Application deadlines:
Deadline for international applicants: 1 April 2014
(if you are also applying for a VU Fellowship Programme grant: 1 March 2014)
Deadline for Dutch applicants, and for EU applicants who do not apply for housing via the VU: 1 June 2014
VU University Amsterdam
Faculty of Arts
De Boelelaan 1105
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Arts and Culture: Visual Arts, Media and Architecture (VAMA) is an international two-year research Master’s programme at VU University Amsterdam. The interdisciplinary programme is aimed at sharpening student’s critical and academic skills in the fields of art history, architecture history, visual culture and media studies. VAMA focuses on recent developments in these fields from both theoretical and historical perspectives and examines the complex relationships between visual art, architecture and media.
A two-year full-time programme of 120 ECTS-credits, VAMA consists of a compulsory component of two general courses spanning all three fields of research—Imagining the Image and Critical Issues in the Cultural Industries—three field-specific research seminars and a seminar on research methodology, as well as an optional component consisting of electives and tutorials. The programme is concluded with a Master’s thesis. Throughout the two-year period the emphasis is on providing a stimulating environment in which students can garner experiences in researching, writing, and publishing. In regular meetings and tutorials, students are encouraged to develop their own research interests and integrate them into their curriculum, building up to their thesis.
Staff:
Dr. Paul van den Akker (Art History; research on drawing in Renaissance art practice; art theory and historiography);
Dr. Ivo Blom (Comparative Arts and Media Studies; focuses on film and intermediality; working on a project on Visconti);
Prof. Dr. Koos Bosma (History of Architecture and Heritage Studies, currently leading a research project on the transformations of Schiphol airport);
Dr. Fredie Floré (Architecture; specializes in the history of and the discourse on housing and interior design);
Prof. Dr. Katja Kwastek (Art History, with a focus on media art and interactivity);
Dr. Sven Lütticken, programme director (Art History, with a focus on art and media theory; current projects on the temporalities of moving images since the 1960s and on art and thingness);
Prof. Dr. Frits Scholten (Museum policies and curating);
Prof. Dr. Ginette Verstraete (Comparative Arts and Media Studies, with a focus on mobility, globalization, and geography).
Research seminars and guest lectures
Staff members share their current research interests in seminars, including the recurring Imagining the Image and Critical Issues in the Cultural Industry courses as well as in research seminars with annually changing topics. VAMA does not conceive of research as an ivory-tower affair; research is itself a form of practice. In addition to participating in academic conferences, VAMA staff members collaborate with museums, curate exhibitions, edit journals and volumes, and play advisory roles in the field of heritage. VAMA students are involved in many of these activities, and play a crucial role in the academic community at the university.
VAMA regularly welcomes guest speakers who engage with students in discussions about their writings. Recent guests include T.J. Demos (University College, London), Tom Holert (critic and theorist, Berlin), Rem Koolhaas (architect, London/Rotterdam), Nathalie Roseau (École des Ponts ParisTech); André Rottmann (Freie Universität, Berlin); Jonas Staal (artist, Rotterdam).; and Wendelien van Oldenborgh (artist, Rotterdam).
More information
For further information, visit the website and the VAMA blog.
Contact the VU University International Office at [email protected].
VU University also offers a number of other Master’s programmes, including Design Cultures and Comparative Arts and Media Studies.
