The Piet Zwart Institute houses the international Master programs of the Willem de Kooning Academy at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (RUAS). Since 1999 it has been dedicated to promoting study and research in the fields of art, design and art education.
The Piet Zwart Institute is part of the Willem de Kooning Academy (WdKA), an art school that can be found right at the heart of the design city of Rotterdam. The Academy’s origin dates back to 1753, and now — with over 2,000 students — it is one of the largest art academies in the Netherlands, offering both Bachelor’s and Master’s programs in Fine Art and Design. The Academy is part of the multi-sectoral Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (RUAS), a dynamic knowledge institute for higher professional education with a variety of programs across all educational sectors and closely connected to developments in the metropolitan region of Rotterdam. Although part of the RUAS, Willem de Kooning Academy is autonomous in realising its goals and positioning its national and international profile.
WdKA’s Master’s programs are positioned within the Piet Zwart Institute (PZI), which currently hosts a little over 120 students. Named after the pioneering Dutch designer Piet Zwart, who worked experimentally across different media and contexts, the Institute offers a rich combination of in-depth specialisation and interdisciplinary exchange within an intimate learning environment. The programs of the Piet Zwart Institute are located in Rotterdam’s city centre, at Karel Doormanhof 45 and Wijnhaven 61. Students and staff come from around the globe and bring with them a variety of cultural influences and international connections. In addition to these international ties, the program maintains strong local connections to the city of Rotterdam, its history and ever-changing urban environment.
The Piet Zwart Institute houses four full-time Master programs, Interior Architecture: Research + Design (MIARD); Master of Arts in Fine Art and Design, which encompasses Fine Art (MFA) Lens-Based Media (LB) and Experimental Publishing (XPUB) and two part-time Master programs, Education in Arts (MeiA) and Master Design. Through uniquely tailored curricula combining collective learning, individual tutorials, practice-based research and theoretical inquiry, the programs educate professionals who have a critically reflective, innovative, questioning and imaginative approach to their work. Our graduates go on to not only establish themselves in their field, but also challenge and creatively define the parameters of their profession.
As an educational institute and cultural centre, the notion of ‘making public’ is core to the activities of PZI. Exhibitions, programming, conferences and publications on a national and international level are a means of sharing and expanding our research beyond the confines of academia. At the same time, the program provides the very necessary speculative space for reflection and knowledge-building that is only made possible through an academic framework like the Piet Zwart Institute.
Courses
News
Sounds of Making: Protocols for Collective Performance
Date: 20th November 2024Time: 15:00 – 20:00Location: UBIK (Worm, Boomgaardsstraat 71, 3012 XA Rotterdam) XPUB 1, in collaboration with WORM, invites you to participate in our first public event on November 20th. Through a series of experiments at Radio WORM, we’ve been asking ourselves: What is radio? What does it mean to “go live” and […]
Yasmine Libberecht
Yasmine Libberecht is a coordinator at the Piet Zwart Institute and communication advisor at the Centre of International Affairs. She started her academic career in Fine Arts (BA), then pursued a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies and a Master of Science in Teaching. Yasmine Libberecht has taught internationally from 2020 to 2022, providing lessons […]
James Parnell
James Parnell is a Hague-based curator, facilitator, dancer, and zinester who focuses on community building, collective learning, and the conflicts that arise in these practices. He often works in cultures and artistic communities on the margins, such as queer communities, Black communities, and independent publishers. James has been involved in institutional and community-based projects, including […]
Maja Bekan
Maja Bekan is a performance and visual artist from former Yugoslavia, based in The Netherlands. Bekan’s work explores and questions the potential of mediation and delegation of the (art) work. She is interested in a collaborative and social approach and how taking part can create a productive stage, exploring more closely the personal histories, truths, […]
Graduation Show 2024
Join us at Wijnhaven 61 for the Graduation Show of the Master Design 2024! On Thursday July 4, you can hear short lectures from the graduating students on their works. 15:30: Phyllis Wong 15:45: Brittany Thorpe 16:00: Ann Conefrey 16:15: Jie Chen 16:30: Djie Han Thung 16:45: Esther Verhamme 17:00: Ceremony
CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY, CURRENTLY: Lens-Based Media Graduation Show 2024
Master students of the Lens-Based Media programme at the Piet Zwart Institute invite you to their graduation show at V2 and WORM, Rotterdam.
Graduation Shows 2024
From June 29–July 14, 2024 all the master programs will be exhibiting a wide variety of work from students of Master Design, Education in Arts, Experimental Publishing, Fine Art, Interior Architecture: Research + Design, and Lens-based Media. The graduation shows will take place at various venues through the city of Rotterdam. See below for the full […]
ALUMNI ILLUMINATA
Piet Zwart Institute Alumni Interviews and Panel Discussion >>> Wednesday 26th June 2024 >>> Location: WORM CS, Boomgaardsstraat 71 | 3012 XA | Rotterdam >>> 18:30 -19:15 Doors open with Blob Shop’s Bubble Punch serving FREE exciting welcome drinks. >>> 19:00–23:00 with >>>> an afterparty full of special guests until 01:00 Students of Lens Based Media […]
vulnerable interfaces
Opening: Thursday 27th June 19:00 – 21:00Exhibition: Friday 28th June – Sunday 30th June 12:00 – 18:00Location: WORM’s Slash Gallery, Boomgaardsstraat 69, 3012 XA Rotterdam Come to our graduation show at WORM’s Slash Gallery in Rotterdam!We are Stephen, Irmak, Aglaia, and Ada; four graduating students of Experimental Publishing.Experience our graduation projects, skim through our publications, […]
Dumped Printers Modding Workshop
Date: Thursday 25th April 2024 Time: 10:00 – 16:00 Location: WH.04.115 (Aquarium 4th floor Wijnhaven) In this dumped printers modding workshop, we investigate the inner workings of a printer. With a DIY and DIWO approach we disassemble and reassemble printers “differently”. Why? We all are frustrated by the fact that printers often do not work! […]
Alumni Gathering
Master of Education in Arts – Gathering: Programme announcement Dear MEiA students and alumni, We are happy to share with you the programme that we composed for our first MEiA gathering in the garden on Friday April 5 at ‘Volkstuinvereninging Streven naar Verbetering’ in Rotterdam West. During the day, several alumni will open up their current practices and research through […]
Peripheral centers and feminist servers
THURSDAY 28 MAR @ 19:00-21:30 – VARIA (Gouwstraat 3) Peripheral centers and feminist servers investigate multiple approaches to the conditions of serving. It interrupts the endless flow of data that fuels the economy, exposing the cracks and gaps of the techno-scientific paradigm imposed on society. Where commands are executed, connections made, trust exchanged, and resources […]
Seventeen Landscapes – Lens-Based Media Screening at WORM
Lens-Based Media welcomes you at WORM Cinema April 3, 2024 at 17:00. We have been roaming together the landscapes of the city: its waters, our bodies, the spaces between its architectures, the pace of its streets, its future projects, its noises and its stories. Engaging with emotional and geographical landscapes we depicted their complexities in […]
Lens-Based Media Students Win Awards at Research Labs 2024
Piet Zwart Institute is awarded multiple prizes at Eye’s annual presentations for film and visual arts. Eye on Art’s Research Labs 2024 provided scope for a new generation of curators and artists to hone their skills. Students from different art academies and universities were asked to put together a programme featuring their own work and […]
Artist Talk by Yin Yin Wong
The Piet Zwart Institute Master Fine Art is thrilled to welcome artist Yin Yin Wong as guest tutor this March! In partnership with the Willem de Kooning Academy Research Center, we are hosting Yin Yin for a special workshop open to MFA students and a public artist talk. Yin Yin will be giving a public artist talk […]
Vanita Monk – In Memoriam
It’s with great sadness that we learn of the passing of Vanita Monk. Part of the lifeblood of Rotterdam’s artistic community, Vanita has been a frequent presence and supporter of the PZI; In 2011 Vanita made the following interview + film during the Media Design graduation show; it’s a time capsule and a generous gift […]
Pen Plotting Party
MONDAY 12.FEB 6PM*@Xpub Studio WH 4.f* exciting news everyone: To kick of the new plotting-year there will be a PEN PLOTTING PARTY* on Monday feb 12. Save the date, and get ready for the launch of the PEN PLOTTING TABLE, PEN PLOTTING ZINE alongside various PEN PLOTTING ACTIVITIES*. Not close to Rotterdam this day? Don’t […]
Applications now open for the Master of Education in Arts for the academic year 2024/2025
Deadlines:March 4, 2024: Priority deadline Dutch and EU applicants.May 8, 2024: Final deadline Dutch and EU applicants. We review applications and accept candidates on a rolling basis from January until May 2023, until all positions in the cohort are filled. We encourage early applications. Learn more? Please visit our Annual Open Day on February 10, or one of our Open Information Meetings. Research in Art & Design […]
BOOKS: Spatial Tales of Unearthly Critters
Kunstinstituut MellyBOOKS: Spatial Tales of Unearthly CrittersPerformance by Gaia D’ArrigoFriday 19 January 2024, 6–8 pm Join us for a BOOKS presentation, together with students of the Master Interior Architecture: Research and Design [MIARD] program at the Piet Zwart Institute, Willem de Kooning Academy. This event launches Spatial Tales of Unearthly Critters, a publication emerging out of […]
IFFR 2024 – Alumni screenings
A Few Mornings, an Evening, by Astrid van Nimwegen at IFFR Bright Futures The documentary ‘a Few Mornings, an Evening’ invites a meditative look at the daily routine on a small farm in the Czech countryside. With great patience, the camera observes how domesticated animals and humans inhabit the place and draws attention to their […]