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The four masters at AKV|St.Joost support artists and designers in their ambition to deepen and strengthen their practice through research, experimentation, projects and presentations. The masters of Fine Art, Photography and Graphic Design have been running for 16 years now, first as post-graduate programmes and later as masters. The Master of Animation is new to the academy. It started in 2010 and is the only Master of Animation in the Netherlands, as is the Master of Photography.

The masters have a strong international orientation: students come from the Netherlands and abroad, and the programmes have established collaborations with other masters and art and design institutions abroad. The students are all professionals who want to expand their vision and artistic possibilities. Graduates of the master programmes at AKV|St.Joost go on to have strong careers within their profession and contribute actively to the discourse and development of practice in their field.

Master of Fine Art, Location: Breda/’s-HertogenboschThe current art practice is diverse and ‘foam-like’ (Bas van den Hurk in this issue), requiring a variety of non-predetermined methods. The MFA programme at AKV|St.Joost allows students to research their own position, stressing its distinctive features, and researching the most suitable methodology. We welcome students who want to open up their practice for critical reflection and who are personally motivated to enter a period of studies and exchange. The curriculum provides room for experimentation within their own work, but also teaches students to relate to a variety of positions, art forms, contexts and presentation forms belonging to issues a contemporary artist faces.

Tutors at the MFA programme (core tutors: Thomas Bakker, Marjolijn Dijkman, George Korsmit, Bas van den Hurk and Erik Hagoort) have practices that embody the different roles we want students to experience. They are initiators, curators, collaborators and researchers besides being artists. These are relevant attitudes in the contemporary art world, and young artists will encounter them in their career. They might want to, or need to. incorporate them in their practice.

Students at AKV|St.Joost will share an open studio with peers for two years, in which they can discuss and exchange experiences with each other and fellow professional artists. This allows them to form an international community that challenges attitudes and presumptions and forges contacts and collaborations that transcend the programme. The student’s work will be stimulated and challenged in collaboration with a group of well-known lecturers and (international) guest lecturers. The MFA programme creates an educational environment that allows students and lecturers to work with a stimulating exchange of ideas and knowledge. Besides the student’s personal journey through art and theory, we encourage them to explore and connect their interests thematically with other students in a series of symposia they will organise.

The programme is structured in three phases: the Orientation Phase, aimed at finding specific areas for further development and drafting and developing a research proposal. The Research Phase, which is concerned with the execution and further development of the research proposal, an approach based on the integration of theory and practice, and which is characterized by a more intense focus on the subject of research. And finally the Graduation Phase, with a focus on production and presentation and the evaluation of it.

Master of Photography, Location: Breda The master programme for Photography is a two-year course. It is the only programme in the Netherlands at which students can work at a master level on their development in photography and the use of photography in different contexts. The documentary discourse is an important point of departure for discussion and research in the programme.

Master of Graphic Design, Location: Breda The master programme for Graphic Design at AKV|St.Joost is a two-year course which aims at teaching a design method, independent of mediums or trends. The underlying idea is that graduates should be able to function at a strategic level where they can act as equal discussion partners of clients and thus take responsibility for a design, starting from its strategy and concept development and following through to its execution.

Master of Animation, Location: BredaThe one-year master course for Animation was founded in 2010. The programme focuses on the broad role of animation in media, art, design, games and science, all in professional contexts, where there is a growing demand for not just specialized technicians but mainly for knowledge and innovation in these areas of application through new design questions, production methods and narrative strategies.

Future students can apply until May 2013 by following the ‘Admission’ link on our website: www.akvstjoost.nl

Miriam Bestebreurtje

Course leader Master of Photography & Master Fine Art