Research

Florian Cramer / Autonomous Practices

Willem de Kooning Academy
Wed 1 May
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Florian Cramer (1969), reader in 21st Century Visual Culture/Autonomous Practices at Willem de Kooning Academy.

Bio

I am a reader (in Dutch: lector, in non-UK English: practice-oriented research professor) in 21st Century Visual Culture at Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam/Netherlands, an art and design school which is part of Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool Rotterdam).

I do my best to teach, on a project basis, in as many departments of my school as possible, both on the B.A. level and in the different Master's programmes of the Piet Zwart Institute (which is part of Willem de Kooning Academy).

Within the research department of my school, I am specialized in Autonomous Practices, one of our three B.A. graduation profiles. The Autonomous Practices curriculum and research projects are focused on DIY artist-run initiatives and self-organization as contemporary art.

Header image: Laisa Maria 

I am currently co-supervising two research projects funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO):

I am also participating in the following two NWO/SIA-funded research projects:

  • Make It Public (a collaboration of Institute of Network Cultures at Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Willem de Kooning Academy, the art school ArtEZ, Valiz Publishers and many more)
  • GAMPSISS: GAmeful Music Performances for Smart, Inclusive, and Sustainable Societies(a collaboration of CodArts conservatory Rotterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Willem de Kooning Academy, TU Delft)

Outside my school, I am a board member of De Player, a space for sound/performance art, PrintRoom, a space for artists’ books and DIY publishing and Herman, a venue for experimental pop music. I’m a member/tenant of Kunst en Complex, Rotterdam oldest surviving self-organized artists’ studio building, and a member of the artist-run analogue filmmaking lab filmwerkplaats.

I serve as a member of the advisory commission/jury for the Grant Programme for Digital Culture of Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie.

Outside the Netherlands, I am on the academic advisory board for the arts magazine Neural and of APRJA, a peer-reviewed Open Access journal published by the media studies department of Aarhus University, Denmark.

Publications

My up-to-date publication list can be found here.

Most recent: Pattern Discrimination, a book by Clemens Apprich, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Hito Steyerl and myself, to be published by University of Minnesota Press and Open Access by Meson Press in 2018.

I blog and do photojournalism, mostly on Rotterdam’s DIY arts, on the social network diaspora.

My video and film work is here.