F for Fact is a Temporary Master Program at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam running between 2020 – 2022. The 2020–2022 students have a background in the visual arts, film, design, writing, editors and are unconventional thinkers with a curious mind and a proactive nature.
This two-year course, during which you are part of a group of 15 students, aims to question how knowledge and imagination come together through new forms of storytelling and image-making. We look at the difference between fiction and truth, fact and credibility, fake news and honest fantasies, by working with historical material while looking at contemporary issues and speculating about possible futures.
At a moment in time when facts are framed as fantasy and feelings equal truth, F for Fact investigates different forms of knowledge through an artistic lens, with the aim to develop subjective narratives of a hybrid nature.
This school of second thoughts is about exploration and play, while investigating the nature of personal, factual, embodied, digital- and spiritual information as it is currently defined, preserved and shared. Participants in the program start their research from an engagement with the world, and learn to navigate their field of interest, while critically embracing its knowns and unknowns, its qualities and biases, its problems and miracles.
F For Fact traces the sliding parameters of objectivity. We question memory and aim at what we can imagine, while believing that hard facts and subjective knowledge can inform each other instead of being seen as contradictory. By critically observing the materials that serve as the records of history and mapping where we are today, we aim to translate knowledge, objects and information into images and stories for the future.
At this interdisciplinary master, the research around a subject of interest, and the form to share it, are seen as a single practice, while being aware that communicating any part of the process with an audience requires a clear form. We also believe in the collective endeavor, and regard individual authorship as a matter of responsibility rather than an answer to the workings of the artistic marketplace.
F for Fact encourages connections to the world outside by supporting contacts with renowned institutes, platforms and archives related to art, science, design and society and by maintaining relations with external practitioners from familiar aswell as remote fields of interest.
Combining practices of participants* from different professional backgrounds creates an environment of exchange instead of competition. In the two-year course the participants work on individual or collective projects which take the factual, philosophical or tangible world as their point of departure.
What kind of student is F for Fact looking for? You are a curious individual who is open to new encountersand wants to learn from others, with a drive to pursue your own ideas and ideals while being positively distracted by your interest in other worlds. To succeed is not living up to ourstandards, but allowing your tutors and peers to help you infinding your topic, a specific working method and form, in word and work. Our standard is based on assessing your level of self-consciousness and reflection on process and production.
What is the core team of F for Fact?
Artist Barbara Visser is head of the temporary master. She represents the artistic vision of the department, and is one of the core tutors. Next to this there are guest tutors that will visit our course. Barbara will be available to students at least one day a week. Sjoerd ter Borg is the coordinator of F for Fact. He will take care of the organization of the course. Sjoerd will beavailable two days a week. Bart Haensel is responsible for the education and the courses in F for Fact. He will be available one day a week. Arnoud Holleman and Matthew C. Wilson are tutors that will visit F for Fact on a regular basis. Have a look at our extensive list of guest tutors that are involved in F for Fact.
What happens in the F for fact master?
You are asked to define a research topic that is related towards a body of knowledge in any shape or form. It can be an institute, an archive, a collection, an object, even a singular person or document. Your research will result in a thesis and a graduation project. During the course we will facilitate you in developing an individual method that could form the base of your professional practice.
What can I expect from the course, how does it work?
During a normal week, we expect you to work independently on your projects. We have at least two full days a week where tutors will organize programs or be available for students. You can work in school and use the Rietveld/ Sandberg facilities. Because we encourage you to develop an individual trajectory at Sandberg, it will vary if we work with you in a group or individually. A short overview per semester of what to expect in general terms can be found here.
Conceptual designers, visual artists, writers, filmmakers and other unconventional thinkers with a curious mind and a proactive nature are warmly invited to apply.