Artistic Research
Our practice driven MA programme has a clear focus: artistic research in and through cinema. This focus sets it apart from other film programmes, both in film or art schools and in universities.
We define ‘artistic research’ as an open-ended trajectory in which thinking and making are one, and which privileges questions over answers, process over product, experimentation over mere execution and long-term effects over short term gain. ‘Artistic research’ It is neither a discipline nor a methodology. Instead, it’s a state of mind, a ‘mentality’ or an attitude.
Artistic research in and through cinema means thinking through images and sounds. It means starting from the practice, knowledge and perspectives of filmmaking, and using its accompanying concepts and language. Thus, researching ‘in and through’ cinema refers to research through the frame, notions and paradigm of the filmmaking practice. The research ‘in’ revolves around questions of the cinema practice itself – spectatorship, perception, storytelling, modes of production, ethics et cetera – while, in addition, research ‘through’ relates to the use of cinematic conditions and concepts to explore topics and fields beyond cinema – topics such as memory, trauma, archival practices, human relations or identity for example.