Ways of the Wave

We start from the premise that knowledge about waves and the ocean is not only the domain of the scientific discipline of oceanography, but that many others (human and other-than-human alike) can offer us different ways of being in and knowing the ocean, in the Netherlands and beyond. Attending to this multiplicity of practices, knowledges and relations, affects how learning takes place and what we can learn. By bringing together students, teachers and guests teachers with a variety of practices related to waves (including surfers, sound artists, oceanographers and philosophers), and engaging with different artistic, scholarly, scientific practices on water, waves and oceans, we will together explore what happens when we commit to approach learning in more transdisciplinary and multi-sensorial ways, and experiment with how we can learn otherwise about, in and from the sea.

Moving from the traditional classroom to a living classroom near and in the water, means we will find ourselves in the surf zone - a boundary zone where the land becomes sea and the sea becomes land with the coming and going of the tides, and where waves that originated huge distances away on the open ocean confront us with the force and energy of water. We will be part of a network of relations consisting of the agents, knowledges and sensations that intersect in the surf zone: weather, currents, wind, sand and water, the taste of salt, the sensation of cold water on skin, the touch of jellyfish and seaweeds, the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach, of seagulls, dogs and beach-goers, the horizon far in the distance. The Hoek van Holland surf zone is also situated next to the Rotterdam harbour, where industry looms not too far away and large shipping vessels enter and exit the harbour.

For a participatory research project on art-science pedagogy, I am looking for students who are interested in collaboratively exploring more generative, embodied and transdisciplinary ways of higher education learning, by co-creating a summer course about waves (ocean/sound/brain/conceptual) that takes place in the waves of the North Sea at Hoek van Holland. This research project takes place in the context of RASL - the Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab. For more info about visit:

Deadline to apply: Wednesday 5th April
If you have any questions, contact me at: degroot@euc.eur.nl

Co-create a summer course in the waves of the North Sea

Who can apply?
The project is open for max. 10 students from Codarts, Willem de Kooning Academy, Erasmus University and Delft University, with an interest in oceans, water, sound, ecological and social justice, surfing, wild swimming, pedagogy and/or transdisciplinary and multi-sensorial knowledge production. No prior knowledge of surfing, oceanography and/or sound studies is required. While there will be some structure in place to get us started in the form of preparatory sessions, we will together shape the summer course. This means you have to be willing to collaborate with others, be open to try out other ways of learning and knowing, and have an interest in re-thinking and re-making higher education.

If more students apply than places available, a selection will be made on the basis of a diverse representation of different disciplines.

The beach is wheelchair accessible, and there are different accessibility services available on the beach. Being able or willing to swim or enter the water is not a requirement, and as a group we will develop ways of learning and collaborating that allow us to work with all our differences.

To participate, you have to be able to attend most of the preparatory sessions (see schedule below), as well as the summer course itself, which will take place between 21-30 June (precise planning to be decided on during the design of the course). However, if you’d very much like to participate and due to work or other engagements the timing or frequency of the sessions is particularly unfortunate, please reach out and we can look for a solution.

Participation is free, but not included are travel costs to Hoek van Holland beach (reachable by metro).

How to apply
The deadline to apply is Wednesday 5th April. To apply, send an email to degroot@euc.eur.nl containing the following:
1. Short motivation (in writing, visual, auditory or other form) that demonstrates an affinity with the aims of the project;
2. What you would like to learn, gain and/or experience by participating;
3. Short biography.

Planning
Five preparatory sessions in which we design the summer course together, on:
Tuesday 18th April 18.00-20.00
Wednesday 3rd May 12.00-17.00
Sunday 14th May 12.00-17.00
Tuesday 23rd May 19.00-21.00
Wednesday 31st May 12.00-17.00

Depending on weather and guest availability, these sessions will either take place on the beach at Hoek van Holland, or at Hillevliet 90 (RASL spaces) in Rotterdam.

Summer course: between 21-30 June. Precise planning and locations to be decided on during the course.

About me:

My name is Tamara de Groot, MPhil, lecturer in the Humanities department of Erasmus University College, and part of the Rotterdam Arts and Sciences Lab in which we aim to create a new type of higher education in-between and beyond artistic, scholarly and scientific disciplines. I am currently working on my PhD, in which I study these efforts from the perspective of radical pedagogy and more affirmative and situated ways of learning.