Humanities Research - Critical Studies in Art and Culture

Overview

The Humanities Research - Critical Studies in Art and Culture MA programme offered at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam focuses on current developments within four main disciplines – visual arts, architecture, design and media – from both a theoretical and a historical perspective. In a globalised cultural world in which art, architecture, design and media are ever more closely integrated and packaged as ‘creative industries’, disciplinary boundaries are called into question and challenged. 

As a student of Critical Studies in Art and Culture, you’ll be joining a highly dedicated international group of students, alumni, PhD candidates and staff members from various disciplinary backgrounds, who share a strong interest in the cultural sector. Within and beyond the programme, you’ll meet artists and researchers from around the world, exchange ideas about their research during our informal brunches, and visit exhibitions and cultural events. 

Many of our students and alumni are active with the VU Amsterdam affiliated journal Kunstlicht. Furthermore, both the Graduate School and our Interdisciplinary Research Institutes CLUE+ (Research Institute for Culture, Cognition, History and Heritage) and the Network Institute offer a broad range of workshops, seminars, lectures and research groups to attend.

Pursue an academic career

After graduating in the Humanities Research Master’s programme, you’ll be well placed to work as an independent researcher. You’ll have the skills needed to pursue a PhD within academia, and we’ll guide you in writing a research proposal for a PhD project. In recent years, many of our alumni have been awarded PhD grants in the Netherlands and abroad.