A unique new publication showcasing the spirit of transdisciplinary experimentation was unveiled at Roodkapje Rotterdam at April 4, 2025 during a festive launch event organized by students of the RASL (Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab) Minor. The publication, the result of a collective effort by students and teachers, offers a dynamic glimpse into how thinking, doing, and making intersect in the program’s innovative educational approach.
Created as part of the 2025 Keywords track, the publication emerged from a course led by Maaike van Papeveld and Claire Tio, where students explored and crafted prompts rooted in their individual artistic and academic projects. Supervised by faculty members Wander van Baalen, Irina Shapiro, Josué Amador, and Juliano Abramovay, students were encouraged to stretch beyond disciplinary boundaries and let the form and content of their work evolve together.
Rather than defining transdisciplinarity, the publication invites readers to experience it. The prompts, ranging from words and images to experimental exercises, are intentionally open-ended, meant to adapt and resonate differently depending on the context in which they’re used. “Our prompts don’t explain what transdisciplinarity is,” the creators note. “They show what it can do.”
The publication features contributions from students Floor Donkhorst, Hector Omar Huerta Hernandez, Kasia Klorek, Danique van Venrooij, Lucas Tepper, Luna Zimnik, Martina González, Minh Tran, Hasse van Leeuwen, Shalini Soni, Mŭge Wehrmann Krieger, Valerie Groenendijk, Vera Adriaanse, Viviane Rossknecht, and Zohra Peels. Each copy is handmade, with a unique sequence of entries, adding to the work’s tactile and experimental nature. A contextual layer on the reverse of each page provides insight into the prompts, alongside a blacked-out technical introduction censored by the students themselves.
The collaborative process was supported by Tamara de Groot and Marianna Maruyama, whose early guidance helped shape the prompt-creation phase and bring the final publication to life.
The launch event embraced the RASL Minor’s ethos that values experimentation as much as final results. The venue was transformed into an interactive space, with student-curated “prompt islands” for guests to explore. Friends, family, and members of the RASL network were invited to engage with the work hands-on.
A highlight of the evening was the public debut of alumnus Jan József Buis and his trombone quartet, whose powerful performance added a celebratory flair to the night. At the end of the event, guests were gifted a physical copy of the publication to take home, each one a one-of-a-kind artifact of the students’ process and imagination.
With this launch, the RASL Minor students have not only showcased their creative inquiry but also extended a compelling invitation: to rethink how we think, do, and make together.
The publication can be accessed online through this link: Transdisciplinary ways of making do_RASL Minor Keywords Track_2025
