The WdKA Research Centre (KCW) helps to create knowledge through artistic and design research that connects with and responds to major societal, technological, and ecological transitions. We research shifts in arts and design practices in relation to societal change by observing, analysing, and participating as practitioners in these transformations.
In the coming period, degrowth through the arts and design and intersectionality in relation to creative practices serve as overlapping thematic frameworks for critically rethinking and adapting artistic and design research, cultural production and consumption in response to climate change, systemic inequalities, and rapidly evolving material and technological conditions.
Degrowth is a proposal to rethink extractivist economic models that are exclusively based on growth and often the source of social and environmental harm. Intersectionality addresses interconnected dynamics of access, power, and identity that impact participation in education, culture, and society.
For the art and design sector, it is vital to translate degrowth and intersectionality into reconceptualized artistic and design practices, school curricula, and research programs. We do not consider degrowth and intersectionality to be prescriptive concepts; they are cross-pollinating experimental hypotheses to explore and investigate in our research and educational programs.
KCW’s practice-oriented, artistic and design research is embedded in WdKA’s learning environment and extends into the broader cultural and educational spheres of Rotterdam, as well as further afield.
Research Lines (lecoraten)
Our art and design research and education will employ inter- and transdisciplinary artistic and design methods in three new research lines that emerge from the focus areas and priorities. These lines offer critical perspectives on both established and technologically cutting-edge research methodologies:
- Design Research on Degrowth and Sustainability in the Arts: Exploring material practices, organization, and digital infrastructures for sustainable cultural production and consumption.
- Performative Art Research, Sound, and Society: Researching urban soundscapes, adaptive instrument design, and improvisation as social practice, informed by technology.
- Artistic Research and Emerging Forms of Cultural Production: Examining emerging visual cultures, alternative economic models, experiments with authorship and ownership, and neurodiversity in cultural work.
Mission and Vision
Mission
In resonance with the WdKA Strategy 2025 and beyond, which “promotes a circular understanding of education, research, and practice,” our work contributes to inclusive and sustainable futures through collaboration, experimentation, and critical inquiry with students, teachers, and external partners. By focusing on environmentally responsive practices, inclusive societies, and regional development, we align with the RUAS Strategic Agenda Talent for Transition. Our research hence contributes to wider conversations across WdKA and RUAS while connecting with research agendas concerned with sustainability and social justice (e.g. Nationale Wetenschapsagenda, EU Horizon Societal Challenges, and Nationaal Programma Circulaire Economie 2023 – 2030).
KCW investigates transformations in art and design that relate and respond to today’s societal, technological, and environmental challenges. Through practice-oriented research, we aim to influence education and policy in our professional and cultural fields, and support transitions toward more just and sustainable futures. In alignment with WdKA and RUAS we are:
- Embedding research within WdKA Bachelor/Master curricula, promoting its relevance and supporting students, staff and faculty in their learning and professional pursuits.
- Fostering interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research and practice in the arts and design (via RASL and other partners).
- Engaging and collaborating with regional, national and international stakeholders to ensure the ongoing societal relevance and impact of arts and design.
- Shaping graduate arts and design education and contributing to the professional field via third cycle initiatives in which KCW is invited to participate (i.e., PD and occasional co-supervision of practice-based and practice-led PhD at universities).
Vision
By 2028, KCW will:
- Develop practice-based artistic and design research on sustainability and inclusion via our cross-pollinating research themes: Degrowth and Intersectionality.
- Continue the integration between interdisciplinary research and education within WdKA.
- Establish the foundations for a structural graduate school (with the PD, Piet Zwart Institute master’s programs, and the Research Station).