THE GREAT UNKNOWN

The Great Unknown.  

"In the first year of the Crossmedia Design section at the AKI it’s all about discovery. To discover, actually means to go where one has not been before and to find out what lies beyond in the great unknown. 

That is exciting and it is challenging. 
But it’s also scary. 
And that has to do with the not knowing.
Not knowing what to do. Not knowing what to expect, what to get or where to go.  
Not knowing anything. Period. 

At the AKI we want students not to fear. 
Not to fear the not knowing. Not to fear the unknown. Not to fear the consequences of something one cannot oversee. And not to fear the failure. 
We want them to take any opportunity, any chance at any given moment to try and to make and to learn what lies beyond.  

To try, to fail, to learn and to get better.  
To become curious and to become hungry.  

I, in my course, try to reach that by forbidding them to use any equipment or material they already know. 
I try to do that by forbidding them to go digital. Not because I think digital is bad, but because I know the value of what analogue can teach you. You will learn faster by slowing down.

It will teach you about the irreversibility of the medium, the limits of the equipment and of the materials and as a result it will teach you about the consequences of choice.  

Your choice." 

Bert Teunissen
AKI Lecturer in Cross Media Design