosophy by focusing on acts of dissent that challenge normative conceptions of the body. The students dive into an immersive exploration of artistic revolution, focusing on the body as a site of dissent, resistance, and creative liberation. Curated by Dr Pavlos Kountouriotis and co-taught by Andrea Pagnes, Verena Stenke, Dr. Anja Foerschner, Anushka Nair, and Steef Kersbergen, and himself, this module offers students a platform to engage with critical questions of embodiment, identity, and power through both theoretical inquiry and creative practice. Building on earlier modules like Body in Performance, which examined how the body is disciplined and framed within normative structures, Bodies in Dissent expands this inquiry by encouraging students to critique and transgress these norms through practice-based research. This pedagogical approach intertwines theory, artistic practice, and reflective analysis to provoke bold artistic and intellectual engagements. The culmination of this work takes the form of a collective performance event on January 22nd, followed by a diffractive essay that integrates their practical and intellectual explorations.

Exploring Dissent in Contemporary Contexts

The module delves into the socio-political and philosophical dimensions of performance art, with transgression as a central theme. Through examining historical and contemporary works, students uncover how artists have used their practice to challenge hegemonic ideologies, highlighting systemic exclusion and hierarchical norms. This act of transgression is framed not merely as opposition, but as a liberating methodology—a way of reclaiming agency and dismantling ossified narratives around the body and identity.

The module embraces dissent not as opposition for its own sake, but as a deeply ethical act of care and critique. Rather than imposing another violence on the body, we suggest dissent as a way to nurture intellectual and artistic generosity. The framework invites participants to explore dissent as a mode of inquiry, creating new pathways for understanding and reimagining bodily identities and societal.

By engaging with transgressive performance practices, the module provides a space for students to interrogate the cultural and political mechanisms that regulate bodies. Students examine how performance has historically served as a medium to confront marginalization and injustice, transforming alienation into acts of self-actualization and freedom. In doing so, they are encouraged to position their own creative work as part of a larger conversation about the societal and political conditions shaping our collective existence.

Transgressive performance practices expose the assumptions and ideologies that underlie societal norms, offering alternative perspectives on embodiment and identity. Students are invited to work collectively towards a performance that foregrounds failure, vulnerability, and experimentation as tools for artistic and political engagement.

In addressing transgression, the module also acknowledges the ethical complexities of working with themes that involve the body and subjectivity. Rather than imposing new forms of discipline or violence, the pedagogy emphasizes care, nuance, and attentiveness to the specificities of each student’s practice. This approach aligns with the broader aims of practice-as-research, which seeks to intertwine theory and practice in ways that advance both critical understanding and creative innovation.

Diffractive Thinking and Writing

An important methodological aspect of the module is the shift from reflective to diffractive thinking and writing. Whereas reflective practices often mirror existing frameworks and reinforce binaries, diffractive approaches emphasize entanglement, multiplicity, and the generation of new meanings. In contrast to reflection, which mirrors or analyzes pre-existing ideas, diffraction—rooted in Karen Barad’s concept of intra-action—emphasizes the entangled

emergence of knowledge through relational engagements. Theory and practice do not operate independently but are co-constituted, challenging fixed boundaries and fostering new understandings. Diffraction challenges linear causality and invites participants to consider how their practices and ideas intra-act within broader material-discursive contexts. Students engage with thinkers like Bataille, Kristeva, and Agamben, not by “applying” these theories to their performances but by exploring how theoretical frameworks disrupt, inform, and intra-act with their embodied practices. For instance, a student’s exploration of Kristeva’s abjection might reshape their physical movements in performance, while those movements simultaneously offer new insights into abjection as a material and lived experience. This ongoing dynamic creates what Barad describes as “cutting together-apart,” where theory and practice intersect to generate novel possibilities.

Image: Joana photographed by Steef Kersbergen

Care and Building a Community of Inquiry

A distinctive feature of the Bodies in Dissent module is its emphasis on care as a foundational principle of dissent. Drawing on Jacques Derrida and Anne Dufourmantelle’s reflections on hospitality, the module frames dissent as an act that is simultaneously disruptive and inviting. The etymology of “host” captures this duality, embodying both hostility and the act of welcoming. This tension serves as a metaphor for the pedagogical and artistic processes explored within the module: dissent that is considerate, ethical, and generative.

The learning space is conceived as a “brave space” where intellectual care and critique coexist. Students are encouraged to share their vulnerabilities and to engage with each other as resources for collective learning. This emphasis on relationality reflects a commitment to rethinking dissent not as an isolating act but as a shared practice rooted in mutual respect and dialogue.

The module situates performance-making as a response to a global state of emergency. By fostering an environment of co-creation, it challenges students to identify their urgencies—the personal, social, and political concerns that drive their work. These urgencies are then translated into performance practices that engage with questions of identity, time, and dissent.

The co-creation process is underpinned by a collaborative and transdisciplinary ethos. Students and facilitators engage in constant dialogue, encouraging relational and associative thinking. Exercises focus on sensory exploration, embodied inquiry, and the poetic dimensions of performance, creating opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of themselves and their artistic practices.

In a world marked by increasing polarization and crisis, the Bodies in Dissent module offers a thoughtful and rigorous exploration of how performance can serve as a mode of critical engagement. By foregrounding care, collaboration, and diffractive thinking, the module not only equips students with the tools to navigate complex artistic and intellectual landscapes but also invites them to imagine new possibilities for dissent that are both ethical and transformative.

In this way, the module contributes to broader conversations within higher education and the arts about the role of creativity in fostering critical consciousness and social change. It underscores the potential of performance as a space for encountering difference, challenging norms, and articulating new ways of being in the world.

Image: Zoe photographed by Steef Kersbergen

Key moments: It is so powerful I still apply it

Iris Peters

In a learning process everyone experiences moments that provide important insights. What are those aha moments, and what awareness is it about? Four students and four leading learners from the Artist Educator in Dance programme talk about what was a meaningful moment for them and what triggered it. The head of the programme, Laura Wijnbelt, explains how these key moments help students develop as artist educators.

Image: Edwin Smits

Alyx Huis

Second-year student

“Last year, I was heavily into club and street styles, including hip-hop and the culture around that. It appeals to me that these dancers, coming from an oppressed position, are now increasingly seen on mainstream stages and in the media. Also because I am quite an activist and interested in social issues.

In the second block of the first year, I had to formulate three learning objectives within the Learning Practice course. One of these was to find the topic that has my particular interest and that I want to make my own as an artist educator. The whole programme is about finding your motivation. Could this be street styles?

My educational coach Eva Tremel saw my doubt and said: ‘You still have two years to figure out what you like. Go gain experience first, try out different dance styles and then choose who you want to work with and in which way. You are always unique in how you combine experiences.’ This confirmed what I actually felt inside. I didn’t want to limit myself to one direction or dance style right away.

In the background, there is still the question of what exactly my thing is but it is less of an obstacle and actually helps me find my way. Although it is quite scary to try out new things, I am now opening myself up more to this. With each project, I take away something that inspires me and get rid of what doesn’t suit me. Later, in my work as an artist educator, all the knowledge, experiences and inspirations will definitely come together in some way.

I still enjoy taking hip-hop classes and ArtEZ is increasingly integrating street styles into the programme. The programme is attracting a more diverse group of students. Maybe I will do something with entrepreneurship and how it can be more inclusive, which is also interesting.”

Chiel Guiamo

“How do video and dance get equal roles in a performance? And how do we make the audience wonder: ‘What is happening here?’ This issue was the basis of a performance I developed with four others for the Dance in Media course last year. We didn’t want to convey a clear story. It was all about the atmosphere. So we ended up with a 360-degree video with an abstract edit and trippy visual effects, which we projected onto the two side walls and the back wall of the studio. Our heads were illuminated, allowing you to see facial expressions as our bodies danced in the dark. Responses showed that everyone saw something different in it. Someone interpreted our cramped movements as the hurried city life. Another thought our heads depicted reality and our bodies imagined thoughts. Everyone had their own story, and they were all true. Because everyone is always looking from their own experiences. So why not give room to that?

Sometimes dance seems to lean more towards entertainment. It is quite common for the audience to sit down in the auditorium, read the programme booklet and afterwards talk about how the idea of the performance was shaped. I believe a performance stays in mind longer when the audience is more actively involved and there is room for everyone’s own imagination and emotions.

A visual artist who creates abstract work does not always explain what you can see in it either. With an untitled artwork, onlookers feel invited to think for themselves what it could possibly be about. I am keen on thinking how much and what information about the underlying idea is good to share with the audience. Next year I’ll explore how best to achieve this.”

Third-yearstudent

Image: Edwin Smits

Madelief Koster

“My key moment is not necessarily a fun moment. Still, it gave me an important insight. On the evening of 10 September 2024, I was out on the town with some friends. It was already late, walking home tired, when I opened my phone and saw that Michaela DePrince had died. She was the Sierra Leonean-American ballet dancer who had to fight for her place in a white ballet world and eventually reached the world’s top.

The news touched me and immediately took me back to the time when I was doing the preparatory programme for dance in Tilburg. Everything was judged there. We were given a mark for everything, such as how high you could hold your leg. My body is not the most perfect ballet body, so for me this programme was quite difficult at times.

At the dance school I went to after the preparatory programme, Michaela gave a workshop one day. She was world-famous and yet had remained quite normal. She told me to just keep dancing and stay close to myself. This now motivates me to break social representation of dance. The image is that dancing must be tough and you have to give up everything for it. But everyone can be a full-fledged dancer in their own right.

As an artist educator in dance, I want to be at the centre of society and inspire others. Dance connects people. People who might otherwise never get into contact with each other. It’s all about using your body in your own way and letting others look with an open mind. That people can see each other the way they are, and appreciate each other. If we pull this off, it will have a huge impact. This programme has made me more confident. I have the confidence that I am worth it and that I have value to share.”

First-year student

Niklas

Dirkes

First-year student

“Where I come from, it is unusual for boys to dance. I didn’t know any other boy in the whole city who took dance classes, like me. Some of my family members and friends disapproved. They thought dancing was more for girls. I understood that for them I was different, but why didn’t they just let me do what I liked? Why did they have to bully me?

During my preparatory programme for dance in Germany, I was always concerned with what the teacher expected of me. I never felt I could tackle a task the way I wanted to. At ArtEZ, at first I also looked to the teacher for directions, but at some point I felt that this is really about me here.

The whole training conveys that you have the freedom to search for yourself and what you want to do with dance. This is all about my personal identity: what I want to show the world and what is my process in doing so.

The other day, I performed a short solo dance for my class, inspired by my life story, although I put the topic in a broader perspective. Everyone encounters obstacles in their lives and has to find their own way to deal with that. How do you express that in dance? I chose to put emotion in it above all else. If you do that well, you can make dance something empathetic.

Afterwards, classmates told me that they felt connected to me. They didn’t know the story exactly, but understood what I wanted to convey. That is exactly what I want, to connect with others through dance. That solo was a mythical aha moment for me; I felt I can finally do what I want here. Regardless of the expectations of teachers, family members or friends.”

Image: Edwin Smits

Anne Bos

Leading learner

“As a dance teacher, I was used to giving a lot of directions: ‘Get more to the ground, be a bit faster here, slow down now.’ Let’s go, you know. This was until I received the didactic coaching training at the secondary school in Amersfoort where I taught.

‘Now try this by asking questions,’ the trainer whispered through the earpiece I had in. The first time I followed his suggestion, a whole new world opened up to me. Beforehand, I thought: ‘You can’t do that with dance.’ But you can! And it yields results. By asking questions and giving feedback, I get students to think. Then they become more invested in what we are working on, feel a stronger urgency in their work and share the responsibility, which before was mainly with me. From then on, I stop lessons if I see someone getting stuck and ask, for example: ‘What is blocking you? What will be possible today? How can you get your own process going again?’

The whole new curriculum of Artist Educator is about discovering what your motivations are as a student, what your way of working is and how you can put yourself to work in the field. To do that, you need to know yourself well and you need an inquisitive attitude, including in dance. This embodied learning is feeling, thinking and acting all in one. As in a circle, the one thing flows seamlessly into the other. What you feel affects your thinking, after which you adjust your actions, and this process keeps repeating itself.

Artistic research now forms the basis of the programme. If you master this, you can get anyone into motion and you can handle all situations. Do you want to mean something to society through art? Then don’t limit yourself to just performing a few dance moves. Focus on the environment you work in and the people you work with, and develop meaningful dance interventions based on that.”

“I don’t necessarily see myself as the teacher who teaches, with the tight conditioning and frameworks I received during my dance training. I’m just Sophie, and in the studio we are all artists creating together and having an equal dialogue.

In my physical classes, I invite dancers to play and let go of controlling how something looks or should feel. Feeling free is a prerequisite for a safe space, where you dare to be vulnerable and open to reflection. I ask the dancers questions and encourage them to get to know and use their bodies as a source of inspiration. This is different than it used to be. Back then I focused more on the purely technical development of the dance body.

My tipping point? That was because I was introduced to rawer forms of movement in my dancing, those where you try to land in your body and seek a more primitive power of movement. Like floor work. This involves a lot of contact with the floor and you focus on your inner feelings. Aesthetics are less important here than the experience and energy you put into it. Here it is about letting go of your head and technique and just going for it. I learned to trust my own body. It’s so liberating.

Power is now an important part of my teaching: the focus on total surrender. Because if you put only half your soul into it, I won’t feel it. You have to tap into your gut feelings; that is your centre. From there, I encourage you to work organically with your body’s capabilities and mould your own story from that. After all, I don’t need to see copies of myself afterwards. Own your body, own your space, I always say, and dare to play from freedom.”

Sophie Jetten

Leading learner

Cecile van den Berk

“When I think back to the first year of my own training as a dancer and teacher, I feel again how much I wanted to learn, how eager I was. In the Autobiography course, the teacher sometimes saw me getting bogged down in my hard work and said at such times: ‘You just need to unwind to develop.’ She held one hand in a fist and made a large circular movement around it with her other arm.

For her, it was self-evident that you always carry your core with you and you only need to peel off the layers around it. ‘Find the way to your inner source, because that is where the core lies to work from your essence’, she explained.

I realised that I may explore what is already there. That I may learn from who I am, with everything I experience and the questions I ask. Don’t get me wrong, this is not just about me or my personal research. It’s more about the sincerity with which you do what you do. From there, you can connect with others.

I am interested in what makes the other person authentic. Therefore, as a leading learner, I give the process a lot of space. I create the conditions students need to develop and find their core values. One way we train this is through embodied learning, which focuses on physical and intuitive artistic research. I provide the frameworks and at some point students formulate their own research questions and learning objectives, and the research really becomes theirs.

During my training, I learnt to translate my observations in my own way and share them with others in dance. Looking, processing and communicating are in constant interaction with each other. It is so powerful I still apply it.”

Jordi Ribot Thunnissen Leading learner

Leading learner

“For years, dance was a hobby of mine, and I worked as a journalist. It wasn’t until I was 26 that I started studying choreography. My great good fortune was to have a brilliant thinker as a teacher: Roberto Fratini. This was the first time I learned about dance history. He gave lectures in which he told stories for an hour and a half at a stretch, without a PowerPoint. The depth and richness of the connections he made were masterly. This allowed me to better understand from what necessity, ‘zeitgeist’ or thought different dance forms arose and developed.

There is a preconception in dance that dancers are not thinkers. ‘I don’t talk about dance, dance should be felt.’ It’s a myth! Roberto Fratini helped me to make it my mission to tell the story of dance as a form of thinking. In my classes, I aim for students to develop a critical eye and learn to see connections between dance forms and their context, political or otherwise. This encourages them to think about what they bring to their own dance and how they position themselves as artist educators.

With the question: ‘How do you relate to this?’ I open the door to discussing topics of current interest. Take cultural appropriation, for example: can I be inspired by breakdance if I am not part of the community? And how do I do that in an ethical way? Or take the ideal body image of a ballerina, a product of the male gaze of the 19th century; has today’s ballerina managed to free herself from that gaze? My classes are the place to have these conversations.

Even if there is just one resource, a question or an answer that feels right for students now, or will suddenly pop into their heads 10 years from now, then my mission has succeeded.”

KosterMadelief

Image: Edwin Smits

Laura Wijnbelt head of the Artist Educator in Dance programme

“How does dance make a valuable contribution to society and people’s development? And how will students later find their way in a rapidly changing society?

These questions, among others, underpinned the Artist Educator in Dance programme, which trains students to become self-aware artists with a personal vision of how they want to be meaningful with dance. Starting from their own urgency and the needs of those they work with, they develop artistic-educational interventions through research. These interventions consist of activities, lessons, projects or programmes that combine the power of art and education.

The teachers, so-called leading learners, coach the students in their learning process. From their own expertise they focus on finding students’ motivations and their meaningful use. Being curious about the other is an essential starting point here. The more curious you are, the more meaning you can convey. When you focus on the other and the environment or context they are in, you can establish connections. Contexts in which artist educators act include the communities they focus on, such as subcultures in neighbourhoods, or learning environments such as secondary schools.

Besides curiosity about the other, leading learners focus on developing the individuality, the artistry, of the student. This is because a participant feels the spark when an artist educator shapes a lesson or programme based on their own motives.

In this learning process, we are increasingly working from embodied learning. Students not only dance to improve their technique, but more importantly to discover how movements become meaningful. By reflecting on this and linking their insights to artistic and pedagogical principles, such as inclusivity, group dynamics and creativity, they become aware of the impact of dance. They then learn how to use their own physical experiences to inspire and guide others.

Currently, the programme is further developing this vision of equal pedagogy: it is our ambition to give students as much ownership of their development as possible. Key moments - moments that set something in motion in the learning process - are a method for students to reflect on their own development and provide important insights.

Self-direction in the process of learning starts as early as selection. We completely redesigned the selection process from 2024, based on the idea that everyone should be able to achieve their full potential, the selection should be as objective as possible, and participants should get a good impression of the Artist Educator in Dance programme. This allows them to decide for themselves whether it is the right choice for them.

In future, we will involve students and partners from the field even more actively in the programme. For example, we are looking at whether students can invite experts to their final assessment. We want to open the doors to students’ lives before and after their participation in the programme, as this plays an important role in how they mould themselves. The programme remains relevant if we continuously connect with the field. Through conversations and especially by working together in practice.”

Animal Voices: what if you don’t put people first?

Iris Janssen

Artisteducator students at ArtEZ conduct research at Burgers’ Zoo in their second year. Advisor Inés Sauer talks about this project, which Alejandra Peña researched for her master’s in Arts Education at AHK.

“This is a very intense and exciting project because we are diving in the deep end,” says Inés Sauer. “Everyone embarks on an investigation without knowing how it will end. We just dive in and swim. That is very much in line with the essence of art and theatre. I wouldn’t want to be a teacher who already knows exactly what theatre is. You have to keep questioning the world. Otherwise, you will end up in a bubble.” Inés is a dramaturge and advises students within the Artisteducator in Theatre bachelor’s programme at ArtEZ. That is what she is doing with Animal Voices , a research project at Arnhem’s Burgers’ Zoo. “In this project, students learn how they relate to an environment and to others, and create work about it. We feel it is important within the programme to always include the social context. We don’t make work about others, but with them. We tend to call our students the experts of reality.”

THE OTHER IS THE ANIMAL

The Artisteducator in Theatre programme spans four years, the first two of which consist of various projects and allow students to express their own perspectives. The last two years are dominated by internships in the Netherlands and abroad and elective projects. In their second year, students start with ‘Contemporary Aesthetics of the Other,’ in which they learn to relate to various groups in society and to the other. In 2023, the course worked intensively with Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem for the first time. Studying ‘the other’ in this case is about the relationship between humans and animals and how students can represent the ‘voice’ of animals. Inés: “There is an increasing focus in the arts on looking at things in a post-humanist way. What if you don’t put people first? Life around us is equally valuable. That’s why we focus on animals in this project.

“Burgers’ Zoo also expressed their wish to work more intensively with our students. We were there last year for a project, but that was shorter,” says Inés. “For both teachers and students, the zoo is quite a complex environment for this project. On the one hand, it is a place where you walk around like a happy child. They take very good care of the animals there and have an educational mission too. The zoo’s commitment is also to the survival of endangered species. On the other hand: the animals are still in cages and thus the relationship between humans and animals is up for debate. The balance of power is uneven. This raises endless questions. That, among other things, is what the students work on.”

CLASSES AT THE ZOO

Within the project, there is time to spend eight weeks at Burgers’ Zoo, with students working three days a week on site and having two days of classes at school. During the project, they get guest lectures from several philosophers, the zoo’s head of education, and from Inés and her fellow teachers. Movement and performance classes, philosophy classes on the relationship between humans and animals, tours of Burgers’ Zoo; it’s all part of it. Inés: “We provide the theory and exercises, and students take it from there. In the end, they perform different performances in groups. There is always a presentation at the conclusion of the project.

“I sometimes say to students: I could also have done this project in a valley in the dunes. Then it would have been much quieter and less complex. There you don’t feel the discomfort of that power relationship. But this is also the reality, and the complexity involved in relating to such an environment is exactly what matters most. Learning to make theatre on location is very valuable. What happens to you when you do? This is a terrific learning process, for student and teacher alike.”

ALEJANDRA PEÑA RESEARCHED THE PROJECT

For her master’s in Arts Education at AHK, Alejandra Peña studied ‘Interspecies Performance’ and researched the Animal Voices project as part of that. Alejandra explains her motives and findings: “I wanted to know what role embodiment and imagination play in creating a performance together with other species. What ways are there to make an animal’s perspective theatrical? The research showed that you need several strategies to move away from your own limited human perspective. During the making process, several senses were trained. Which sense do you let yourself be guided by? Sound, smell, touch? Another making strategy was to create new, hybrid creatures: fantasy animals. Thus a world between humans and animals was created. Finally, the importance of intuition and learning to listen to bodily impulses came strongly to the fore. By using these different strategies, fantastic performances were created that spoke very directly to the audience, letting the voices of other species be heard, without them having to appear on stage to do so.

“The Animal Voices project highlights the power of embodiment and imagination in understanding interspecies relationships. It shows how multispecies theatre education contributes to breaking down anthropocentric structures, developing empathy, and encouraging reflection on our position in relation to other species.”

Social Forest: the speech

The Dance Artist programme kicks off each academic year with Brave Space, a week dedicated to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Students and teachers attend workshops and lectures focusing on conversations of how they want to ‘be’ together as a community in the coming year. Theatre-makers Lotte van den Berg and Hendrik Aerts created a Social Forest at their workshop.

During Brave Space week Hendrik and I prepared an afternoon full of relational and social practices and decided to start off with a shared Potluck Lunch. Around 13pm students, teachers and staff entered the empty theater space with bowls full of homemade food. Together, we carried tables into the room, plates and cutlery were passed around and flowers were placed. Before we got to the table, I shared the following text. Around me, on the floor, mainly young people; curious, open, waiting.

Together today we will pay attention to contact

To the different ways in which we are and can be in contact with each other

I like to state as a start that if you are in contact you are always also practicing contact

Lotte van den Berg

Relating to one another is a constant movement of doing trying scanning reflecting responding

It’s like dancing in a way…..

If I say Yes

How do you respond?

If you look at me like that How do I feel?

Being together in a school a family the world

Relating to each other

Is like a joint rehearsal a jam session

You’ll always be in some kind of negotiation improvisation

There is no fixed score no partiture

You need to be open for the unexpected the unknown somehow

And it is in this constant practice

That we learn - a life long learningabout ourselves and others

You think you are here at school to learn dancing but in fact as you maybe already found out or soon will find out you are also here as anywhere to practice being in the world with others…

I like to compare the social structure we create together

with a forest

The root structure of plants and trees connected by the mycelium of fungi reflect the strength diversity and layering of the community

The more variety the more connections and the more diverse the ways of connecting the richer the ecology the stronger and healthier the forest

What is the actual state of our social soil? our social ecology?

Can we create practise stronger connections? a greater variety of connections? Can we nurture the social ecology we are part of?

I believe we can we should and we are

We live in interesting times Hoping to restore and balance the social ecology we live work learn in new rules are made protocols are written Against powerabuse sexism discrimination racism Things want to change new connections are needed other patterns of communication are urgent

And more than that

In response to powerabuse sexism discrimination racism war and the pain this caused and still causes

there is a wish to feel safe a wish to control our boarders our personal boarders

And here it gets complicated or maybe better complex

Cause contact relating oneself to others is never safe can never be safe I dare to say

If I do this If I ask a question If I say I’m sad

I do not know what the response will be

And I shouldn’t

I don’t want to program you I don’t want you to program me I don’t want us to be programmed I want powerabuse to stop sexism discrimination racism war to stop but I don’t want to safe guard our communication

I don’t want to close off my borders too much

And to be honest

I hope you will not close off your borders too much

Cause if we close off our borders too much

If we resist constantly

If we hide away in safe houses we can’t connect we can’t feel in response to others we can’t nourish the liveliness within us between us

We will never become a forest

Maybe the question is not how to be safe completely safe Maybe the question is how to be safe enough to be brave

And here I quote Aminata Cairo

How to be safe enough to be brave

Brave

To say something without knowing the response To respond in an unexpected way

To keep silent or the contrary

To speak out and voice what is important to you

Brave enough to feel yourself in relation to others to feel others in relation to yourself

Mapping it I would say that on one side there is total safety let’s call it comfort On the other side there is total unsafety let’s call it crisis

If we are in a state of total comfort our braveness is not challenged In a state of comfort we know what to expect and thus we can relax rest

gain new energy

Very important

but in this state we do not practice negotiate here we do not learn we don’t create new connections

At the other extreme in te state of total crisis we do not learn either here it’s too unsafe too scary to learn to connect

We freeze fight flee

we can not be present really we can not be aware available attentive We hope to disappear and practice is made impossible

Beween the state of comfort and the state of crisis there is a huge field an immense terrain a state of being where feelings and emotions mingle

Here we feel a bit unsafe maybe but comfortable enough to stay present

here the feeling of being at ease is mixed with the feeling of uncertainty the unknown is close and trust is also present

Here it can be uncomfortable and scary even but you feel rooted enough maybe and supported by others hopefully so you keep breathing and feel able to join

Here you are able to practice to learn to be in contact with others

to relate

Some call the state of comfort the green zone the state of crisis the red zone and the state of being in-between those two extremes the orange zone

Today we will walk around in the orange zone That social field in which we are challenged to stay present and to practise contact

You all made an amazing lunch together

Let’s say you made this lunch to celebrate this in-between state this orange zone where we are able to connect and to learn

With a healthy mix of surprise curiosity uncertainty pleasure enthousiasm shyness uncomfortability joy and care

Learning environment Open Up: exchange across programme boundaries

Iris Peters

In 2024, a team from ArtEZ and the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK) won the Nederlandse Onderwijspremie (Dutch education award) with their plan Open Up: Leren, Maken, Delen (Open Up: Learning, Making, Sharing). This innovative, digital learning environment and networking community encourages contact and knowledge exchange between teachers, alumni and students from different art programmes. “Education is a public sector, which deserves a digital infrastructure based on public values.”

It is the autumn of 2023. Corina Lok, artistic director of the Drama Teacher programme at AHK, parks her car at a petrol station next to the motorway. She has 10 minutes to explain to David van Traa, member of the Executive Board (College van Bestuur, CvB), why it is a good idea to have the Open Up: Leren, Maken, Delen project nominated for the Nederlandse Onderwijspremie, a Dutch award for innovative education. Indeed, only the Executive Board (CvB) can do this. It is a matter of sink or swim. The deadline for the nomination is approaching fast and if the Executive Board agrees, there is little time left to write a project application. Usually the Executive Board initiates the development of a plan. In this case it is a project team. After ten minutes, Van Traa says: “What you have achieved so far is really special. We are of course going to support that. You have started something from scratch, don’t be modest about it, go for it!”

Desires around a renewed Leerpodium (Learning Stage)

A few years earlier, the collaboration had started on a small scale. Corina Lok occasionally met with Arjen Hosper, head of the Artist Educator in Theatre and Media department, and Cormac Burmania, head of the Bachelor Drama Teacher programme, both from ArtEZ. All three of them worked with the same digital learning environment platform, Leerpodium (Learning Stage), and compared how they used it.

As they talked, they became increasingly enthusiastic about the potential of Leerpodium, which uses open technology to increase students’ ownership of their learning and lowers possible thresholds. The three spoke to other heads of programmes and departments like the Interdisciplinary Digital Laboratory (IDlab), who in turn brought in their colleagues. This way an education team of ArtEZ and AHK developed, which informally began to exchange knowledge, experiences and wishes around a larger-scale, crossprogramme and renewed Leerpodium.

The exchange felt counterintuitive because colleges generally use programmes like Blackboard, Magister and Teams and there was no discussion about that. However, in a practical sense, education developers ran into limits to the possibilities. This was because these programmes are not an extension of analogous education practice. They separate the roles of the student and the teacher, have mainly an administrative function and focus on individual subjects, without the ability to collaborate and create interaction. In the many conversations that followed, the team members discussed, among other things: What are the possibilities of teaching, if we collaborate outside our own learning environments? What might a new concept for a library look like that is more representative of its visitors? How do we merge our diversity and inclusion platforms? And how do all stakeholders stay in development together, independent of commercial influences?

Public values

The education team shared the conviction that teaching should be developed with, for and by the end user. The members drew inspiration from the Professor of Media and Digital Society José van Dijck, who researches the online world. Originally, the internet was an open-source environment, developed to bring people and knowledge together from all over the world. But by now, a handful of companies dominate the western market, and the original values have taken a back seat.

Van Dijck argues that the online world is no longer evolving based on public values, such as privacy, security and democratic input, but rather on market principles. Education is a public sector though. Van Dijck: “And public institutions deserve a digital infrastructure based on public values. When big tech companies put profit, ease of use and efficiency first, this compromises the autonomy of education.”

Open Up: Learning, Making, Sharing

Universities and colleges are increasingly losing control over the development of their services, Van Dijck says, and must conform to the structures, terms and pricing of companies such as Microsoft, Google and Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), which are based on a complex tangle of connections and data collections that end users have no insight into. In fact, she says, we consumers have become a commodity, a mass product.

Value-driven education

ArtEZ and AHK therefore felt it was time for an alternative learning environment. A digital platform that is linked to the physical world and connects students, alumni, teachers and other stakeholders, across programme boundaries. An online ecosystem where culture makers can collaborate and share knowledge, unconstrained and freely. So that they can develop themselves further throughout life, create support for their work and make available different perspectives on social issues, arts and culture.

Such an open learning environment, where one can share to one’s heart’s content and unlock a vast amount of knowledge for the cultural making field, requires a certain attitude. Maritska Witte, director of the ArtEZ Academy of Theatre & Dance, speaks of ‘value-driven education’ in this

context, in which terms such as open, generous, curious and proactive play a key role. “Open Up uses technology to reinforce these values,” says Witte, “and to think in terms of cooperation, rather than competition.”

Open Up is an invitation to share ideas, even if a work is not yet finished. Makers can discuss it together and take an idea further. Creator development benefits from changes of perspective and multi-voicedness. Dare to share, even if it feels vulnerable, is the initiators’ message. Inspire each other, build on each other and trust each other. Because your work and thoughts have meaning for others.

Meaningful digital solutions

Over time, the collaboration between ArtEZ and AHK is becoming stronger and closer. They operate without a hierarchical organisational structure, make use of each other’s expertise, see what they encounter and adjust their ideas where necessary. They submit questions about applications to the developer of Leerpodium, Floris Leurink, who cofounded the open platform with his brother Taco. He sees himself more as a partner than as a product supplier. “We all own the same challenge,” Leurink explains, when we speak about this with the team on the eighth floor of the AHK tower, amidst grey clouded skies. “After all, we all want

to improve education, rather than be weighed down by yet another round of spending cuts. If you work together, you can find meaningful digital solutions.”

They finalise the proposal for Open Up: Leren, Maken, Delen, and thereby compete for the Nederlandse Onderwijspremie in early 2024. This is an award for initiatives in secondary vocational and higher education that improve and innovate education. As an appreciation and an impetus. After three presentation rounds in front of a committee, where they combined their creative powers, they win the second prize for higher education. Robbert Dijkgraaf, then minister of Education, Culture and Science, awarded them the prize in summer.

After this, ArtEZ and AHK work on a plan outlining how they intend to use the eight hundred thousand euros of award money. Exactly as they envisaged, Open Up does not develop into a technological education system that students and teachers have to conform to, but into a platform that they themselves can influence. Because this new online environment emerges and shapes itself to those who work with it. Users can organise themselves in groups and students are given tools that give them more ownership of their own learning. Its use is as modular as possible: everyone should be able to use it in a way that works for them. And it rests on the following pillars: open sources (learning), open spaces (making) and open networks (sharing).

Open sources: Learning

Open Up makes resources widely available to anyone who can log into the learning environment. ArtEZ and AHK interconnect their libraries, which host all kinds of source materials on art and cultural history, unlock their media libraries and supplement them with online resources that teachers use in their lessons.

In doing so, they actively seek source materials to ensure that perspectives from diverse communities are represented, in the context of decolonising education and in view of a sustainable future. They involve umbrella student organisations and other important initiatives, such as The Need for Legacy, a group of young theatre-makers of colour working to make Dutch theatre history inclusive. An interactive timeline is created from all the information, giving students, teachers and other participants insight into how places and themes evolve through time. This encourages a broader view of history and of the future.

Open spaces: Making

As an extension of the physical learning space, the Making Platform of Open Up encourages encounters between students, alumni and (guest) teachers. For example, students can share their essays or portfolio here for others to see and respond to. In this way, makers learn directly how to position themselves online, manage their own making archive and make it transferable.

Furthermore, participants can share their thoughts in form of blogs, including questions and observations to encourage interaction. In the later future, also activities such as on- and offline meetups will be organised with researchers, experts and civil society organisations.

What are the possibilities of teaching, if we collaborate outside our own learning environments?

A digital platform that is linked to the physical world and connects students, alumni, teachers and other stakeholders, across programme boundaries.

An online ecosystem where culture makers can collaborate and share knowledge, unconstrained and freely.

Open networks: Sharing

Open Up transcends traditional discipline-based education. People find each other here thanks to common content drivers, interests and concerns. This allows self-organised communities to form.

An example of such a community of practice is the cooperation between the Interdisciplinair Digitaal Laboratorium (Interdisciplinary Digital Lab, IDlab) of AHK, and the cooperative ArtEZ Future Storytelling Lab. This new combined lab provides both a physical and digital space for technologically innovative research, and for meeting and presenting, centred around the question: where are your future stage and audience located, and with what stories and means will you reach that audience?

Tracking one’s own development

Part of Open Up: Leren, Maken, Delen is a private space. In this private space, students can track, reflect on and assess their own learning development, for example using a test web. This resembles a wordweb in which competences and final qualifications are listed. The teacher does the same. They compare both findings, upon which the student sets themselves new goals.

Something good can come from being contrarian

The education team is now calling on all future users to indeed take ownership and explore the possibilities of Open Up. “The way we worked together as a team in developing the plans for Open Up, the new style Leerpodium”, says Annemiek Verkuijl, head of Educational Studies at the Amsterdam Film Academy, “can also be applied by students, teachers, alumni and other makers and researchers in their practice: with an open attitude, by being curious and by using everyone’s expertise.”

The article is based on a conversation with part of the education team that developed Open Up: Leren, Maken, Delen and submitted a proposal for the education award Nederlandse Onderwijspremie at the Nationaal Regieorgaan Onderwijsonderzoek, a Dutch education research organisation. For ArtEZ: Maritska Witte (director of the ArtEZ Academy of Theatre & Dance), Cormac Burmania (head of the Bachelor Drama Teacher programme), Frank Hubert (theme manager education) and for AHK: Erik Lint (head of IDlab en ICT & Education), Annemiek Verkuijl (head of Educational Studies at the Amsterdam Film Academy), Corina Lok (artistic director of the Drama Teacher programme) and Lenne Merbis (project leader Leerpodium & Onderwijsprijs [Learning Stage and Education Award] / Community Manager Research AHK).

Maritska Witte concludes, looking back at the development from the initial idea to the future implementation: “This process and its outcome is above all a plea not to just settle for what is presented to you. It shows that it is possible to bend complicated trajectories to your will, involving different interests at different layers within (educational) bodies. Something good can emerge if you are contrarian in your stance, persevere and stand for what you believe in. With Open Up we can now make art education and a broad knowledge about the development of art, culture and perspectives on social issues part of the public domain. And we can build a sustainable learning system by strengthening networks. It is unique that two colleges worked together in this way and built it from scratch.”

Note

◊ Van Dijck, J.: “Zolang het onderwijs geen eigen apps bouwt danst het naar de pijpen van Google en Microsoft” (As long as education does not build its own applications, it will dance to the tune of Google and Microsoft), De Correspondent, 15 juni 2021, https://decorrespondent.nl/12477/zolang-hetonderwijs-geen-eigen-apps-bouwt-danst-het-naarde-pijpen-van-google-en-microsoft/7ba4379e0ce9-042d-19b7-846c94d4e119

See also: Van Dijck, J., Poell, T., De Waal, M.: The Platform Society (2018), https://global.oup. com/academic/product/the-platform-society9780190889777?cc=ca&lang=en&

Pleasure island:ge t ffo ruoy !dnalsi

Two hundred first- and second-year students from Arnhem’s seven bachelor art programmes will be mixed at the annual, interdisciplinary project Pleasure Island. For a week, they work in groups, based on a theme. In each group, you will find students of theatre, dance, music, writing and visual arts. One big hotbed, in other words. What happens when you put students from all those disciplines together?

Iris Janssen

Island Pleasure

Island Pl easure Island Pl easure

Ensemble Klang as artist in residence

Every year Pleasure Island is led by an inspiring artist in residence, a group or individual who embodies interdisciplinary work. In the past, this role has been fulfilled by company De Veenfabriek, visual artist Suse Mechels, and an organisation like the Hiphophub. These artists in residence give short workshops prior to the project and help students experiment and push boundaries in their creative process. This year was no exception: the chosen artist in residence was Ensemble Klang, a six-member The Hague-based music collective that creates adventurous musical theatre for the theatre and concert stages and for performing on location. Klang brought freshness and energy to the way students approached the chosen theme.

The theme of the past Pleasure Island, ‘A Feminist Manifesto’, offered room for diverse interpretations and experiments. Ensemble Klang coach Pete Harden saw “a fantastic explosion of creativity and ideas, actions and reactions”. There was a wide variety of angles of interpretation and forms of presentation, including a tribute to Aretha Franklin, a love Western, a subversive horror film and a ‘mockumentary’ about the alternative Beckett performance Waiting for Godette

Image: Edwin Smits

Learning from each other

What makes Pleasure Island so special, is the opportunity for students to step out of their own bubble and learn from others. The ‘corridors’ of the event are a place where creative minds meet and get their new ideas. “It was great to see so many different approaches and ways of working together,” says coach Stephanie Pan. “For the development of a contemporary art practice it’s crucial to challenge each other and learn from different perspectives.”

In a short period of only four days, the performances were shaped, an intense and challenging process in itself. According to coach Saskia Lankhoorn, the strength of the project lay in the continuous drive to experiment: “For me, the highlights were the projects of students who kept researching until the last moment, as with Inner Animal, 1962 Breast Implants and NEST.” This search for new forms and collaborations impressed both the coaches and the audience.

Pleasure Island’s performances take place at various locations in Arnhem, such as Museum Arnhem, the old HEMA building and other unexpected places in the city. This variety of venues adds an extra layer to the performances and gives students a chance to present their work in a unique context.

Reflections from the coaches

The week was guided by five coaches, four of them members of Klang and their director David Geysen, who they also involved in the project. They each brought their own knowledge, experience and vision. All five look back on the project with great enthusiasm. Geysen: “It was a pleasure to work with the students. Helping them communicate with each other and be part of their process of creating was inspiring. Thanks for everyone’s efforts and for all the interdisciplinary cross-over art works.” Anton van Houten compliments the students‘ commitment and guts: “The performances burst with energy, they were abrasive, they crackled and squeaked, were confrontational or just hilarious and alienating. I enjoyed Pleasure Island a lot; it was a great joy to see how the students made the theme their own. Cool that I could then contribute to that as a coach.”

With its eight-year history, Pleasure Island has proven to be a valuable tradition within ArtEZ. It is more than a festival; it‘s a breeding ground for experimentation and inspiration. It offers students a unique opportunity for artistic development and unforgettable experiences. Saskia Lankhoorn: “Everyone really enjoyed it, and they worked with respect for each other, which bodes well for the future”. As coach Pete Harden puts it: “More, more, more!”

Image: Edwin Smits

and

Image: Edwin Smits

ArtEZ & Speels Collectief

Kir Robben

Jasmijn van Meurs

The diverse, mixed-abled company Speels Collectief (Playful Collective) is a regular collaborative partner of ArtEZ. Jasmijn van Meurs, who completed her studies in Artist Educator in Theatre last year, talks about her experiences at the company.

Before Jasmijn van Meurs came to ArtEZ, she had already been introduced to Speels Collectief through an internship from her previous study programme. That experience changed her theatre ambitions. “Seven years ago I participated in the vocational education to become a stage performer and dreamed about a big acting career. Speels Collectief was the first place that questioned my dreams. It has broadened the world of theatre for me. During my internship, I was asked to give assignments and do warm-ups. I discovered a passion, a love, for releasing in others exactly what I had experienced before myself. To see the people I worked with, to help them develop. Two studies later, I am not an intern anymore, but a theatre maker for that same group. Under the wings of Speels Collectief, I have been able to create two performances already. And I work as a production assistant for the company, the professional arm of Speels Collectief.”

INCLUSIVE WORK AND INCLUSIVE THEATRE

Speels Collectief (Playful Collective) was founded in 2014 by Sanne Arbouw and Merel van Lieshout, two students of the former ArtEZ programme for drama teachers. In ten years’ time, their initiative has grown into a diverse and mixed-abled company with communities in Arnhem and Tilburg, and a company that tours nationwide with one performance every year. The company was awarded multi-year grants for the period 2025-2028.

Speels Collectief makes theatre starting from everyone’s possibilities and impossibilities; people who are under-represented or not represented at all in the arts are thus given a stage. In doing so, the company breaks the dominant social idea that one body, one mind is ‘normal or ablebodied’ and the other is ‘abnormal or disabled’. Thus aiming to make inclusive working and inclusive theatre more natural and increasing the knowledge about it.

The community in Arnhem is a development space for students and newly graduated makers. Under the guidance of artistic coordinator Kir Robben and social worker Sylvia Theunissen, they learn how to collaborate with various players, and make the performing arts field more accessible. Every week, Speels Collectief rehearses at ArtEZ with a play group that presents internally, and a production group that performs regionally at festivals and at educational and healthcare institutions.

At Speels Collectief, people experiencing exclusion in any form can be full members of a theatre company. They can participate in performances that touch on themes of power structures, inequality and (in)dependence. These foster sometimes difficult discussions, at moments touch on social problems with humour and provide space for wonder.

MY SISTER WAS THE PERFECT PRACTICE AUDIENCE

Jasmijn van Meurs made her first performance for Speels Collectief in the third year of the Artist Educator in Theatre programme. “I had long wanted to create a show with my sister, who is a great inspiration in my artistry. Finally, I could do that! My sister was born with cerebral palsy, a movement disorder. As a result, we grew up very close, but there were also a lot of struggles. For a sibling of a worrisome child, it is sometimes difficult to deal with the fact that you get less attention. In the performance, I wanted to create space for how this has affected us and our connection.

“For me, this performance was a first step towards figuring out how to translate everything I’ve learnt in my study into a performance, and how can I put it to use within rehearsals. ”

Both from ArtEZ and from Speels Collectief, I received a lot of support to set up this performance. I have been given ample space to explore this artistically. At rehearsals, I was able to take my sister into the language of the programme, into how we arrive at theatrical material and into how I view it and what I pay attention to. At the time, she herself was doing an internship at Speels Collectief from her study programme on Social Work.

For me, this performance was a first step towards figuring out how to translate everything I’ve learnt in my study into a performance, and how can I put it to use within rehearsals. My sister was the perfect practice audience for that. She made herself available to help with the creative process, but certainly did not mince her words. For example if she had questions about a term I used that was unfamiliar to her, or about why I made certain choices. As a result, I have learnt to be open, to include someone in my choices and thoughts. But also to be clear in what I want.”

ER WAS EENS EEN MEISJE

DAT HAAR ZUS DROEG

My sister was too small when she was born

She spent three weeks in hospital

My father slept 20 hours in 10 nights

He started seeing things that were not there

He thought it was his fault

My father shook my mother until he was only holding her jumper

My mother was on the floor

My sister in the incubator

My father was admitted

He had just returned home when my sister was allowed to go home

Image: Pietro Carbucicchio

Scalabor Bruist: Every touch is real

Marijn van der Jagt

Every year the second-year Dance Artist students dance together with people from the work development company Scalabor for one week. Head of education Noortje Bijvoets, project supervisor Nina Funk and dance student Gaia di Caro talk about this special collaboration.

“It is very moving to watch,” says Noortje Bijvoets. “The encounter is so vulnerable and beautiful.” Every year, Dance Artist students share the dance floor with clients from Scalabor, an Arnhem-based support organisation for people who are disconnected from the labour market. Scalabor Bruist (Scalabor Sparkles) is the name of the collaborative project of this work development company, the Arnhem dance company Introdans and ArtEZ. Within the dance programme the Scalabor Bruist project is the start of the second year. Noortje: “Our first year is mainly about the ‘me’ part: who am I and how do I relate to dance and to the programme. The second year is about meeting ‘the other’. Students are introduced to cultures outside their dance bubble, and this in the broadest sense. The international dance world is a very specific culture. Whether you enter a studio in New York or Tokyo, you step into the dressing room and you feel at home. That’s not the case when doing a dance project in West Africa. Or when you work with people from Scalabor. They are from your own city, but you don’t know how they act. How they say hello to each other in the morning, how you can ask them something, what physical closeness means to them. Dancers are used to touching each other all day, sweating together in a studio, lifting each other. But to someone with no dance experience, every touch is real.”

A PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL CONNECTION

In the week that Scalabor Bruist runs, ArtEZ students and Scalabor clients are paired with each other one on one. Together, the duos work on movement phrases that will be part of the final presentation. The possibility to talk about that is usually limited. Noortje: “Many people at Scalabor do not speak English, and our international students do not speak Dutch. So the connection must become a physical one.” Introdans choreographer Adriaan Luteijn builds the final choreography from group pieces, duets and trios. He has been working with non-dancers for about 20 years now, and Noortje Bijvoets wanted him to get involved in the dance programme she is now

heading for the fourth year. Nina Funk, who teaches at the Dance Artist programme and is a mentor for the second-year students, proved to have a lot of experience and affinity with Luteijn’s projects through her previous work at the interaction department at Introdans. Noortje: “I thought: wow, this is where things come together. That was when Nina and I started working together on this.” Nina: “After I was with Introdans, I also started my own projects in which people with different abilities dance. That’s what warms my heart: the emotional connection you make with each other in the process.”

THE TOGETHERNESS OF A COMMUNITY

All participants in Scalabor Bruist have their part in the final dance piece. Adriaan Luteijn rehearses some dance excerpts with the students, which the Scalabor clients will then participate in. The duos are given improvisation tasks. And the dance phrases created reflect movements from the work floor at Scalabor’s. This organisation helps people reintegrate after a period of job loss, and has its own workplace for those whose mental or physical condition prevents them from entering the regular labour market. There, together with the Scalabor participants, the dancers observe the work, and incorporate it into movement sequences on the spot. Dance Artist student Gaia di Caro participated in the first edition in 2022: “When giving instructions, Adriaan does not distinguish between dancers and Scalabor participants. We get the assignments together, and in this we are equal.” Before coming to ArtEZ, Gaia worked in Italy with young people who were in problematic situations and people with disabilities. “At Scalabor Bruist I found something of myself in the togetherness of a community. Where no one cares if I do the best splits. It’s about listening to each other, it’s about what you share with each other, about one body touching another. That takes you back to why you ever started dancing.” Nina Funk: “For our students, the value of this project lies in what they experience during the process. For the ‘Scalaborians’ too, but for them the closing presentation is the real highlight. That gives

them a push to put more of themselves into it. In the joint discussion afterwards, they say they are proud of what they all dared to do, and of their own perseverance. Some say: I have made new friends. The dancers are used to moving on to the next project after an intensive collaboration. The Scalaborians can really long for being together again. That’s why we stay in touch by inviting them to our performances. To meet again and talk to each other is always nice and familiar.” And fortunately, something often comes out of the final presentation. Last year’s presentation was performed again in January at Openlucht museum (Open Air Museum), at the New Year’s reception of Arnhem city hall. Scalabor Bruist danced for the mayor there.

Image: Rolf Hensel

A new view on education: Taking each other further

The Artistic Educator in Dance programme systematically works with guest dancers who do not have the body traditionally considered suitable for dance. At the core of these collaborations lies a changing view on education, as this conversation between guest dancer Tim Kroesbergen, leading learner Cecile van den Berk and head of education Laura Wijnbelt shows.

Image: David Berg

Marijn van der Jagt

On his first introduction to the Artist Educator in Dance programme, Tim Kroesbergen didn’t know what hit him. “Four years ago, I went to a student’s graduation presentation, at an ArtEZ venue in my neighbourhood. I work in digital communications and thought of a ‘presentation’ as a talk with a PowerPoint. Instead I found people there in a circle holding on to a thread. With that thread, we started moving together. The way I was swept up in it, and how I was equal in it, touched me so deeply that I immediately wanted more of that. This is how I entered into a world that was very far away from who I was at the time. Because I was someone who did everything with his head, and nothing with his heart or feelings.”

DANCE IS FOR EVERYONE

Tim’s increasing involvement with Artist Educator in Dance goes hand in hand with a changing view on what dance is and can be, which is emerging within the programme. This started about seven years ago with a new project within the curriculum: Dance in Society. Cecile van den Berk, who has been teaching improvisation and composition classes at the Artist Educator programme for ten years, was one of its initiators. Partly because of her previous work in social pedagogical counselling, Cecile had long seen the importance of reaching out to people without dance experience: “The assignment to our students was: find someone outside your own dance bubble to do a duet with. Someone for whom dance is not so accessible and obvious. Meanwhile, we reached equality in our collaborations with people from outside the dance context. Because these are not only instructive for the students.”

Tim: “You take each other further. One plus one is three.”

Cecile: “Or even five.”

At the heart of that equality is the focus on ‘artistry’.

Laura: “We are all conditioned from the traditional field of dance. At dance and ballet schools, everyone knows who the best is. There are always people standing at the back. In our programme we are critically questioning this hierarchy. We do this by working from everyone’s own capabilities in the creative process. The artistry is in how you translate dance to your body and in the way you find individuality and expressiveness in that.”

Cecile: “A colleague of ours, Yuliya Globa, developed the artistic collaboration method WeLAB for her master’s in Arts Education. This has become the basis of an artistic practice where we say: dance is for everyone.”

Laura: “That conclusion also found its way to the auditions for our programme. You see more diversity among the students we have now. Because we are no longer just looking if someone is able to dance. It is about physical learning capacity, as well as the capacity to investigate and connect.”

A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT

Actually, Cecile van den Berg hates the word ‘inclusion’. “By using it, you highlight the concept of exclusivity of dance”, in her opinion.

Tim: “It’s okay to use that word, though”, Laura: “We are not there yet, but together we are trying to achieve something so beautiful.”

Laura calls the enthusiasm with which the programme promotes its new view ‘activistic’.

Cecile: “We feel that, as dance educators, we have a responsibility to speak out. We now know where the traditional, Western approach to dance comes from. And there is still the perception that you can only dance with a body that’s fit for it. You can say: everyone can learn to dance, but we say: everyone dances. All children dance, and it is as if we adults have forgotten that.”

Tim: “Your words move me.”

Cecile: “This is about a fundamental right. And that is part of a much bigger story, because this is happening all over society.”

Over the past four years, Tim Kroesbergen has become a familiar presence in the network of guest dancers that the programme has set up. He participated in secondand third-year WeLAB projects, sometimes leading to a theatre performance, and in a production by ‘mixedabled’ company Speels Collectief (Playful Collective). And he passes on his accumulated experience: together with a graduate of Artist Educator in Dance, he introduces members of a patients’ association to dance. “I see what this does for those who have never had dance in their lives. How differently they start relating to their bodies.”

Tim also experienced this change. “It really is a watershed from how it was before. I was riding a very narrow path in my world of computing, thinking: this is what I am able to achieve. Thanks to dance, I feel much freer, calmer and chilled out. Dancing is also coming home to yourself. It helps me be who I am and want to be. And apart from the dancing, at ArtEZ I feel very warmly treated as a person. Because there is a kind of freedom in the air here, and acceptance.”

Artisteducators in Rabat

Janneke Duister

Alumni Jesper Pouw and Sofie de Jong kicked off a pilot project for a new ‘issues-based arts education research hub’ in Rabat, Morocco. Under the aegis of the UNESCO Chair on Issues-Based Arts Education, they explored with pupils and teachers from a primary school how arts education can be used to explore important themes in everyday life.

“Doing research in another culture is something you definitely learn a lot from,” says artist educator and researcher Sofie de Jong. “What questions can you ask or actually not ask? How do hierarchies work here?” Artist educator in theatre Jesper Pauw works as a culture coach at a primary school in Rotterdam. Setting up a project in Rabat offered him a glimpse into the roots of his pupils of Moroccan background. “The Netherlands have a large Moroccan community, which makes the hub in Rabat extra valuable. Cross-cultural contacts provide knowledge exchange and connection.”

THREE RESEARCH HUBS

During their studies at ArteZ, Jesper and Sofie already did research at the research hub in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where past tensions are still palpable. Sofie: “Archiving all the knowledge and experiences in such a place is very valuable. Besides the research hub in Arnhem, the new location in Rabat will bring in a more southern perspective and allows us to exchange knowledge between the three hubs.” The duo went to work at the private primary school L’institution Mohamed Benabdallah in Témara, a town below Rabat. The two of them also made contacts with interesting cooperation partners for future students of the International Master Artist Educator (iMae), among others. Jesper: “They can build on the knowledge we have gained.”

Within iMae, interdisciplinary work is key. Jesper: “Art-based learning is not about a particular technique or about right versus wrong, but about developing a critical artist’s eye. Out of this artist attitude you pose questions and look at the world in a different way.” Sofie adds: “At the core it is about inquiry-based learning.” For instance - as part of an exchange between the Mohamed VI Museum in Rabat and Amstelveen’s COBRA Museum - the duo supervised workshops in which primary school pupils painted in the way COBRA artists did. The children discovered their own visual language and found answers to important questions: what does it mean to experiment? What happens when you look at a work upside down?

EMBRACING ‘NOT KNOWING’

For both teachers and pupils, developing such an artist’s view can be difficult. Jesper: “In a hierarchical education system, there is little room for this way of thinking. If you do allow the power released by it to develop, it turns out that there are whole worlds inside children and teachers that are not being heard or utilised.” A very meaningful moment was a writing exercise about one’s own talents. Jesper: “A group

“Art-based learning is not about a particular technique or about right versus wrong, but about developing a critical artist’s eye.”

of boys clammed up, while one girl wrote a page and a half full of words like ‘I love myself’ and ‘I won’t be told what I can or cannot do’. The class listened agape with surprise. In such moments it is important to stress that every experience is different and okay in itself. ‘Not knowing’ something becomes free of judgement so you can explore: what does this fact yield in a system where you are often tested on what you do know? One of the children wrote: ‘I don’t understand why teachers say it’s okay not to know something. If you say you don’t know something, the teacher gets angry.’ Those are valuable moments in which someone manages to think critically. It touched the teacher deeply.”

One of the children wrote:

‘I don’t understand why teachers say it’s okay not to know something. If you say you don’t know something, the teacher gets angry.’

A WEAPON AGAINST POLARISATION

The pilot revolved around equal knowledge exchange. Sofie: “You don’t want to come there as a white, western person and talk from some kind of colonial perspective.” The children called Jesper and Sofie ‘teacher’, even though they started out wanting to learn from each other during the pilot. How do you solve that? Jesper: “We pushed the tables aside, made a circle and invited a few children to translate for us, as we didn’t speak French or Darija. This showed our vulnerability as well as that we need each other.” Jesper describes the power of arts and education as a ripple effect : “We don’t solve issues, but want to look at them and discuss them. In the process, critical thinking about or an understanding for problems in the world outside the school develops. Those who have the feeling they are not being heard are given a voice and more connection is created between groups of people. We can use our profession as a weapon against polarisation.” Sofie looks back on the project with pride: “You know in advance that it’s a great opportunity, but also that it’s going to be tough. You learn how you can sit with that feeling of uncertainty and can still persevere. If you can do that in a totally different culture where you don’t speak the language, you know you can work anywhere.”

INTERNATIONAL MASTER ARTIST EDUCATOR (IMAE)

iMae is a socially engaged master’s programme at ArtEZ, with a focus on art research and Issues-Based Arts Education. As an iMAE student, you are part of a new generation of artists and become an artist educator who uses art for equality and social justice. Professor John Johnston heads this international master’s programme.

THE UNESCO CHAIR ON ISSUES-BASED ARTS EDUCATION

In April 2024, Dr John Johnston was appointed by UNESCO as chairperson of the Chair on Issues-Based Arts Education, Intercultural Dialogue and Social Cohesion. The UNESCO Chair programme encourages international cooperation between scientific researchers. Johnston’s chair focuses on how Issues-Based Arts Education can contribute to social cohesion, intercultural dialogue and conflict prevention. The hub from the pilot project aims to develop socially engaged art methodologies that promote a culture of peace. The initiative in Rabat is hosted by NIMAR, the Netherlands Institute of Morocco.

Het Future Storytelling Lab: so much bigger than just the lab

Marijn van der Jagt

In three years, the Future Storytelling Lab has grown into an interdisciplinary centre of expertise that brings together art education and technology, and reaches out to practical world outside the academy. A conversation about the FSL with three enthusiastic staff members: coordinator Féilim O’hAoláin, studio manager Niek van Remmerden and ‘associate artist’ Amit Palgi.

“We started out with a one-year pilot and one student,” says Féilim O’hAoláin. “Now we have five of them with us in residence.” At the end of December, Féilim took over the leadership of the Future Storytelling Lab from outgoing Arjen Hosper, who was one of the initiators. The FSL started three years ago, supported by government funding for the Plan Kwaliteitsafspraken (PKA, Plan for Quality Agreements). “To give the latest technology a place in education, we set up a research room in Zwolle. Meanwhile, we also have a satellite studio in Arnhem.” Fourth-year and master’s students at ArtEZ who use technology for their artistic practice can join the Lab for a year. Studio manager Niek van Remmerden: “We currently have two theatre students working on combining theatre and film. One resident comes from Graphic Design. The other two are doing the part-time programme Fine Art and Design in Education. One of them is working on ‘artificial intuition’, as she calls it herself. She explores whether you can turn artificial intelligence into something that appeals not to your head, but to your heart. A form of AI that doesn’t generate knowledge, but as much feeling as possible.”

PLAYING WITH TECHNOLOGY

The FSL has no fixed lesson programme, says Niek. “Students can use our technical resources, expertise and network. Once a month, we meet with the students. On those days, there are workshops, lectures or work sessions and coaching sessions. In the meantime, students work on their own research, and can call on us for anything they need in the process.” Niek joined the FSL after doing a residency there himself as a student Artist Educator in Theatre and Media. The same goes for associate artist Amit Palgi, who does workshops at the Lab and is the specialist in motion capture, the digital reproduction of live movements. Palgi: “As a Dance Artist student, I was already exploring new technology. During Covid, I looked for ways to still share dance with an audience, for example with an interactive dance film. After my

“Our lab in Zwolle is located in the Spoorzone, close to the railway station. In five years, this area will be the new cultural hotspot of Zwolle.”

residency, I continued to mix choreography and technology, such as livestreams, multimedia projections, film and motion capture, as a dance maker.”

In his workshops Amit starts out from his own approach to technology. “I am not an expert in all technology. I tell how I personally mix my knowledge about the body with technological tools and teach students to play with technology. How experimenting with it advances their artistic ideas. Everyone has their own knowledge and fascinations, so let’s put those together. Let’s explore what the different forms of technology can tell us about ourselves, about the world and about the art we make.” Féilim: “It is all still so new and developments are going fast. Institutions can be somewhat slow in keeping up with this. That is why it is important to collaborate with artists like Amit, who are exploring this new territory in their own work.”

SHORT LINES OF COMMUNICATION WITH ALL KINDS OF INNOVATIVE PROJECTS

Within ArtEZ, the FSL has a unique role. Sometimes of its own initiative or sometimes upon request, it sets up educational projects across a wide spectrum at ArtEZ: students, staff members, technicians. It can pop up on a course to add technological elements or offer consultation and curatorial advice. Féilim: “We can move quickly and respond to questions and new developments in the field. In this way, we can be dynamic helping the academy to prepare for the future.”

Just as important as the up-to-date equipment is the mental space that this laboratory offers. It critically examines what the emergence of new technologies means for society, and even how they can contribute to solving the major problems of our time. Essential to this broad perspective is the network that the FSL is building, with practicing artists, with art academies, vocational schools, universities and with the business community. Niek: “Our lab in Zwolle is located in the Spoorzone, close to the railway station. In five years, this area will be the new cultural hotspot of Zwolle. There are all kinds of startups, new companies that are also working with technology. Close to us is Windesheim University of Applied Sciences, and the creative vocational school Cibap as well as the Perron 38 innovation centre. This makes it possible to have short lines with all kinds of innovative projects and other institutes with whom we exchange with.” As coordinator of the FSL, Féilim is working on expanding the network. “Together with our institutional partners and innovative organizations in the artistic field, we are exploring new ways of working together: For example Amit and I are currently in talks with a plant sciences research group in Wageningen University. Here the FSL is exploring how collaboration between ArtEZ and a scientific research institution like Wageningen can provide new perspectives on the big, wicked problems we currently face on earth.” Amit: “The way the FSL connects arts education with innovative initiatives and approaches in the field makes it an inspiring place for me and other makers. This is so much bigger than just the lab!”

Image: Joep van Aert

Late 2024 saw the publication of [SHIFT]: Exploring Relationships between Artists and Technology in Education. This book came out of a collaboration between the Future Storytelling Lab, the Artist Educator courses and ArtEZ Press, led by Professor Fabiola Camuti. Féilim O’hAoláin: “Students involved in one of our projects also participated. The book discusses our relationship to new technology theoretically. And brings out the research that students do in our residencies. So that it can inspire future generations.”

Image: Joep van Aert

Image: Edwin Smits