Royal Academy of Art
Prinsessegracht 4
2514 AN The Hague
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As of February 1, 2016, Janneke Wesseling, Marcel Cobussen and Henk Borgdorff are appointed professors at Leiden University and the University of the Arts The Hague. These appointments confirmed the 15-year partnership between the two institutes, which enables visual artists, designers and musicians a unique opportunity to obtain the doctoral degree.
Research in and through the arts
Art and academia come together in the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA). ACPA is a partnership between Leiden University and the University of the Arts The Hague (Hogeschool der Kunsten Den Haag – HdK, consisting of the Royal Conservatoire and the Royal Academy of Art). The partnership provides challenging opportunities for art students, lecturers and researchers in Leiden and The Hague to collaborate and to conduct research in and through the arts.
Doctoral programmes
One of ACPA’s core tasks is to provide doctoral programmes for artists. Janneke Wesseling and Henk Borgdorff have been professors at the HdK for several years. Like Marcel Cobussen, they hold key positions in the partnership between the HdK and Leiden University, which began in 2001. Under the name docARTES, a Doctoral programme in music was launched in 2004, followed in 2008 by PhDArts in visual art and design. 32 Doctoral degrees have been awarded so far, and another 70 artists/researchers are well on their way to finishing the PhD research trajectory.
Academic development
In addition to Doctoral programmes, ACPA also promotes collaboration in teaching and research between Leiden University and the University of the Arts The Hague. Students can take elective courses at either (or both) institutes, and in some cases music students have simultaneously obtained two degrees at both institutes. Academic Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes are currently being developed in visual art, design and music for students of the University of the Arts The Hague, to allow them to study for a double degree. These programmes are intended to help highly ambitious, talented prospective artists, designers or musicians to develop their artistic as well as academic talents and to give them the opportunity to acquire a university degree alongside their HBO (university of applied sciences) degree. The University of the Arts The Hague will soon be the only university of applied sciences in the Netherlands to offer an academic education cycle of Bachelor-Master-PhD in the arts.
Appointed professors
Dr Janneke Wesseling has been appointed to the chair in Practice and Theory of Research in the Visual Arts.
Janneke Wesseling is Professor of Art, Theory & Practice at the University of the Arts The Hague, art critic for the daily Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad and co-director of PhDArts, the doctoral programme for visual artists and designers. She was awarded a PhD by Leiden University in 2013 for a dissertation entitled De volmaakte beschouwer (The Perfect Spectator), which focused on reception aesthetics.
Dr Marcel Cobussen has been appointed to the chair in Auditive Culture.
Marcel Cobussen, jazz musician and philosopher was Assistant Professor at Leiden University. He has been affiliated with the docARTES doctoral programme for composers and performing musicians for many years and is also founder and editor-in-chief of the open access, online Journal of Sonic Studies. He was awarded a PhD with distinction by Erasmus University Rotterdam in 2002 for a dissertation entitled Deconstruction in Music.
Dr Henk Borgdorff has been appointed to the chair in Theory of Research in the Arts.
Henk Borgdorff is Professor of Research in the Arts at the University of the Arts The Hague, music theoretician, philosopher and occasional guest lecturer at the University of Gothenburg. He co-founded and taught at docARTES, the doctoral programme for composers and performing musicians, and is president of the Society for Artistic Research. Borgdorff was awarded a PhD with distinction by Leiden University in 2012 for a dissertation entitled “The Conflict of the Faculties: Perspectives on Artistic Research and Academia.”
The three professors will join the current team of professors comprising:
Prof. Dr. Joep Bor (Extra-European Performing Arts)
Prof. Dr. Ton Koopman (Historically Informed Performance Practice)
Prof. Dr. Gerard Unger (Typographical Design)
led by the Director of the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, Prof. Frans de Ruiter