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Centre of Applied
Research for Art, Design
and Technology

Innovation is often deemed a sign of progress and is the approach with which we tend to tackle the challenges of our time. However, innovation is not necessarily a good thing. CARADT deploys art, design and technology to explore possibilities in seeking a sustainable future. If an innovative solution does not make a sustainable contribution, we will not implement it. Attention to ethical practices is paramount. CARADT therefore invests, perhaps more heavily than other expertise centres, in research into these ethical issues and, through each of its research groups, aims to participate in and contribute to current discourse on major societal problems and the collective quest for new models for living. The starting point for this is our collective mission statement, shared by all research groups: to critically challenge ‘the natural order’ of things. 

There are three research groups within CARADT;  

This expertise centre operates at the intersection of art, design and technology. It has substantive practices of engagement and exchange across a range of social, technological and scientific contexts. Rather than work within the confines of a particular discipline or knowledge domain, CARADT’s research groups take a meta-position from where they contribute to the continued reinterpretation and reformulation of these knowledge domains.

Building from a strong intellectual foundation, CARADT’s research draws, in terms of methodology and conceptual apparatus, from various academic research fields, such as philosophy, sociology, cultural studies, design research, art history, art theory, cultural history, and technological research. In doing so, our aim is for a critically reflective and rigorous approach. In this way, concepts and proposals from within the academic sphere gain new relevance through their varied application and reformulations in the practice-led research of the lectorates and, as a result of the strong embedding of this research in our education programmes, also in Avans’s art and design education.

Subsequently, the research and it outcomes are put into practice through concrete developments within (professional) art and design practices. Applied research is a strong aspect of higher vocational education, which enables dynamic and responsive interaction with empirical developments across relevant (professional) fields – often more readily than university institutions are able.

Expertise Centres of Avans University of Applied Sciences

CARADT is one of the expertise centres of Avans University of Applied Sciences. Each expertise centre has several research groups around a specific theme in which lecturers, tutor-researchers and students conduct practice-led research in collaboration and consultation with companies, governments, social organisations, and education. The results of the research are implemented in Avans education. The expertise centres also collaborate with one another. For example, the Centre of Expertise Wellbeing Economy & New Entrepeneurship (CoE BWNO)arrow is a frequent partner in CARADT’s external projects.

Research Group: Regenerative Art and Design

The Regenerative Art and Design (RAD) research group seeks to form a new generation of regenerative designers and artists who will create transformative pathways for reimagining design futures grounded in care and ecological integrity.

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‘Without collaboration, impact is impossible. So… let's connect, and make a sustainable impact on society.’

Wouter Meys arrow

‘How can art and design cultivate critical expressions rooted in ethics of care and relationality to influence ecological, social, and economic structures?’

Delfina Fantini van Ditmar arrow

‘People are the product of their relationships with their environment. It’s important to understand how technological developments influence these relationships.’

Michel van Dartel arrow

‘Our research group investigates the role artists, designers and cultural producers in general can play in developing the aesthetics and poetics of a desirable future.’

Sebastian Olma arrow

‘‘How will our graduates make a living without selling their soul?’’

Sepp Eckenhaussen arrow

‘In social and cultural research there is increasing importance in research methodologies and devices that cut across fields and disciplines, becoming transdisciplinary.’

Jess Henderson arrow

‘My practice is situated in between different actors, in this shape-shifting middle many things can happen.’

Tara Karpinski arrow

‘Imagination is the key to a strong inclusive society. Artistic work and situated design can contribute to a better understanding of the other.’

Jenny van den Broeke arrow

‘Investigating the potential of sensory augmentation to bridge the sensory gap between deaf and hearing.’

Michel Witter arrow

‘As a result of my current research, I ask the students the questions “what is your work” and “what works for you.’

Rob Leijdekkers arrow

‘It is through the “not-knowing” that a stimulating and caring environment can be created to confidently share vulnerability.’

Risk Hazekamp arrow

‘‘Understanding how creativity and imagination emerge from interactions with our environment will lead to improved innovation processes, tools and technologies.’’

Alwin de Rooij arrow

‘Through an interplay of design and research, the apt questions and necessary tools can be discovered and applied to each research project.’

Antal Ruhl arrow

‘How can we disrupt the notion of being human while staying true to being humane?’

Wander Eikelboom arrow

‘Humans are atmospheric beings, particles, dust, in intimate cycles of exchange, actors with an incredible force.’

Annemarie Piscaer arrow

‘How do we live together, how do we work together? How do we give shape and form to ‘being together’ in the broadest sense?’

bas van den hurk arrow

‘Could experimental sensory translation of art works improve their accessibility for sensory diverse exhibition audiences?’

Eva Fotiadi arrow

‘Disrupting our contemporary society can be a serious design goal.’

Eke Rebergen arrow

‘Interested in human behaviour as the basics underlying the way we design and innovate our society and economy.’

Marianne van Bommel arrow

‘I’m interested in how we can implement situated learning within design education.’

Sarah Lugthart arrow

‘Within my practice I create spaces for introspection while exploring ethical dilemmas. ’

Renée van Oploo arrow

‘How can the notion of the ‘script’ be used in a situated design practice? ’

Ollie Palmer arrow

‘The ultimate goal is to provide people with the information, skills and tools that enable them to improve the quality of their daily lives.’

Simone van den Broek arrow

‘Art and design research is essential to address the complex world questions we face today, as they think and do with the world and not on it.’

Carolina Valente Pinto arrow

‘Creating inclusive and accessible stories needs collaborative action. As a cultural producer and researcher, I explore these interactions.’

Rikst Westra arrow

‘A bio lab is a place of working with living organisms, brought out of their habitat so we can learn to think outside of the Petri dish. Let’s take care of these teachers!’

Michaela Davidová arrow

‘My background in visual art makes me very involved in the content of the expertise centre.’

Wilma Diepens arrow

‘I support CARADT's mission to redefine the intersection of art, design, and technology by enhancing the synergy between administration and innovative research. ’

Juliëtte Cuijpers arrow

‘I am committed to ensure the highest quality in research, helping art and design play a transformative role in society through rigorous and integrative approaches.’

Anouk van Honk arrow

‘I am dedicated to give a voice to stories and perspectives that have not yet been heard.’

Liza Swaving arrow

‘To foster a culture of knowledge sharing and collaborative innovation at CARADT, I am dedicated to communicate findings and innovations effectively. ’

Eline Timmermans arrow

‘Exploring and integrating novel perspectives to our everyday through the eyes of fungi.’

Wasabii Ng arrow

‘For me, the iterative design-research process is an exciting journey towards designs that can transform human consciousness.’

Danielle Roberts arrow

‘The dynamic relationship between humans and living artefacts will continue to evolve reciprocally with mutual care.’

Elvin Karana arrow

‘Well beyond their common characterisation as problem-solvers, designers have a role to play in materialising public engagement with collective concern’

Laurens Kolks arrow

‘Performance is about engaging with versions of the self, stretching the gaze to see what others see when they look at you.’

Philippine Hoegen arrow

‘Consumers are creatures of habit. If we want them to break routine and live sustainably, we have to do more than just offer sustainable alternatives. ’

Estelle Nieuwenkamp arrow

‘Bacteria, Fungi, Humans, all part of the same experiment.’

Ward Groutars arrow

‘The essence of the situated, cinematic experience of dance lies in the mental interaction where the public becomes co-author.’

Noud Heerkens arrow

‘To be able to research something thoroughly, you have to deeply engage, not just look at it from the outside.’

Bart Stuart arrow

‘The pleasure of working in the [MI] lab is that microbiological research is carried out from two different approaches.’

John van der Werf arrow

‘Doing research connects my practice with teaching; it strengthens and brings them closer together.’

Martine Stig arrow

‘The most difficult and empowering thing as an artist is to stay honest about my work and me. And I'd like to help my students to get there too.’

Aiwen Yin arrow

‘I believe a collaborative and efficient lab can address both educational and research demands.’

Serena Buscone arrow

‘Getting comfortable with ambiguity enables designers to absorb feedback and use it to make better design choices.’

Gabri Heinrichs arrow

‘I look at the ways in which citizens can play an active role in shaping their cities, and how new media and technology can contribute to this.’

Barbara Asselbergs arrow

‘I am eager to explore how unique qualities of ‘living materials’ can transform the way we think, feel and act.’

Hazal Ertürkan arrow

‘Nature is a perfect example of an iterative design process. It is inspiring and full of exciting solutions.’

Clarice Risseeuw arrow

‘Power, control and chance play an important role in every creative process. I explore this complicated correlation.’

Michiel van Opstal arrow

‘Clear communication enforces the impact and value of Caradt’s research.’

Kris Vleugels arrow

‘My particular interest lies in sharing interesting and thought-provoking stories. Communication is a big part of that.’

Kimberley Rochat arrow

‘Caradt’s practice-led research aims to empower artists and designers to make a meaningful contribution to society through their projects.’

Rens Holslag arrow

‘In my point of view, the arts, teaching, research, creation, are all connected. It is all a matter of communication.’

Joana Borges arrow

‘Attention during interaction is personal, not a given fact.’

Misha Croes arrow

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Our Creative Reset

Our Creative Reset is a research program of the INC and CARADT about economic sustainability in the arts in permacrisis. It explicitly confronts a set of uncomfortable but unavoidable questions.

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Material Incubator

Material Incubator is a creative research lab that explores the potentials of materials from living organisms for an alternative notion of the everyday.

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Making and Breaking

This online journal delves into questions around the role of cultural production as a contributing force for emancipatory social transformation.

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Still Alive

The Still Alive event served as a celebration of recent developments regarding the establishment of biodesign research and education in Art.

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