Opening of the Academic Year 2023-24 at Effenaar
Under the mid-summer sun, the Academy welcomed new and returning students to their Bachelor and Master programmes. The Opening of the Academic Year event brought together students, organisational and educational staff members for a joint moment of celebration.
As new faces filled the hall and lined the balcony, the event began with Creative Director Joseph Grima and Director Education, Research and Organisation Raf De Keninck welcoming the first-year students to their new educational careers.
De Keninck encouraged the new students to engage with the Academy with an introduction to the many agencies students have in shaping their educational experiences, from the various participation councils to the opportunity to start their own initiatives through the newly established community experiment grant.
Grima presented a different form of inspiration by inviting students to think about what design is and what it stands for at both the societal and planetary scale. “We are all here in a way, designing design,” he said.
With the Academy so ingrained within the fabric of the city of Eindhoven, it is critical to examine what is being passed to us as tradition of the discipline, and whether that is what we need from design today, he added Grima left students with a provocation from Charles Eames, to “innovate as a last resort,” and encouraged students to discuss amongst each other to agree or disagree.
After the speeches, the band Cavolo Nero’s took to the stage, with a performance that combined psychedelic grooves with disco and indie influences, while. Jasmijn van den Hoogen began her piano performance in the restaurant and terrace, providing a more relaxed vibe for conversation and debates.
As the first performances wound down, student initiative Elevator Radio took over on the decks, sweeping the crowd off their feet with joyous tunes until the Effenaar closed its doors.
