ArtEZ University of the Arts

Research at ArtEZ is a dynamic and socially engaged practice that positions artistic work as a vital form of knowledge production. Rather than operating within fixed disciplinary boundaries, it moves across contexts and connects artistic, societal and technological domains to address complex challenges.

At ArtEZ, artists, designers, musicians and arts educators engage directly with questions arising from ecological transitions, digital transformation and changing social realities. Through making, performing and designing, they do not only respond to these challenges, but actively reshape how they are understood, experienced and approached.

The ArtEZ Research Centre (ARC) is the platform through which this research is developed and connected. It brings together practice-based research across professorships and a UNESCO Chair, linking disciplinary expertise to societal impact in close collaboration with professional fields and communities.

ARC’s research is guided by a shared orientation that emphasises experimentation, relationality and responsibility. It explores how futures can be enacted through practice, how human and non-human perspectives interact, and how care and collaboration can function as fundamental research principles.

Within the Dutch and European landscape, ARC occupies a distinct position. Its strength lies in its proximity to professional practice, its transdisciplinary approach and its expertise in co-creation. This allows for rapid cycles of prototyping, testing and learning, in direct interaction with end users and societal partners.

By working across a broad methodological spectrum, from design-driven and speculative approaches to applied and practice-led research, ARC contributes forms of knowledge that are often underrepresented in traditional academic contexts. Its strong regional embedding, combined with an extensive international network, enables locally grounded research to resonate at a broader scale.