PhD student Dressing the Page: Fashion as Graphic Disruption in Contemporary Visual Culture

Background
With PXL-MAD School of Arts, and more specifically MAD-Research, we want to set the pace in the field of artistic research. The intellectual and artistic core of MAD-Research is the exploration of the complex relationship between media, art and society. Its research projects mainly focus on art in public space, on the interdisciplinary approach to artefacts, and on different media that blur the boundaries between what is traditionally understood as text or image. The research is conducted and coordinated by four research groups, which are developing their activities in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at UHasselt: ART EDUCATION, VISUAL VISIONARIES, MANUFrACTURE and READSEARCH.
 
More information: www.uhasselt.be/mad

Job content
This PhD project investigates how fashion functions as a graphic and disruptive medium within contemporary visual culture. Rather than considering fashion solely as a subject or aesthetic source of inspiration for graphic design, this research focuses on fashion as a formative force — a dynamic that manifests itself in typography, rhythm, layout, and forms of publication.
The project focuses on the intersections between clothing and print, runway and page, style and graphic structure. It investigates how fashion thinking—with its cycles, codes, materials, and performativity—influences visual communication and leads to new forms of hybrid, experimental, and tactile graphic design.
Research question (provisional and subject to refinement):
How does fashion function as a graphic medium and how does it influence visual grammar, typographic expression, and forms of publication within contemporary graphic design
Methodology (suggestive and open):
· Artistic practice-oriented research / research through design
· Visual analysis of fashion publications and experimental zines
· Design of own hybrid publications (zines, digital objects, tactile carriers)
· Rhythmic, typographic, and materialistic approaches
· Possible collaboration with fashion designers or publishers
Context and positioning:
The PhD is embedded in an interdisciplinary field of research between graphic design, fashion, print culture, and visual communication. Collaboration with fashion designers, curators, publishers, or cultural institutions is possible and desirable.

Profile

• You have a master’s degree in the visual arts (or equivalent)

• Your academic record is excellent.

• You are interested in interdisciplinary research and have strong analytical skills.

• You can work both independently and as part of a team.

• You have strong communication skills and speak and write English fluently.

• You can demonstrate the necessary (participatory) design skills, clearly stated in your CV and/or portfolio uploaded with the application.

• You have an affinity for the research topic.

• You are willing to take on teaching assignments on a limited basis.

Offer
You will be appointed and paid as PhD student.
PhD scholarship for 2 x 2 years with interim evaluation.

Selection procedure
You can only apply online up to and including 18 August 2025.
The selection procedure consists of a preselection based on application file and an interview.
The interviews take place in the week of 25/08/2025

Further information
Prof. dr. Bert WILLEMS, [email protected]
De heer Dirk REYNDERS, , [email protected]

For questions about the selection procedure, please email [email protected].