INTRODUCTION

Dutch Art Institute a.k.a. DAI Roaming Academy stands for the entirety of our program; including its public events, archives (see menu), alumni embassy, commisioned texts and so forth. The DAI fosters "study" and "research" by means of performance, reading, writing, voicing, making, listening, curating, commoning & conviviality. Study at DAI on a methodological level is conducted in entirely de-disciplined ways, but students and tutors, if compelled to, are welcome to join in and contribute with research evolving from their specific disciplinary backgrounds. With that in mind it is however relevant to appreciate that our program is critically positioned within the (versatile and porous) domain of 'contemporary art': its discourses and its discontents. Learn more about our Admission Requirements.  

DAI Art Praxis stands for our accredited MA curriculum in which we all study at the intersections between practice and theory; in the academic year 2022-2023 described in the syllabus here at hand. 

Accreditation: DAI Art Praxis is a permaculture, a balanced, finely tuned blend of consistency and contingency that allows for a thoughtful integration of state-of-the-art research within the required competencies and learning objectives that come with our status as a fully accredited, so called Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design under Croho registration 49114 (read more here).

EER = the official Exam Regulations in two parts; one on an institutional level written by the Central Exam Committee while one part is program led and written by DAI and certified by the Central Exam Committee of the ArtEZ University of the Arts on an annual base. The detailed Exam Regulations 2022-2023 (a more technical version of the Syllabus that you are currently reading) are available to students at the log-in section of the ArtEZ website.

ECTS: European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System: a student's workload is measured in ECTS credits. ECTS are a standard across the European Union. One credit represents 28 hours of work and 60 credits represent one year of full-time study. DAI students must 'earn' 120 EC credits before obtaining their MA certificate. ECTS credits are not related to a content based quality assesment. The latter comes with a separate testing program, as registered in the EER.                                                       

Please be aware that DAI is accredited as a FULL-TIME program with a fixed number of ECTS to be accredited to you after succesful completion of all 3 curriculum components. Thus there is also a fixed number of contact hours during DAI Weeks, divided over the 3 curriculum components and a fixed amount of hours required to dedicate on self-study (also divided over the 3 curriculum components) outside of the DAI Week gatherings on location.                                                                                                                  

DAI Art Praxis is a a two year long study trajectory. Upon succesful conclusion a total of 120 ECTS will be awarded to you, of which 60 ECTS have to obtained during the first year of study. If, after two years of study, a student has not managed to positively conclude one or more curriculum components, it is possible to allow for additional time (in most cases this concerns the finalisation of the written thesis). One should however be aware that a (partial) third year also means official re-enrolment and the (partial) tuition fees that come along with that (if you are currently studying at DAI and left with questions in this regard you are welcome to contact Rik Fernhout).                                                   

Competences & Dublin Descriptors: DAI as an accredited MA works within the guidelines of the Bologna Agreements and is therefore bound to use a competence-based testing program in line with the so-called Dublin Descriptors (drawn up in the years 2001-2004, they are named after the place where an agreement on these attainment targets for higher education was reached in 2004. The reason for drawing up these descriptors was the pursuit of study programmes of an equivalent level in the different countries of Europe. This is also with a view to students who want to complete part of their studies at a foreign university. The Dublin descriptors show the differences between the qualifications for Associate Degree programmes, Bachelor programmes and those for Master programmes).

See the DAI-specific list of competences. Our List of Competences is annually reviewed and (if necessary) updated by DAI's two Education Team Leaders, two members of the student COUNCIL in close conversation with tutors, students, the senior learning co-ordinator study trajectory and the artistic director / head of program.                                        

Pedagogy: DAI explicitly asks its faculty to work with a model based on reciprocity. The tutors fuel and underpin a ‘curated class’ departing from research questions and study propositions, while the students are invited to contribute to the conversation with their own artistic/theoretical research. Both students as well as tutors are expected to be open to ask new questions, to gain new insights and make new propositions – tutors take on leading roles, but can occasionally delegate this duty to guests or to students. Both students and tutors are invited to make use of the DAI's specific learning environment to further their own research around topics and things that matter (to them). DAI considers this to be a crucial aspect of its mission: no top down "know-all knowledge transmission", but thinking and studying together towards lively, open-ended works. In addition to the collective work sessions and seminars, face to face advisory meetings geared towards tailor made support for individual students, will also be organized within the framework of the curriculum.      

IRL = In Real Life (as opposed to online). Study hours are divided in contact hours and self-study hours. Accredited contact hours at DAI are always IRL. If you cannot be present during contact hours it is recommended to try and follow the seminars and gatherings online, so that you keep yourself informed and updated. But please note that online attendance can however NOT replace IRL attendance, and will NOT be counted for your ECTS. For each curriculum component 100% attendance is strongly recommended and 80% attendance is conditional for obtaining the required number of ECTS. This will be detailed with each curriculum component described below.