The Graduation Show 2020 was hosted at the Royal Academy of Art from Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 September. The Graduation Awards 2020 ceremony was held on Sunday 13 September 2020. 26 awards were presented to graduates of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) by Alice Twemlow, Lector Design at the KABK. Congratulations to all!
Next to the academy and department awards, a number of prizes were again made possible through collaborations with local and national partners. Thanks to Stichting tot Steun, Keep an Eye Foundation, Stroom Den Haag, Heden, Schuitema Stichting, Jan Roëde Stichting, Waag and Page Not Found.
Proudly announcing all nominees and winners of the Royal Academy Awards 2020.
Heden Start Award
The winner will receive a year of coaching and advice from Heden gallery in The Hague. Due to the effects of Corona, Heden and the winner will together make a tailor-made plan for their collaboration in the coming year. The jury selects the winner from among the graduates of the bachelor programmes.
Jury members: Erik-Jan Ligtvoet, Jedithja de Groot, Daniela Petovic, Claudia Linders, Nadine van den Bosch (Art advisor)
Nominees:
Adam Centko, BA I/M/D
Marlot Meyer, BA I/M/D
Jaehun Park, MA Artistic Research
Winner: Marlot Meyer
Graduation project:'LIMB-O'
From the jury report:
“This work shows a dynamic interaction between physical installation, human body, digital interface, human and non-human participants. First there is the physical experience. But soon the conceptual stratification is revealed as well. Through audience participation, 'body' and network, both online and offline, it is shown here how the one constantly produces the other. In this way the installation forms a beautiful web in which everything is connected through a continuous process of action and reaction. With the help of technological tools, human intuition is encouraged in this space and an unprecedented range of experiences is made possible.”
Read the full text in the jury report (in Dutch)
Thanks to: Heden
Jan Roëde Award
Jan Roëde studied at the academy in the early 1930’s and spent most of his life living and working in The Hague. After his death, the Jan Roëde Foundation was founded to commemorate his legacy and encourage young fine artists. The jury of the Jan Roëde comprises a delegation from the Jan Roëde Foundation and an external jury member from the art world. The prize consists of €2.500,- for a graduate of the Fine Arts department.
Jury members: Pim Voorneman (teacher Fine Arts), Louw van Sinderen, Dick Stapel, Olga van Hulsen, Huub Wersch.
Nominees:
Danny Choi (BA Fine Arts)
Erlend Evensen (BA Fine Arts)
Isa van Lier (BA Fine Arts)
Winners:
Erlend Evensen - Graduation project: 'Prima Materia'
Isa van Lier - Graduation project: 'ZEN SUPERMARKET'
Danny Choi - Graduation project: 'IS BUSY'
From the jury report about the work of Erlend Evensen:
“When the visitor enters this space, he feels as if he is in another dimension. The restriction which the artist has imposed on himself by not using color in the articulation of his forms, works extremely effectively. [..] The static omnipresence of the artwork unrolls as a dynamic succession of images and the viewer becomes part of a cinematic event that takes place in silence."
The Jan Roede jury is very impressed by the accomplishments of the graduating students that have dealt with all kinds of obstacles and restrictions during their graduation in the past months. Therefore, the other two nominees of the Jan Roede Award, Danny Choi and Isa van Lier both receive a 'Certificate of Excellence" and are awarded 1000 euros prize money each.
Read the jury reports:
- Jury report Jan Roëde Award 2020 - Erlend Evensen
- Jury report Jan Roëde Award 2020 - Danny Choi
- Jury report Jan Roëde Award 2020 - Isa van Lier
Thanks to: Jan Roëde Foundation
Paul Schuitema Award
Students from the departments Graphic Design, Interior Architecture & Furniture Design and Photography will be visited by a committee consisting of teachers and a representative from the Schuitema family. A socially engaged piece of art and/or design is what this jury is after. The winner receives € 1.000,-.
Jury members: Brecht Hoffmann (teacher Graphic Design), Ernie Mellegers (teacher Interior Architecture & Furniture Design), Guus Rijven (teacher Photography), Maayke Schuitema and Jiri Schuitema (members of Schuitema family).
Nominees:
Silvy Amorim Crespo, Bachelor Photography
Davide Degano, BA Photography
Mila Baumann, BA Interior Architecture & Furniture Design
Winner: Silvy Amorim Crespo
Graduation project: 'The Land of Elephants'
"In her work, she claims her position within the discipline with a topical narrative, mediated through strong visuals that illustrate an understanding of how to reach an audience. She achieves this by combining a genuinely motivated thematic focus with evident editing skills and a 'professional curiosity' to explore photography - its codes, layers and technical possibilities - as the medium to address political and moral issues. Thus, she (indeed) relates to Schuitema's practice."
Read the jury report.
Thanks to: Schuitema Foundation
Stroom Encouragement Award
Every year, the presentation of the Stroom Den Haag Encouragement Award is eagerly awaited. Due to the recognition and incentive this awards offers in the further development in the winner’s artistic career. The winner also receives € 2.500,-.
Jury members: Binna Choi, Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Moe Kim, Mischa Poppe, Jane Huldman
Winners:
Marlot Meyer (BA Interactive/Media/Design)
Graduation project: 'LIMB-O'
Narges Mohammadi (BA Fine Arts)
Graduation project: 'Passing Traces'
Mischa Lind & Tudor Ulrich (BA ArtScience)
"The first winner, Marlot Meyer (BA Interactive/ Media/ Design) reminded the jury about the importance of being playful and experimental, the importance of mediation and combining different platforms to address the relation between technology and the body and how this affects us. The work is multisensory, and brings together technology, the physical and performative action into a wholesome work. It is well thought through in terms of engaging audiences, and interacts directly with them both onsite and offsite. Meyer involved fellow students in the project - not only in realising it, but also in the onsight mediation of the work.
In the case of the second winner, Narges Mohammadi (BA Fine Arts), it was also through community building, the resourcefulness of the art community at school and collaboration that helped the artist to create her intensive labourous work. The work itself highlights to the jury the importance that art has for rememberance and commemoration, and the importance of working physically, with the hands, to build images that speak about the present and the past.
The jury was drawn into the playful, fantasy oriented environment by Mischa Lind and Tudor Ulrich (BA ArtScience), which reflected an intense collaboration and friendship in realising the work. It is a world on its own, where codes are at play that only seem to speak to the world that artists created and invented.”
Read the jury report.
Thanks to: Stroom Den Haag
Waag Technology & Society Award
The second edition of the Waag Art/Science Award will be awarded to a selected graduation project from the bachelor departments ArtScience, Graphic Design and Interactive/Media/Design. The winner receives € 500,-.
Jury member: Miha Tursic
Nominees:
Leyla-Nour Benouniche, Bachelor Interactive/Media/Design
Christian Eckert, Bachelor Interactive/Media/Design
Maarten Keus, Bachelor Interactive/Media/Design
Winner: Leyla-Nour Benouniche
Graduation project: 'Just This Space-ship'
"The voyage of Just this Spaceship through the internalised bias and pleasurable resistance is teaching us, how we, as individuals and institutions, can change to address the unprecedented times we live in. We were nor taught nor trained for isolation, alienation and displacement. Yet, the crew of this space/friend-ship is fuelling us with their honesty, humour and care required to ground ourselves into the unforeseen emerging realities."
Thanks to: Waag
Keep an Eye Textile & Fashion Award
The Keep an Eye Textile & Fashion Award is given to one of the graduates of the Textile & Fashion department.
The Keep an Eye Textile & Fashion Award is worth €10.000,- and is meant to help the winning graduate in realising their ambition to improve their skills after graduation. The prize can be used as an investment for a Master's degree, a summer course, or another textile/fashion training at an international institution.
Jury members: Fashion professionals Patrick van Ommeslaeghe en Branko Popovic
Winner: Inge Vaandering, Bachelor Textile & Fashion
Graduation project: 'Sticky Fingers'
From the jury report:
“This designer presents a convincing and sensory graduation collection. In her strong vision on material and design lies a strong authentic artistry, an important trait for our time. The layered nature of her work combines several disciplines and offers interesting promising opportunities for further exploration of her practice as a fashion designer.”
The award was handed out on Thursday 10 September during the EXPOSED 2020
Thanks to Keep an Eye Foundation
Page Not Found Thesis Prize
Page Not Found – Space for Publishing as Artistic Practice is inaugurating its Thesis Prize this year for excellence in publishing. The Page Not Found Thesis Award celebrates the MA Artistic Research thesis which integrates most strongly its own dissemination. The jury pays attention to how the analogue or digital publication echoes the thesis’ original research, how its text is embodied, and the related design decisions. The jury selects the winner from among all the graduates of the Master Artistic Research programme. The winner receives € 250,-.
Jury members: Sebastien Tien and Ola Vasiljeva (directors Page Not Found)
Winner: Annemarie Wadlow (MA Artistic Research)
Thesis: 'Women Looking at Women Looking at Women'
From the jury report:
“The jury was impressed by how this graduate’s publication supports the core intent of her thesis: which was to reinstate the female artists that misogynistic art history left behind and advocate for collective work. Publishing, that is: making public, is a form most suited to bringing back what was censored and turns the winner’s publication into a gesture well beyond academic requirements. Her intent is strengthened by the decision that almost every aspect of her publication, texts, type fonts and paper, be produced and designed by women, and their contributions, acknowledged on the very first pages. The see-through quality of pages pointedly reminds us that works never exists alone, but in community — a sisterhood that the winner brilliantly celebrates.”
Thanks to: Stichting Page Not Found
Academy Shop Award
The Academy Shop Award is intended to act as a stimulus for the starting artistic practice and activities of our graduates. The winner is chosen from among the graduates of the bachelor programmes. The €500,- prize money can be spent on art supplies at both the Academy's store and the Goodman brand store in The Hague.
Jury member: Gerard van Zeggelaar
Nominees:
Pippilotta Yerna, BA Photography
Marianne Nannings, BA Fine Arts
Sabine Rovers, BA Photography
Winner: Sabine Rovers
Graduation project: 'Cowboy Kees'
“Cowboy Kees shows what many of us envy. Choosing the simple life and being very happy with it. Sabine also shows with her pictures that the feeling of liberty is all in the mind. Happiness is a choice. The pictures are simply beautiful!”
Thanks to: Art supply store Academiewinkel Den Haag
Royal Academy Awards
with thanks to Stichting tot Steun
Royal Academy Bachelor Award
Winner: Edward Dżułaj (BA Graphic Design)
Graduation project: 'Paradise Apples'
"With his delicate 'soft activist' approach Edward Dżułaj stresses the danger of the far-right fascist Polish political party ONR (National Radical Camp). For his graduation project 'Paradise Apples', Edward created his own private press armed with a scalpel and an airbrush, with which he rigorously censored ALL of the advertisements and other visual content created by the ONR since the last 86 years. By doing so, he changes the frequency of their voice in an eloquent, but decisive manner. The process and outcome of the act of censoring are documented in the form of a series of ornamental silkscreen / airbrush posters, a typeface, a handbound risograph book and a web extension that automatically reverts and censors negative content for you."
Royal Academy Master Award
Winner: Sébastien Robert, Master ArtScience
Graduation project: 'Rite of passage'
“The winning project, that is part of an ongoing artistic research, is extremely urgent as well as authentic. It deals with the loss of centuries-old indigenous rituals and advanced knowledge of the natural world caused by global deforestation and climate change. By not only focusing on the disappearance of ecosystems, but on a way of living that depends on it, it chooses an original viewpoint. Based on thorough on site and ‘participatory’ research and collaboration a sincere and authentic position appears in the work."
Read the jury report
Thesis Bachelor Award
Winner: Ashleigh Wilson (BA Photography)
Thesis: 'Of Song and Suffering'
“The jury highly values the thoroughness of this graduate’s thesis, it is nuanced and grounded. It’s not a new topic but the author was able to shed new light on the subject, it makes a strong case for the value of culture in these times of crises. The Jury agrees that this thesis goes beyond the familiar and touches upon a deep and profound knowledge. That’s why this thesis deserved the honour of winning the KABK BA Thesis Award."
Honourable mention: Nicolai Schmelling (BA Graphic Design)
Thesis Master Award
Winner: Adele Dipasquale, Master Artistic Research
Thesis: 'All The Stories We Might Tell'
“The Jury finds the winning thesis wonderfully written: it’s complex, layered, knowing, reflective. Using carefully chosen words to question language. They appreciate the high ambition of this thesis. It is a true master thesis in that it explores the author’s own position in relation to the subject, the field and the world. The author explores questions that are relevant today. She is trying to unpack terms and go beyond the general definitions, pushing definitions and contradictions. The Jury was especially intrigued by ‘feminism’ in relation to ‘nature’.”
Read the jury report on the Thesis Awards