Call for applications 2027–28

Following the graduation of a new cohort of artists and designers last summer, Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) opens its doors to a new generation of international students. 

With six master’s programmes, KABK offers an environment for experimentation, research and interdisciplinary exchange. All master’s programmes are two years, with the exception of Type and Media, which is a one-year programme. Explore the work of last year’s graduates to get a sense of the projects created by KABK students. 

Master Artistic Research
Sunjoo Lee, Limitropic Zero
In Limitropic Zero, mud bubbles, worms move, and candy wrappers fold into paper cranes, becoming part of channels of transformation whose byproduct is electricity. Wetland mud in glass vessels generates energy through electrogenic bacteria. Connected by wires, the vessels charge capacitors until the energy is discharged, and a brass singing bowl rings. Its rhythm interrupts the linear experience of time, responding to the uneven flow of bacterial energy. The installation brings decay, toxicity, technology, and energy together in a transforming landscape. 

Master Industrial Design
Benedetta Faccani, my room is our room <3
Throughout history, the term “girl” has never been stable. Today, the girl is a figure of freedom, playfulness, and resistance. my room is our room <3 is a multimedia installation that redefines the bedroom of the girl, activating it as a space for knowledge-making. Here, the girl is not defined by age or biology, but by anyone who resists hegemonic structures. 

Master Interior Architecture
Stella Kechagioglou, Gallery Zero
In the institution in which everyone has a space, where is the place for the common?
Gallery Zero is the first self-organised common space within the academy. Developed in response to the absence of a shared space, the project explores how underused spaces, materials and social relations can be activated through collective participation. Rather than proposing a finished design, Gallery Zero functions as an evolving framework shaped by its users. Gallery Zero questions traditional notions of authorship and proposes a model of spatial production based on care, collaboration and shared responsibility. 

Master Non Linear Narrative
Tash Kimmell, Land Can’t Vote
This project explores the growing divide between urban and rural communities. Traveling through Northern California, the artist interviewed residents to understand how place-based inequality can develop into rural resentment and influence political choices. Through an audio-visual installation, these voices are brought into proximity, creating space for dialogue and listening. Land Can’t Vote considers whether geographical and political divisions can be imagined differently. 

Master Photography and Society
Mirko Pirisi Lutzu, (a wind tale) from a tree
Sardinia’s history has been shaped by exploitation and socio-economic subordination to continental powers. Today, wind has become a new resource to be extracted in the context of the ecological transition. (a wind tale) from a tree challenges these dynamics of internal colonialism through an atlas of the maestrale, Sardinia’s dominant wind. The project catalogues wind-bent cork oak trees in Gallura, northern Sardinia, transforming these observations into collectively designed maps and woven tapestries using Sardinian textile techniques. By considering wind as more than a resource, the project brings communities into dialogue with their environment.  

Master Type and Media
Gintarė Razmaitė, Ladder
The inspiration behind Ladder lies in Lithuanian wood carving and is expressed through the shapes of diacritics connected to their base letters. This approach allows the typeface to be set in large, multi-line headlines without diacritics disrupting the rhythm of the composition. Floral ornaments inspired by the Lithuanian tradition of foraging introduce an illustrative layer.

Application deadline: March 2
Prospective students are invited to discover the programmes, meet the academy’s community, and explore its studios and workshops during the Open Day. You can also attend the online presentation Meet the Master’s or an online Q&A if you cannot visit the KABK in person. Sign up to receive updates about future (online) study orientation events.