General Assembly

25 April, 17:00 - 21:00
in the Auditorium
[17:00 - 18:00] - Introduction and Process

How does the KABK ethically position ourselves as a community on the topic of the war in Palestine?

On the 25th of December, 2023, the KABK Student Union submitted a petition signed by students, staff, alumni to management. A request to break ties with Bezalel. The petition came after a conversation about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

A month later the petition would be rejected, the KABK would not break ties, and they replied that: 'We strongly fight the reflex of adopting the conflict. In a world that is increasingly hostile, xenophobe, and aggressive, we ask you to side with us to enable all in our community to experience the safe place we must be.'

The Student Union decided to advocate for a 'brave space', instead of a 'safe space'. A space where uncomfortable and necessary conversations could take place, without taking the initial ‘no’ as a given. We proposed to initiate a community-wide discussion about the petition alongside the ethical positioning of the academy on the topic of the war in Palestine.

After many meetings, management decided to support the conversation. A General Assembly is the format chosen, to allow for a large majority of the community to come together and be able to voice their opinions, to be vulnerable and learn how to talk about a topic about which the community either discusses in private, in smaller groups, on toilet walls, via posters, always isolated, rarely facing each other.

We hope to learn from one another:

• - What is the situation in Palestine at the moment?
• - What is a cultural boycott?
• - What is the role of art in relation to politics?

Join us!
[18:10 - 19:30] - Experts Panel
[19:45 - 21:00] - Discussion

meeting with management

26 March 2024, 13:30 - 15:00
in the Gipsenzaal

Meeting regarding the upcoming General Assembly.

Warm up, sacrum, cypher
a three-day movement/dialogue intensive workshop

18 - 20 March, 18:30 - 20:00
in the Auditorium

The workshop is organized by ‘Parcela de Tierra’ (Lara Silva Santos + Elisa de la Serna Gallego) and focuses on exploring the capacities of movement coming from the sacral area (hips, ass, pelvis), and sharing the process in a group. The workshop is open to the KABK community and beyond, to all bodies, to everybody, no previous experience needed, and it’s organized as part of the program around the internation day for the elimination of racial discrimination.

Talk Program

21 March 16:00 - 19:30
in Gallery 2

KABK Student Union is happy to announce the public program for the 21st of March when we commemorate the International Day of Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day was established in 1966, to intensify efforts in eradicating all forms of racial injustice and inequality.

During this day learn from each other, within our community, but we also have guests on this occasion.

Within our exhibition Safe Space (:Just Kidding:), we welcome critical designer Lydienne Albertoe, Danielle Maxwell-Fraser from Project4equality (a student-led feminist group), our very own Isa Zichterman and Malcolm Wamunza who lead FeedBlack (a communal get-together for students of African & Caribbean descent at KABK), and Rosie Murphy, an Irish harpist and composer (currently studying in our sister institution, the Conservatorium and part of KC Students for Palestine)

We invite you to join us for the public program on March 21st, in Gallery 2 from 16:00 to 19:30.

Drinks after, and soup before! :)

visual support by our Sonya Umanskaya

Safe Space (just kidding)
a week long program on the occasion of the international day for the elimination of racial discrimination

18 - 23 March

The institutional effort to sustain a safe space for everyone often neglects the fact that a safe space is about the excluded, not the general. It is about silenced minorities of race and nationality, gender, and class, not the Eurocentric hegemony. Isn’t it then quite controversial that it is being framed that way? A way that diminishes the actual struggle of claiming spaces and opening them for those who need them the most.

Every year, on the 21st of March, we commemorate the International Day of Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This year, we do this alongside our KABK GRADA (Decolonisation, Diversity, Inclusivity, and Belonging) initiative. This significant day marks the tragic events that occurred in Sharpeville, South Africa, where police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration against segregation, injuring 180 people and murdering 69, on the 21st of March 1960. The day was established in 1966, with the intention to intensify efforts in eradicating all forms of racial injustice and inequality.

This deeply rooted issue in society, especially increasing in the current times, must be approached through our unique tools of expression and radical sincerity. After all, the personal is political.

We invite you to join us for the event program during 18th-23rd of March at KABK, where the students and alumni will share their personal experiences on the topic through artworks, workshops, and live music sets.

We come together in solidarity.

iets tekenen (drawing stuff)

15 March 2024, 14:00 - 16:00
in BP.102 (the awkward corner room close to hacklab)

The label autistic or neurodivergent doesn't mean much on its own, it is always referring to people. Who are we as autistic individuals and can we form a community? iets tekenen is an invitation for autistic students, diagnosed or suspicious, to hang out and draw stuff.
Drawing materials will be there, but you are also welcome to bring your own.

'iets tekenen' is a monthly event.

Drawing made during the previous edition.

open doors

12 March 2024, 13:00 - 17:00
in the canteen

• make slideshow for the tv screen
• bakfiets?
• student blows the whistle on their departments staff for systematic bullying (semi racism and passive aggresive patterns)
  • course description is a false and empty promise
  • department ostracizes and humiliate students each year
  • social categorization, favoritism double standards
  • complaint commitee is not communicating for months
  • issue of not having a working structure in place for complaints resulting in systematic misconduct

open doors

05 March 2024, 13:00 - 17:00
in the canteen

• we need to show posters on the tv
• working on text and poster of the open call for the exhibition
  • graphic design student came by to brainstorm about the title
  • came up with the title within a minute
    • /meeting at the bridge
• update website archive

open doors

27 February 2024, 13:00 - 16:00
in BP.111 the small room next to gallery 4

• we need inclusive cookies for the open doors (gluten free)
• added financial by-law
• we talked about mental health
  • with mushroom radio:
    • the long waiting list (of healthcare in general but also of the student counsellor) is tough when you need help urgently
    • the facilities that are in place need to be more visible and transparent to the students
    • departments need to check more actively on the wellbeing of their students
    • you can't always rely solely on your social network to help / hear you out. the nice thing of a counsellor or therapist is that you feel less burdened, because it's their job and you don't know them personally
    • how the kabk deals with traumatic events (regarding students or scandals) is often closed off and segmented, maybe it's good to cultivate a more open environment where we speak more freely of our struggles
  • and later with Jan, one of the student counsellors:
    • although the waiting times are shorter than outside of the academy, it still is challenging to think your problems into the future (am i still dealing with issue in 5 weeks?) let alone if you urgently need help. we need to find ways to accommodate students on the shorter term
    • although there is such an emphasis on the safe space, students often don't feel safe, and often those students that are subject to such a safe space (students of color for example)
    • the student counsellors should be more visible and proactive even if they have limited capacity. if the demand appears to be much higher than expected it would be a clear signal to the management to asign more budget for more working hours or other kinds of facililies for mental health such as a seminar
• raspberry pi will arrive next week
• gen z has access to the kabk student union instagram page now
• facilities/management impulsively took off a poster from the 2dH5 festival (resistance is justified when people are occupied | staakt! staakt! staakt! februari-intifada ontwaakt!) and afterwards came to us to discuss the poster
  • in order for a productive conversation to take place this order should be reversed: first discussion then action
  • they stated that israeli students feel unsafe because of the poster
    • how do we get in conversation with these students? now we don't have clear side of each other and our wishes. can management facilitate a safe conversation and ask them what they would demand from the situation? to also speak with instead of only speaking of
• make poll regarding film for screening

meeting with management

14 February 2024, 12:00 - 13:00

open doors

13 February 2024, 13:00 - 16:00

• buy lapsang tea
• buy raspberry pi
• describe our financial situation in our by-laws
• have a theme song for the open doors
• student from HKU does research about the art market and how to prepare art students for it and came by during the open doors to pull us into a brainstorming session
• student from interior architecture approached us about conflict and trouble graduating, we set up a next meeting

open doors

6 February 2024, 12:00 - 16:00
in BP.111 the small room next to gallery 4

• meeting with head of NLN about student that quit kabk
• mushroom radio came by
  • collaborate on events
  • broadcast open doors
  • radio set up in BD.111
  • help them with a budget proposal
  • kabk student union guest mix
• why is there no transparency regarding the budget of the academy and its influence on the managements decision making?

iets tekenen #3

2 February 2024, 14:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 2

The label autistic or neurodivergent doesn't mean much on its own, it is always referring to people. Who are we as autistic individuals and can we form a community? iets tekenen is an invitation for autistic students, diagnosed or suspicious, to hang out and draw stuff.
Drawing materials will be there, but you are also welcome to bring your own.

'iets tekenen' is a monthly event.

Drawing made during the previous edition.

open doors

30 January 2024, 13:00 - 16:00
in BP.111 the small room next to gallery 4

• meeting with management about the petition
  • the petition is out of solidarity with individual students from Bezazel
  • we noted how it would help to take the context into account from which the student union came to be
    • the union formed from a frustration about the untransparent nature of KABK's management (also regarding KABK's history of misconduct) and a lack of agency for the students
      • we thus operate in an transparent and explicit way to counteract the strategy of putting things under the rug
  • the Management takes a neutral stance, or a 'positive' stance how Management phrases it
    • they abstain from any political stance
      • they drew the conclusion from their previous experience of explicititly supporting Ukraine that it's better to stay silent
      • we stated that we prefered the other conclusion of being consistently critical instead of avoiding to do so all together
  • Management:
    • appreciates that we take this on
    • we are a slow institution because we try to do things carefully
    • the reaction on Ukrain was a learning curve
      • what is the role of a 'safe space'? who can have a 'safe space'?
        • this shouldn’t be a wall we can hide behind
      • we try to create an open space for students with all opinions and backgrounds
      • I am really in support of voicing concerns as students and in politics, but we choose not to do this as an institution
  • kabk student union:
    • why is being against genocide a matter of debate?
  • Management:
    • as an institution I don’t want to go there
    • if you take a position it inhibits the space of others experience
    • we get flack from both sides
    • Israeli students feel unsafe
  • kabk student union:
    • why was it a mistake to take a position?
      • Management:
        • we had russian students who felt really cornered by our taking a stance
      • kabk student union:
        • taking a neutral position also makes students feel unsafe
      • Management:
        • we start from the position that we are an educational institution not a political institution
      • kabk student union:
        • what does that mean? everything is political
  • kabk student union:
    • there’s a general consensus that departments are not talking to each other. the physical space and the way in which courses are laid out make it so that departments are isolated
    • let's open up a conversation for the community
  • Management:
    • I am afraid of the potential aggresion of the discussion
    • I am proud of how it is going up until now
    • every student should have the possibility to feel safe
  • Management:
    • at the same time we should organise dialogue
      • this would be easiest within departments
  • kabk student union:
    • let's make it a project!
    • we should invite people that could educate us / the community and have a general assembly
    • let's move past the idea that a difference in opinions must necessarily seclude each other in conversation
      • a bit of optimism is needed for this
  • Management:
    • we are not trying to convince each other of our different positions but how can we cross bridges?
  • kakb student union:
    • to do this it is also important to differentiate between feeling unsafe and feeling uncomfortable
  • Management:
    • let's have the conversation in a large, communal setting
    • it didn't go well in other educational institutions
  • Management:
    • we are struggling with how to facilitate this dialogue
  • kabk student union:
    • better than just deciding that it was a mistake is to explore how to have this dialogue
    • we have courses on decolonization and are already within a political frame
      • we can't abandon discussion
  • Management:
    • we want students to have opinions
      • art is political. life is political
    • but as an institution we try to be open to all opinions to allow differences to happen within the academy
    • but we should also be aware of our context (NL, Royal, Liberal)
  • Management:
    • we need to welcome dissenting opinions. this is also why we take no position
  • kabk student union:
    • we should open the floor up to the entirety of the community
  • Management:
    • it needs to be a setting which creates dialogue but not debate
    • we need to discuss details like whether the initiative comes from Management or student union
  • kabk student union:
    • we know that it's possible for management to facilitate this, looking at the example of the response to the war in Ukraine (talk in the tent)
    • you just need to want it
    • next meeting we need to make it all concrete
    • end of meeting

• open doors
• we need to elaborate on our budget in our bylaws
• 'students for palestine' from the conservatoire came by and introduced themselves!

open doors

23 January 2024, 13:00 - 16:00

• meet with Maaike
• meet with Management
• book a room for iets tekenen #3
• regarding a rumour: ask for transparency surrounding the academies budget
• some students do not have enough money to go on excursion with their department. this is however mandatory for them to obtain enought study points. how could we or their department help them out?
• some academies have a 'hardship' fund
• could we share our eventual community space with teachers?
• invite teachers for a meeting where we whisper in their ear how to unionise
• what do we put on the TV
  • kitschy pr video?

open doors

16 January 2024, 12:30 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

• collaborate with mushroom radio
• do an event during rewire
• organise a zine making workshop
• organise a series of events during the day/week for the elimination against racism (21 March)
  • movement bootcamp
• organise a series of event revolving around precarity (in April)
• organise iets tekenen #3
• organise an iets tekenen inviting students from other academies
• buy a bakfiets for student use
• ask about the idea for a student bike repair shop
• make a guide for how to live free in the Hague
• counter kitchen
• microwave cookbook
• let's claim BP.111 as a common space for student initiatives

open doors

9 January 2024, 14:30 - 17:00
in the canteen

topics:

• organise workshops
  • button making
  • life after graduation
  • marrying a visa
  • how to be a professional
  • composing a manual for free stuff in the Hague
  • movement bootcamp
  • …
  • make an open call
    • with guidelines
      • workshops that benefit the community
        • community ≠ a 'universal' student body
        • community = participants / students in need of a community
      • interdepartmental
• make position clear
  • gathering to think about what it means to unionise
• meet with feedblack
• how do we keep a dialogue with other student initiatives in the academy?
• demand response from Management about petition to cut ties with bezazel art academy in Israël
• reach out to Israëli students to have an opportunity for dialogue

iets tekenen #2 (drawing stuff)

8 December 2023, 14:00 - 16:00
in BA.016, next to the courtyard

The label autistic or neurodivergent doesn't mean much on its own, it is always referring to people. Who are we as autistic individuals and can we form a community? iets tekenen is an invitation for autistic students, diagnosed or suspicious, to hang out and draw stuff.
Drawing materials will be there, but you are also welcome to bring your own.

Due to popular demand and the felt urgency of the first edition 'iets tekenen' (drawing stuff) is now a monthly event!

Drawing made during the previous edition.

movie screening 'It Must Be Heaven'

6 December 2023, 18:00 - 20:00
in Cinema Room (BA.204)

On December 6th from 6PM we will be screening “Tale of the Three Jewels” in solidarity with Palestine in the Cinema Room, under the umbrella of the Student Union.

The film will be arranged by our lovely member Manu and it’s a romantic drama from 1995 that we greatly encourage you to drop by and share time to watch alongside us.

open doors

4 December 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• send ib47 forms to finances for payments
• screenprinting for palestine
• movie screening for palestine
• set up a shared meeting with green and blue office, mushroom radio, film club and newspaper
• canteen petition
• how is the selection procedure of the new head going?
• set up structured trajectory for urgent help to students
• ideas for workshops:
• claymaking weapons workshop
• zine making workshop
• what do we put on the tv?
• student who experienced repeated racist harassement came by to talk and brainstorm
• collect similar testimonies
• log how kabk previously dealt with racism
• map out what the school can do
• what happens when you try to report a racial crime?
• send a letter from kabk to police department
• how to provide education and awareness towards the city
• kabk as seperated bubble from racist city
• open up more to the outside word as an art academy
• practical workshop how to deal with discrimination
• student housing survey
• display in the library

open doors

27 November 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• programming
• iets tekenen #2
• decolonization event
• evaluation
• how can we make people comfortable to talk?
• smaller groups?
• focused conversation or willingly distracted?
• more structure?
• warm up
• introduction
• focus
• discussion
• next edition about election results
• recurring safe space opposing racism
• how is the recruitment process of the new director going?
• bodies within kabk are too disconnected (canteen, concierge, facilities, library etc.)
• can students be more involved troughout the whole academy structure?
• website
• menu
• about
• resources
• membership
• contact
• sign-up form with google form
• student harassed nearby kabk
• racist police
• Den Haag Meldt
• how can we emphasize the urgency against the police and our institutions?
• collect similar testimonies
• solidarity at next decolonization event
• how can we structure the to-do lists and goals of the union better?

open day kabk

25 November 2023, 10:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 1

what does decolonization mean in the context of our art academy?

22 November 2023, 17:00 - 21:00
in the Auditorium

Solidarity event discussing the ongoing genocide in Palestine, art, and decolonization, as a broader framework.

open doors

20 November 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• decolonization event
• contributions
• publicity
• reader
• food
• shopping
• making
• transporting
• renting equipent
• movie screening
• differentiate union?
• field trip to W139
• complaints about 100 days programme
• interdepartmental football tournament
• silent/pray/chill room
• regular group talks

open doors

13 November 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• meeting with management
• institutional slowness
• kabk student union operates from a lack (of community)
• alumni not allowed as members
• found alumni association
• financial logistics
• double standards of kabk regarding 'neutrality'
• how to let israeli students feel safe?
• sign-up form

iets tekenen (drawing stuff)

10 November 2023, 14:00 - 15:30
in BA.016, next to the courtyard

The label autistic or neurodivergent doesn't mean much on its own, it is always referring to people. Who are we as autistic individuals and can we form a community? iets tekenen is an invitation for autistic students, diagnosed or suspicious, to hang out and draw stuff.
Drawing materials will be there!

open doors

6 November 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in front of Gallery 4

topics:

• website
• pamflet
• iets tekenen (drawing stuff)
• mailcontact with management
• finance
• poster template
• TV programming

open doors

30 October 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• mail contact with management
• by-laws
• finances
• movie screenings
• budget cuts
• website
• shared meeting with other student initiatives
• open day
• student union statement about gaza
• how do we get access to our budget?
• 'iets eten', autistic students meeting
• fundraising event/panel discussion
• who do we invite?
• posters with questions as a starting point
• cooking?
• signal group
• group chat with all student initiatives

movie screening 'It Must Be Heaven'

26 October 2023, 19:00 - 21:00
in Cinema Room (BA.204)

We decided to extend the movie screenings for this week with another Palestinian reference, in solidarity. This time it's Elia Suleiman’s "It Must Be Heaven”, from 2019. In which a man escapes Palestine for a new beginning, only to encounter the same problems as back home.

It’s a completely different mood and angle than the previous screenings we’ve had this week. But we hope it adds to the understanding of the complexity of the situation now in Palestine.

This recommendation was made by one of our viewers from the first evening. And you can check out the trailer on IMDB. The Student Union invites you tonight, 26th October, in the Cinema Room from 7PM, room BA 204.
Hopefully, see you then and there!

movie screening 'Concerning Violence'

25 October 2023, 19:00 - 21:00
in Cinema Room (BA.204)

Thank you for all that showed up last night for the screening of “5 Broken Cameras”! Movies are always better when seen together and when they foster dialogue. And thank you for the representative of @studentsforpalestine for nurturing the discussion.

To continue diving into the topic of the film, apartheid and colonialism, we at Student Union have taken it upon ourselves to make another screening tonight in the cinema room from 7PM. Room BA.204.

This time we will be screening a 2014 documentary titled “Concerning violence”. The film narrates the events of African nationalist and independence movements in the 1960s and 1970s which challenged colonial and white minority rule.

The documentary film is written and directed by Göran Olsson. It is based on Frantz Fanon's essay, Concerning Violence, from his 1961 book The Wretched of the Earth.

To read more about it check out wikipedia!
Hopefully see you then and there!

movie screening '5 Broken Cameras'

24 October 2023, 19:00 - 21:00
in Cinema Room (BA.204)

Come one, come all! Tomorrow we screen “5 Broken Cameras” in solidarity with Palestine in the Cinema room, under the umbrella of the Cinema club and KABK Student Union. Hopefully @studentsforpalestine can join us to intro the film. If all goes well :) So we will be delighted to see you then and there!

open doors

23 October 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• TV
• display wall
• get in contact with Photography students
• movie screening poster
• [rumour]: ISTs are reconsidered due to tight budget
• open day?
• invite Jonathan Hielkema and Pawel Pokutycki

online meeting

16 October 2023, 13:00 - 14:00

topics:

• how can we engage more dynamically?
• paid labour/ free labour
• open call for dialogue with photography students about lack of space
• open day
• performance
• movie screening

open doors

9 October 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• visibility
• design sketches
• get a video projector to show the open doors agenda to all the participants
• [rumour]: ISTs are reconsidered due to tight budget
• open day?
• invite Jonathan Hielkema and Pawel Pokutycki

open doors

2 October 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• visibility
• access to email lists
• announcement wall
• TV
• launching moment
• storage shelf placement
• printing finances
• lack of space photography department
• work together with the green office

open doors

25 September 2023, 12:00 - 16:00
in Gallery 4

topics:

• permanent student initiative space
• worked hours spreadsheet
• storage shelf
• printing finances
• graphic identity
• portal
• instagram
• stickers
• seperate website
• task division
• new members
• bank account
• programming

online meeting

18 September 2023, 15:00 - 16:00

topics:

• union IST
• graphic identity
• recurring meeting
• how to present ourselves to the school?
• budget