Binnen Dansen with a magnifying glass
(2024)
author(s): Louise Noordam
published in: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague
Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023
BA Textile and Fashion
Binnen Dansen with a magnifying glass.
A journey from within to find my real true self through eczema struggles, stress and societal pressure.
This thesis researches the influence of society, trauma and stress on someone’s personality and authenticity and the implications it can bring to your health and well-being. As well as giving a possible solution to overcome and heal. This is done by analysing my personality and behaviour and researching the Dutch societal structure I grew up in. And researching the impact it has had on causing autoimmune eczema that I have suffered with for ten years. Theories from Gabor Maté, Bessel van der Kolk and Sigmund Freud are there to explain and question the causes and influences, as well as teach their perspective.
With this thesis, I would like you to know that you are not alone. This is to give hope and motivation to every single person that is struggling and suffering from an autoimmune disease, in particular autoimmune eczema. Or who feels like they are not living life as their most authentic self. This thesis can provide you with insights and knowledge on how to alleviate your pain and, like me, work towards a future free of disease, stress and trauma.
Imagining the world through the lens of loser and hoping for a better future
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Anna Pierga
This exposition is in review and its share status is: visible to all.
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.