The Bachelor of Fine Art course offers you an opportunity to study as individually as possible. From the second year, you have access to studio space, where you will be able to develop your talents to the optimum. The course is practical and substantive. Authenticity, curiosity and amazement are highly important. The development of your own visual-expressive criteria, demands and rules form the starting point for your artistic vision, and therefore your work.
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In order to gain admission to this course, you must at least be culturally and socially curious and involved. You must also be creative and have a visual-expressive talent, perseverance and a critical attitude, and be able to work independently.
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The course is taught largely in Dutch, with a small percentage in English. It consists to a large extent of self-study, for which you receive individual supervision and guidance by visual artists and other professionals. You also take theory and practical lessons. If possible, your theory knowledge is tested in written tests. At the end of each term, your lecturer assesses each practical subject, after which you are granted credits for the appropriate subjects. The lecturers also jointly evaluate your practical work at the end of the term. They then formulate a study advice on the basis of this.
Propaedeutic year
The first year has a broad approach. You attend general visual subjects such as 2D forms, Drawing, Plastic and 3D forms and Idea Development. You also attend theoretical subjects, such as History of Art, Examination of Culture and Technical Instruction in Photography, Wood, Metal and Computer. In the second term you go into greater depth in the areas of Painting, Drawing, Sculpture and Printmaking. At the end of the first year, you are given the opportunity to decide the direction in which you wish to proceed.
Post-propaedeutic phase
During the second, third and fourth years, the subjects History of Art and Examination of Culture are obligatory. Drawing is also an obligatory subject during the second and third years. Apart from the obligatory subjects, you choose your individual study path. This means that you specialise in the following areas: Sculpture, Painting/printmaking, Photography, Intermedia or Digital Media and Drawing. During the third year, there is an opportunity to study abroad for a semester or a whole academic year. During the fourth year you focus on your chosen specialisation, and you write a dissertation under the supervision of your History of Art teacher. This paper is an obligatory element of your final examination.
The course leadership encourages students to spend a period abroad during their course, in the form of an exchange. The Bachelor of Fine Art course has arrangements with a large number of foreign institutions. These include the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weibensee, London Guildhall University and The Icelandic College of Art and Crafts in Reykjavik.
At the end of the course you will receive your Bachelor of Fine Art degree, which permits you to put the letters BFA after your name.
After the Bachelor of Fine Art course, you can choose to take the Master of Fine Art course. This is a part-time, two-year course which you can do alongside your work.
For more information, please contact our Student Service Centre on info@ssc.hku.nl.
