13 July 2015
Royal Academy of Art
Prinsessegracht 4
The Hague
Netherlands
After a jubilant festival week that attracted more than 5,000 visitors, the 2015 Graduation Festival of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) has now drawn to a close. The opening ceremony saw a colourful gathering of press, public and people from the field of fine arts and design. During the ceremony, a total of 22 graduates were awarded prestigious prizes. The festival itself included exhibitions, lectures, guided tours and performances, and almost 200 graduation candidates at both the Bachelor and Master levels displayed their work. On Friday 10 July, Nikki Duijst, alumna of the Textile and Fashion department, was pronounced winner of Lichting 2015. This is the second year running that a KABK alumnus has won this prestigious fashion prize for young talent. The 14 best fashion students of seven fashion academies in the Netherlands exhibited their graduation collections during the Amsterdam Fashion Week. An international jury was unanimous in its decision to award the first prize to Duijst.
Here are a few of the other prizes:
The academy prize for the best student in the Bachelor’s programme was won by Eline van der Ploeg of the Graphic Design department for a highly typographical design entitled “Living Systems.”
The academy prize for the best student in the Master’s programme was won by Junyuan Chen of the Master’s programme in Interior Architecture (INSIDE) for her interdisciplinary project Future Ruralization in Longshang Village, China, which integrates both political and environmental questions.
The thesis prize was won by Nina Couvert of the Graphic Design department for a thesis entitled, “The Power of Fascination: The Islamic State’s Propaganda Aesthetic.” The jury praised her witty yet critical analysis of the role of design in the current neo-liberal visual culture.
The festival was a celebration of graduation projects from seven Bachelor’s programmes—ArtScience, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Interactive/Media/Design, Interior Architecture & Furniture Design, Photography, and Textile & Fashion—as well as four Master’s programmes: Artistic Research, ArtScience, Interior Architecture (INSIDE) and TypeMedia. One student completed the postgraduate programme in Industrial Design this year. The KABK and the Royal Conservatoire together form the University of the Arts, The Hague.
For a complete overview of work by graduation students, the prize winners, and links to all the articles that the press has published about the festival, visit our website.
