Through an active consideration of new educational modalities, the department continues to ask itself how art can best engage with the urgent social questions of our time. The Fine Arts Department offers informal conversations with established artists and curators, encounters with unexpected cultural icons, research trips, workshops, lectures, group visits to exhibitions, and exchanges with a range of arts organisations and initiatives in the Netherlands and abroad. Together with the team, each new group of students helps build their own ideal department, one in which they can grow as independent artists, both through the development of their own work and through their relationships within the Sandberg community and beyond.

Prospective students will be evaluated on their portfolio, previous experiences and motivation to question their existing practice. Perhaps most crucially, students need to be able to work and think independently, and not be afraid to critically reflect on their own work. An extreme curiosity is essential, as well as a willingness to enter into deep conversation with tutors and peers. The admissions committee will focus on the positionality, artistry, research and autonomous visual quality of the work presented.

The core of the programme consists of research, exploration and sustained conversation with the main tutors, who meet with each student individually on a regular basis during the two-year period of study and convene in group critiques at the closing of each semester. Alongside these regular dialogues, many workshops, seminars, guest lectures, studio visits and excursions take place, facilitating the students’ exploration of Dutch and international art scenes. Each of the fabrication workshops and facilities shared with the Gerrit Rietveld Academie — including glass, ceramics, textile, weaving, jewellery, wood, metal, photography, CAD/CAM, bookbinding, letterpress and offset, screen printing, as well as audiovisual media, editing and digital cinematography — also offer introductory instruction and ongoing assistance with new materials and methods.

First-year students write an essay in preparation for the thesis writing that occurs during year two, with support from dedicated writing tutors. Both the essays and the theses are presented to the department during the spring semester. Departmental experimentation in public presentations is organised by students, accompanied by a guest or tutor with whom they may explore relationships between art production and curatorship. During the second year, informal ‘speed dates’ with galleries and other presentation platforms are also organised on the students’ behalf to provide insight into different models and formats for public engagement. At the end of each year, the department conducts a collective evaluation to gather new ideas for the programme and feedback for improvement.