WdKA 2018 Home Assignments

We ask you to pick one home assignment, as part of the Willem de Kooning
Academy’s admission procedure. We hereby present 10 assignments for you to
choose from. All of these assignments have in common that they will allow us to see
how you work, how you think and what fascinates you. We’d like to see your visual
skills and your feeling for colour, form and materials. Try to be original. All
assignments also have in common that they evoke some form of artistic process.
Most of them require a series of works, or a series of experiments.

We’re interested in everything you do, so please document your steps. Also the
things that did not work out, because that will allow us to assess your ability to reflect
critically.

If you cannot choose, or if you feel inspired, you may of course pick more than one
assignment. In the event that you have only a small portfolio, you can use these
assignments to build a portfolio. So we need to see at least one assignment, but you
can do more.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 1
Show and Tell
(inventiveness, context awareness, communicative ability, creative ability,
storytelling)

With this assignment, you make a visual connection between words and ideas.
Answer each of these ten questions in the form of an image, a movie, animation,
object, product or ‘thing’ (and not with words).

• Who are you?

• What did you look like as a child?
• What is your main character trait?
• What inspires you most?
• What do you normally never take a picture of, make or depict?
• What do you love about art or design?
• If you weren’t an artist or designer, what would you be?
• What is the first thing you touch in the morning?
• What is your favourite piece of art or design, by someone else?
• What is the meaning of life?

Present to the admission committee your complete process: your research, your
ideas, sketches, steps and choices and of course your final series of answers.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 2
I-Robot
(inventiveness, context awareness, communicative ability, creative ability)

Design and create an ‘add-on’, addition or adaptation to your own body, with which
you are able to do something that is impossible without the adaptation or addition.
You could call this a prosthesis, or artificial body part. But it could also be considered
a personal human enhancement. It could be something visual, mechanical, or digital.
Anything goes.

Test the addition or adaptation in real life (!), make improvements where necessary,
and document this, making drawings, photos and/or video.

Present to the admissions board your complete process: your research, ideas,
sketches, steps and choices, and of course your final working (3D) model.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 3
Six Degrees
(context awareness, communicative ability, creative ability, storytelling)

‘Six degrees of separation’: apparently it is possible to connect everything or

everyone, in only six steps. Prove this principle by connecting six objects, places,
movies, stories, images or people. The connected objects, stories, images or people
result in a new object, movie, story or image.

• Present to the admissions board the six separate objects, places, movies, stories,
people or images.
• Then present the connection, or connecting element. It can be a literal connecting
element, with which you fix one thing to the next, or a more abstract connection.
• Finally, present the new object, place, movie, story or image that arises from the
connected things.
• Describe this new object, place, story, movie or image in 300 words or less.

As in all assignments, present to the admissions board your complete process: your
research, ideas, sketches, steps and choices, and of course show your final result.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 4
Lost and Found in Translation
(intercultural awareness, context awareness, communicative ability, creative ability)

• Take a random item or image from in or around your house.

• Take a map of the world, and draw a straight line across the world map, on a
random angle, with your house positioned on the line.
• Make an imaginary journey around the world, along that line.
• Translate or adapt the chosen item or image to any country you visit. What
colours are used around the world? What materials will your translations be
made of? Take, for example, into consideration the culture, traditions, climate,
available materials, means of production, degree of economic development,
political situation, etc. in order to arrive at an adaptation or translation.
• Design and make an exhibition of these new translations that you found on
your trip around the world. Find the perfect spot for this exhibition and the
perfect way for exhibiting the translations. You could even design a poster
and flyer or a website for the exhibition.

As in all assignments: present to the admission committee your complete process:

your research, your ideas, sketches, steps and choices and of course show your
final results.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 5
Thingness
(feeling for material, context awareness, communicative ability, creative ability)

All things have physical qualities. Everything has a colour, a texture, a shine, a
dullness, a materiality, a weight, a size, a smell, a touch, a hardness, a meaning, a
function, a value. Even a photo, a film, an animation or a book have these qualities.

• Take three things*, and analyse their ‘thingness’. Document this in pictures,
drawings, film, models, samples, etc. Perhaps look for synonyms, copies, fake
versions, representations, etc.
• Then use their physical qualities to create one new ‘thing’. What can you do
with that ‘thing’?
• Use the new ‘thing’, make improvements where necessary, and document
this, making drawings, photos and/or video. You need to study the effect that
your thing has.

As in all assignments, present to the admissions board your complete process: your
research, ideas, sketches, steps and choices, and of course show your final results.

* Things can be everything: objects, clothes, accessories, spaces, buildings,

products, art pieces, photos, animations, films, posters, books, etc. If for instance
you create an artwork, the use might be to exhibit the piece; if it is a film, you show
the film; if it is a poster, you hang it somewhere specific, etc.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 6
100 Times You
(context awareness, communicative ability, creative ability, storytelling)

Collect 100 things, each with its own form or shape, colour, material, all telling
something about you. Organise and show this collection of 100 things in an original
way. Make and design a catalogue of this collection of these 100 things, with short
descriptions. Write an introduction and a conclusion for the catalogue.
As in all assignments: present to the admission committee your complete process:
your research, your ideas, sketches, steps and choices and of course show your
final result.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 7
An Extra-Ordinary Week
(context awareness, communicative ability, creative ability, storytelling)

During 7 consecutive days, you make 5 images or objects per day, resulting in 35
images or objects that describe your extra-ordinary week. You can make these
images at fixed times: each day at specific times – or not.You may depict your actual
and factual happenings, but you could also merge fantasy and reality, or abandon
reality altogether. So, will it be fact or fiction? It’s up to you.You can use all media
and materials.These 35 images or objects tell your story, so be aware of the story,
and think of a way to show the 35 images or objects.

As in all assignments, present to the admissions board your complete process: your
research, ideas, sketches, steps and choices, and of course show your final result.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 8
Online-offline
Design a daily online connection offline. Which of your favourite daily activities
online, is interesting to make happen in a physical offline situation?

What kind of connection is it? What kind of people does it connect and how? Which
elements are interesting for an offline connection (in the physical ‘real’ world) and
which elements would you like to adjust? Create the connection for at least two
people. It could be either an object or a service.
Test your offline connection, to see whether it actually connects and works. If it fails,
adjust and try again, but document this test phase and show it to the assessment
committee.
Present in your portfolio your complete process: your research, ideas, sketches,
steps and choices, and of course your final (3D) result.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 9
Observe and Tell
This is an assignment about observation and storytelling. Explore your direct
environment. What attracts your attention? Is it people, someone close to you, or
perhaps some strangers? Do you notice something specific? Perhaps nature or
animals attract your attention? Or is it man-made, like streets, buildings, objects,
products, cars, etc.?

What story you would like to tell? Is it fictive or non-fictive? Is it a story for someone
specific, or for everyone?

Tell a story, with free choice of medium: you can make images, objects, movies,
animations, products, etc.

Visualise your inspiration and your design process by writing down thoughts,
sketching, drawings, or using materials.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
 10
Try, Fail and Overcome
We all know: imagination is always better than real life. Images in your head always
look better than when you try to actually make or realise them. And if it is not like the
image in your head, you have failed, right? But are you sure? Could these failures
perhaps lead to something beautiful? Could it perhaps lead to your own personal
creative self?

Explore your creative expressions. Do you want to create dresses, houses, stories,
or perhaps a message? Start exploring!

Make a series of 24 mistakes: drawings, designs, forms, shapes, stories that fail.
Start with creating one failure, and react in the next failure upon the previous one.
Each mistaken drawing, design, form, shape, story, etc., is a reaction to the previous
mistake. Where does this series lead to?

Present this series of 24 failures or mistakes, and describe/clarify each mistake, and
your reaction, with a few short notes.

Home Assignments Admissions 2018

Willem de Kooning Academy
Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences