is a Dutch magazine dedicated to arts education. This issue, published in May 2025, explores how art can contribute to understanding and addressing complex societal themes — such as climate change, artificial intelligence, and environmental awareness.The theme of this edition is ArtsSciences education, developed in collaboration with the national network CASE – Centre for Arts & Sciences Education. The issue focuses on interdisciplinary teaching practices that combine artistic and scientific perspectives, with practical examples for educators.
Among the contributions are two articles from CARADT, both connected to the group Situated Art, Design and Technology:
Professor of Situated Art, Design and Technology Michel van Dartel reflects on the current discourse around AI in the arts. He argues that AI can simulate art, yet cannot replicate its grounding in embodied, real-world experiences. Rather than framing AI as a threat, he proposes engaging with it critically and using it as a “responsive material” — a way to raise questions, not just generate images or text.
Designer and researcher Annemarie Piscaer describes how environmental data such as air pollution and nitrogen data can be made tangible through material-based design. Her project Smogware incorporates particulate matter into ceramic glazes, making invisible pollution and air data visible and experiential through material form.
In the workshop Lux(ury) of Air, presented during the CASE symposium “ArtsSciences: Interdisciplinary Education for the Future” (February 2025), participants collected light and air data, and created cyanotype prints—wearable artifacts that capture the atmospheric conditions of a specific day. These projects form part of her doctoral research on materialisation as a method for public engagement and knowledge production.
This edition of Kunstzone also features a wide range of examples in and beyond the ArtsSciences theme — including accessible music education through digital instruments, critical approaches to food systems and fashion, and inclusive strategies for talent selection in the arts.
Learn more about the issue: Kunstzone – Looking ahead and innovating through ArtsSciences education
Order the magazine (in Dutch) here: https://kunstzone.nl/product/nr-01-mei-2025/
‘People are the product of their relationships with their environment. It’s important to understand how technological developments influence these relationships.’
Michel van Dartel is Research Professor Situated Art, Design and Technology at the Avans Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology (CARADT) and was affiliated with V2_Lab for the Unstable Media between 2005-2024. He holds an MSc in cognitive psychology and a PhD in artificial intelligence.
‘Humans are atmospheric beings, particles, dust, in intimate cycles of exchange, actors with an incredible force.’
‘We need to become attuned actors with a deeper understanding of all the other particles.’
Annemarie Piscaer is a researcher in the Situated Art, Design and Technology research group, tutor on the New Design & Attitudes study programme at St. Joost School of Art & Design, and PhD candidate in the Doctoral Program at KU Leuven.
Living in cities developed around data and acting within the inscrutable structure of our techno-society demands art and design that can help understand how we relate to these rapidly changing surroundings and to reflect on that relationship. The research group Situated Art, Design and Technology responds to this exigency by fostering a situated turn in art and design through a diverse portfolio of interdisciplinary research projects in partnership with academic and cultural partners, as well as with government and industry.
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