Institutional Fallacy
(2025)
author(s): Yannis Androulakis
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
BA Fine Arts
Through this paper and while focusing both on the heritage and institutional attitudes of documenta, I attempted to underline the linkage of the institution to modernism and its neoliberal mode of being. I pursued the latter by highlighting the initial nationalistic and supranational format of documenta. Then and while using a comparative methodological attitude towards documenta and Greece’s “historico-political” context, the text addressed the institution’s inability to escape the power structures of its foundation, and thus its imposition to the Greek state. The former analysis was formed while deploying certain key-informations in regards to the diptych power/knowledge by Michel Foucault and philosophy of hospitality developed by Jacques Derrida.
Therefore, the conducted research will take the form of a flexible archival format, as is usually the case within my artistic practice.
In the air we exist : on using play to survive
(2025)
author(s): Gaetan Langlois-Meurinne
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
BA Interactive Media Design
In The Air We Exist is an exploration that questions if play can help us to survive better in the world we live in. Playing is often associated being being childish and a waste of time for adults, right? Entering adulthood, don’t we have no other choice than to stop playing? In any case, responsibilities and routines take away the last bit of free time we had. This thesis researches the universal phenomenon of play. More specifically on an activity that everyone has experienced as a child and that usually disappears in adulthood and which refers to an activity that is free, uncertain, without specific goal and leaves space for imaginaLon. I wonder if play can have a positive influence no matter the age of the person, as it comes along with essential benefits to the personal development. Instead of restricting it to a limited group of young people, I strongly believe in the positive impact it could have if we allowed it to expand to adults. Whichever age group, it can have a beneficial impact, maintaining human relationships and fuelling hope, as well as helping us when we face difficult and
often complex situations. I honestly wonder about the reason for its absence and neglect in western society, as I believe it could partly be a solution for some contemporary problems. The thesis addresses the complex world, we live in. Being constantly confronted with productivity, progress and the desire to seek for control there is not much space for play. Further I research the origin, values and the psychological and sociological impact play can have on a person. The importance of play in childhood alongside its benefits and influence on a person growing older is being presented. Next to that, a selection of artists, all connected by play, demonstrate the fruitful addition it brings to their work. All these segments are inspirational elements for my graduation project where I intend to create a tool to reconnect us to play. The tool aims for a playful experience that simultaneously invites to reconsider the role of play in everyday life. Finally, it is an attempt to keep us young and in a state of constant curiosity and openness by learning how to improvise and accept failures as part of the game of life. And then to consider if playfulness can help us survive better in the world we live in.
Imagining the world through the lens of loser and hoping for a better future
(2025)
author(s): Anna Pierga
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
My thesis is an attempt to create a bridge between my artistic practice and theoretical research behind its themes and topics. I highlight imagination as a tool to recreate one’s world in order to survive a hostile, success-oriented and normative daily reality. The text is divided into three main sections. Each focusing consecutively on childhood,
queerness and examples of imagination in fairy tales and artistic practices; all understood through the lens of failure. I look at childhood as a queer and highly creative universal experience of living on the edge of established social norms.
I draw on queer writtings such as Queer Art of Failure by Jack Halberstram and Cruising Utopia: Then and There of Queer Futirity by José Esteban Muñoz in search of utopia and longing for a better future.
In the final part of my thesis I refer to Ursula Le Guin’s essays on fantasy and science fiction, fairy tales and artistic practices. I explore various examples of failed heroes and the role of imagination in order to rewrite the present for a queerer future of more possibilities.
I Spy With My Little Eye : Speculative Image Making to Gain Vision Beyond the Ordinary Sight
(2025)
author(s): Sophie Allerding
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
Master Photography & Society
This thesis deals with the questions what a speculative image is, what a speculative image-making practice could look like and to what extent speculative imagery can be a tool for future shaping. The responsibilities and possibilities of image makers are negotiated and three different tools for speculative image-making are presented.Different entry points into this world of thought are offered to the reader, through a manifesto and various appendices on practices of future predictions and tarot readings.
Hani Chladilová_And Suddenly, There Was Light
(2025)
author(s): Onyx Chladilová
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023
BA Photography
This thesis explores personal journey of the author’s healing
from sexual violence trauma through art making when conventional
therapy was not available. It is divided into two parts
where the first consists of descriptive-research-based writings,
while the second one provides the reader with personal writings
of the author.
The research-based part driven by a question How can
the process of art making help facilitate healing after experiencing
sexual violence firstly focuses on understanding trauma and
its causes and symptoms. Secondly, it provides understanding
of sexual violence, the barriers of reporting sexual violence, additionally,
it provides with understanding of how do survivors heal
from sexual violence induced trauma. Thirdly, it investigates releasing
and redirecting traumatic energy inspired by the writings
of therapist Peter A. Levine and outlines benefits of healing
through art making. Lastly, this part provides nine strategies
to avoid re-traumatization and to cope with potential triggers
when seeking to heal from trauma through art making.
The personal writings include thoughts, poems, notes
to self, and excerpts from a personal diary throughout author’s
endeavor to seek closure and become healed from sexual violence
induced trauma.
Overall, the thesis aims to inspire survivors of sexual violence
and other forms of trauma to include artmaking into their
journey of becoming healed.
From the tip of the tongue to the soles of the feet
(2025)
author(s): Laura Palau
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022
Master Photography & Society
'From the tip of the tongue to the soles of the feet' speaks about the processes of healing through the lived experiences of a handful of individuals, including myself. These experiences form the first stitches as we begin to care about our collectives traumas. By embodying grief, lending an ear to a healer and thinking along with nature this book addresses through photography the difficulty of distinguishing between reality and imagination when post-traumatic stress disorder and depression befalls.
