Description
Interested in PHILOSOPHY AS CREATIVE PRACTICE?
Always wanted to SENSATION AS YOUR MATERIAL? Join ALEPH!
ALEPH is a cross-academic, multi-disciplinary initiative which aspires to connect scholars and
students to their research and education in a different way. What distinguishes ALEPH’s approach
is its emphasis on philosophy as creative practice in its own right. We favour thinking
by doing and experimentation. Philosophy at the universities is more often than not reduced
to critical analysis and reproduction of the existing discourse. Philosophy in ALEPH is active,
embodied interaction with our environment. Concepts are created in and through the event.
ALEPH’s main goal is to explore the realm of the relational.
Originating in the Deleuzian scholarship, the research will depart from what is currently referred
to as the Affective Turn. Affect theory is a way of understanding domains of experience which
fall outside of (or refuse to fall within) the prevailing paradigm of representation. These experiences
are coextensive with our own, yet irreducible to them and as such independent of any
signifying instrument. This means ALEPH focuses on what is more commonly known as a paradigm
shift. We explore the influence of alternative philosophical and scientific discourse, such
as eco-logic, relational thinking, intensive thought, dynamic system theory or quantum mechanics,
on art and design.
Artist and designers work with sensation as material. They design affordances (qualities and
values) and not only forms (properties and facts). The field of research therefore is demarcated
by the intrinsic relation between the medium, affordance and affect. ALEPH does not stop with
concepts but continues with experimentation, prototyping and developing your concept into
a detailed artwork or design aiming for intellectual craftsmanship.
Course objectives
Working in ALEPH is an intensive experience enabling participants to develop a completely
new tool kit for their work based on a research-creation process. A series of lectures, readings,
discussions and experimental workshops will be offered on a weekly basis. Participation in the
lab is not a passive experience. Working by the principle of give-and-take, all members are
asked to contribute what they can and take what they need. The group of researchers will include
post-doctoral scholars, PhD- and undergraduate students, all dedicated to sharing their
insights and gaining new at the same time. Learn by teaching, teach by learning.
The lab currently resides at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague and is organized by the
Department of Interactive /Media /Design. In order to secure an interesting variety of theoretical
influx to the lab, several partners have been found who are willing and able to contribute
in a significant way. We closely collaborate with dr. Andrej Radman, Delft University of Technology
and dr. Sjoerd van Tuinen, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Participants are held together by
affinity rather than by any structure of membership or institutional hierarchy.
Timetable and location
2015-2016
Lab meetings take place on Wednesdays at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague.
From half of September till half of December and from half of February till the end of
April.
Location:
Royal Academy of Art
Prinsessegracht 4
2514 AN Den Haag
t 070 315 47 77
Mode of instruction
Seminar/lab.
Blackboard
No.
Contact
For further information please contact the course coordinator: Renske Maria van Dam
Registration
Register for this course via [uSis](http://usis.leidenuniv.nl/ "uSis").
APPLY BY SENDING YOUR MOTIVATION AND RESEARCH PROPOSAL TO R.vandam@KABK.NL
FOR MORE INFO PLEASE VISIT [WWW.ALEPHSITE.WORDPRESS.COM](http://WWW.ALEPHSITE.WORDPRESS.COM "WWW.ALEPHSITE.WORDPRESS.COM").
For other courses in the domains of music and fine arts, please visit:
[Elective courses music and fine arts](http://www.hum.leiden.edu/creative-performing-arts/education/elective-choices.html "Elective courses music and fine arts")