In the Image and Language department our aim is to explore the scope of language and its interplay with other media. This makes Image and Language a place for versatile and curious makers who have an interest in language.
We approach language from the perspective of literary forms such as prose, the essay and poetry, but we encourage you to understand language as a material, instrument and construct as well. We explore, for example, how to work with narratives and how these can take non-linguistic shapes. We question the definition of language, how much of a word is in fact an image (and vice versa), and explore what happens when language is mixed in with other media.
Parallel to the programme’s core courses, Image and Language offers a variety of elective subjects to choose from every semester. This means you can experiment with image making, performance, making publications, film (essays), artistic research, translation, and the philosophy of language – as well as exploring the question of what happens when the boundaries between these disciplines are blurred.
We stimulate autonomous initiatives and group projects inside and outside the academy. The department focuses more on process than on outcome, more on the development of ideas than perfecting skills. English is our shared language. Dutch students can get feedback on their Dutch texts.
