The Visual Culture(s) Minor WdKAxMaMA
The upcoming six weeks MaMA’s showroom will be the homebase of the Visual Culture(s) Minor while WdKA partners with MaMA for a special experimental collaboration that offers insights and tools on how to develop organic exchanges between art education and art organisations. Are you ready to dive into the uncharted territories of cultural spaces and reimagine their future?
MaMA invites students of the minor to join on a provocative and playful journey into the theme of “Ruins in Cultural Institutes.” This workshop series developed by Kirti Soekaloe, member of MaMA’s community, and MaMA will challenge the students to rethink the remnants of our cultural heritage and explore how these “ruins”—whether physical, metaphorical, or cultural—shape our understanding of art and the institutions that house it.
Are you ready to embrace the ruins and discover what they have to offer? Join us in reimagining the cultural sector, one radical experiment at a time.
Throughout the course, the minor students engage in hands-on exercises, collaborative projects, and reflective practices that push the boundaries of creativity and critical thinking. Each week, we’ll tackle a different aspect of ruins, from the intimate details of decay and digestion to the grander themes of collaboration and collective creation. The minor students will experiment with radical play, explore new modes of artistic production, and learn how to navigate the pressures of professionalism—all while questioning what it means to leave a legacy in the cultural sector.
In this dynamic, open-ended workshop environment, students will have the chance to present their work in the showroom of MaMA and discuss with peers, professionals alike and visitors of the showroom, culminating in a final exhibition that reflects our collective exploration. Through this journey, students will develop valuable skills, gain deeper insights into their artistic process, and help shape the future of art spaces.
Are you ready to embrace the ruins and discover what they have to offer? Join us in reimagining the cultural sector, one radical experiment at a time.
GUESTS LECTURES:
- Intro visual culture: ruins & alienation
5th September, 10.00-13.00
showroom of MaMA, Witte de Withstraat 29-31
An introductory lecture into visual culture. We will take ruins and alienation as an example for studying visual culture and its major theories.
2. Intro visual culture: political images / war images / political iconography
6th September, 10.00-13.00
showroom of MaMA, Witte de Withstraat 29-31
Introductory lecture into visual culture, second part (also open to people who missed part 1). This time, we will look more closely at images and iconographies of war and politics, and how they have been addressed in visual culture studies.
3. ‘Decolonising the Loop’
by Josephine Zwaan
19th September, 15:30-17:30
showroom of MaMA, Witte de Withstraat 29-31
In her presentation, Josephine analyses the loop-based interfaces of music production software through the lens of Western and African notions of time, and envisions new possibilities for the interface using this philosophical lens. Josephine is currently doing a PhD at the Erasmus School of Philosophy, where she focuses on decolonising notions of aesthetics and technology for the study of electronic music production.
All three lectures are organized by the WdKA Minor Visual Culture, open & free for everyone!
The Visual Culture(s) Minor at WdKA engages with the complexities of producing culture in times of crises, reflecting on the way the artifacts we produce contain the traces of the systems we are embedded in, on the ways to imagine/image viable futures (and pasts), and on the different ways we can encode those imaginations in the ruins we will leave to the post-future.
The 2024-2025 course is structured around two overarching concepts, Rhythm & Ruins, and three modes of articulation: Exchanging, Sounding, Weaving.
Throughout the term, the students are asked to develop their research across different media and by interfacing and exchanging with external partners, collaborators, and special guests. This year, the Minor partners with MaMA for a special experimental collaboration that offers insights and tools on how to develop organic exchanges between art education and art organizations.