Material experimentations

Tutors
Tutor website: Elena Khurtova
Tutor website: Marie Ilse Bourlanges

Title
Material experimentations

Context
The scale of the detail, the interior and the building.
In our practice as a duo of visual artists, we constantly activate the physical and the conceptual, using crafts and technology, matter and memory. We bring along this particular approach to our teaching as well.

Credits
5 ECTS points

Participation
Individual

Educational philosophy
Our course is aimed at developing an intuitive process of experimentation with various materials and techniques, combining a physical and conceptual approach.

Methodology
To encourage students to get ‘their hands dirty’, we start the first lesson with a series of workshops: a sheet of plastic is stretched over the clean tables of the classroom, and the game is on! Plaster, clay, color, textile, heat! Our goal is to show that anything is possible in a very short and impulsive time-frame. Of course, we also work hand-in-hand with the workshops in the academy. We want to demonstrate and trigger an active attitude towards materials from the start.

In our experience ‘learning by doing’ is a very efficient way for students to grasp the essence of materials and techniques. Our methodology also implements the set up of a personal method or protocol, and – through analysis – stimulates conceptual thinking relating to the inherent nature of the matter.

Moreover, we aim to activate an independent development for each student: what matters is to figure out their autonomous manner of researching and finding a truthful fascination together. In a way, we see ourselves more as activators than mere teachers.

Assignments
Our assignments are often very open and follow a theme we are currently researching. One year was dedicated to the theme: ‘Anticipated Decay’, which concluded in an ambitious and successful exhibition in De Service Garage, an alternative exhibition space in Amsterdam.