NewsWillem de Kooning Academy
School of Media and Design
“I have to change to stay the same.” Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Welcome to Willem de Kooning Academy (media art design education), which is part of Hogeschool Rotterdam (Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences) – or 'Willem de Kooning Academy' or 'WdKA' for short. WdKA provides degree courses in fine art and cultural, media & design-related fields including teacher training, plus a course in leisure management. The range of courses covers a broad scope of careers in the ‘culture creation industry’: artists, designers, producers & performers, teachers, organisers and researchers.
The courses are structured according to the 'Rotterdams Onderwijsmodel' (ROM – Rotterdam Education Model) that is applied throughout Rotterdam University and that incorporates 'knowledge-driven', 'practice-driven' and 'student-driven' education as fixed components. During your study, you will be given ample opportunity to gain work experience by completing practical assignments, projects and work placements – a method that is known within Rotterdam University as 'Outside In-Inside Out' (OIIO).
Our ambition is to prepare you optimally during your study for a successful career in your chosen field to enable you to realise your potential and fulfil your ambitions.
WdKA provides top-quality art education. Our courses in art and design subjects are geared to the international level that sets the standards in these fields. WdKA is driven by curiosity, a desire to experiment and a passion for innovation. Our profile can be summarised in five core concepts: high artistic merit; dedicated; international; socially involved; and media driven. We recently added a sixth concept: interdisciplinary – which we also refer to as 'cross-overs'. The positive attitude adopted by WdKA to defining and propagating its core concepts can be described as 'self-willed' and 'self-aware'.
WdKA is renowned for its clear vision on the professional fields in which it teaches students and for the way in which its educational tasks in this respect are organised. WdKA highly values social interaction and involvement, which form the basis for our vision on education in all art and design disciplines. WdKA is proud of its long tradition of strongly profiled 'practical' degree courses that continue to grow in line with the (technological) developments and contemporary insights that make them 'state of the art'. WdKA also focuses on the development of personal vision and ideas.
We firmly believe in the ability of expressive images to stand out in the midst of the profusion of visual information that you see everywhere in our culture all the time and everywhere because of their inner strength, value and meaning. An expressive image is a powerful means of communication that inherently or through the message it conveys makes us, the people who see it, think. This universal concept applies to paintings and sculptures, comic strips, cartoons and games, posters and advertisements, photos, videos and web pages as well as clothing, accessories and interiors.
Professional artists and designers strive for the best imaginable, even better than just 'something attractive' or 'something usable'. They want to experiment, innovate and push back boundaries, without fear of disappointments or setbacks in the interim. As an artist, designer or teacher you must be able to think independently and conceptually. You must be able to acquire the knowledge and skills to develop ideas for projects through to realisation and to be able to convey your ideas to other people. Only if you can do that you might be expressive.
School of Media and Design
Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam University
Blaak 10 and Wijnhaven 61
Rotterdam
3000 BG
Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0)10 794 4750
Email: dko@hro.nl
Web: www.wdka.nl/
