MAKE/SENSE is a three-year PhD programme organized with the University of Arts Linz (AT). It combines supervision in Basel and Linz with a curriculum grounded in critical, experimental, and transdisciplinary research.
The study programme
The MAKE/SENSE PhD, hosted by the Critical Media Lab, brings together researchers from art, design, media, and technology in a collaborative environment. The programme combines close mentorship with shared practices of documenting, hacking, rehearsing, and publishing that shape the lab’s ongoing research threads.
Research is approached as a process that responds to social, political, infrastructural and technological questions of our time. Candidates develop situated and experimental approaches informed by socially engaged perspectives. Projects may take the form of artistic interventions, activist media, software critique, fieldwork, or other practice-based experiments that question how knowledge is produced and shared.
Doctoral training spans three structured years, with the option of extension. Students receive individual and group supervision in Basel and Linz, supported by monthly colloquia, a yearly assembly, and regular public events organized in collaboration with external partners. Research outcomes may include exhibitions, performances, installations, publications.
Supervision
PhD candidates are jointly supervised by the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW and the University of Arts Linz through regular individual and group meetings in both locations. These meetings provide individualized training and foster collective exchange, tailored to each doctoral project. At the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, supervision is offered across its institutes, including:
- Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM)
- Arts and Design Education (IADE)
- Art Gender Nature (IAGN)
- Digital Communication Environments (IDCE)
- Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP)
