Since December 2017 I am coordinator of the Research Station of the Willem the Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University in Rotterdam (NL). This station aims to support, address, map and give direction to research in art and design, that is a crucial part of the DNA of this art institute. I am fascinated by the many definitions and interpretations of what research is. Some of these you can find in this section.
…”So answering [designer James] Auger’s pressing question — “What is this obsession with class systems?” —, well: we are obsessed with class systems because we can’t help it. Because, in contrast to most of the practitioners in the field of [Speculative and Critical Design], we do not have the privilege of not thinking about issues of race, class and gender.”
“In general you could say that research is just an extra tool to produce works of art, another way of being curious about the world. [… ] What the Academy needs is not more theory, but training in how to use theory as practice”
—Jeroen Boomgaard, Gray magazine #3, p5.