Afgangskataloget – Det Kgl. Danske Kunstakademi, Billedkunstskolerne

Afgang 2025

12 april – 10 august 2025

Curatorial Statement by Mariam Elnozahy

I learned a lot from the students presented in this year’s Afgang. Though the studio visits I had with them were brief, they shared intimate, personal stories and we discussed their accomplishments, trials and tribulations. I saw many of them juggling families, new parenthood, jobs, responsibilities, and still making time to be in the studio. No doubt, the students here put great effort into developing their artistic practice. As a result, these practices are cultivated and mature. Yet, they are also only a beginning.

It is an impossible world we all inherit. But no artistic production is – or, perhaps, has ever been – without constraint. In their artworks, many students have turned to the material, often working with forms and tools that push back against them. They wrestle with these materials, contorting and working them to make precious things. In this year’s Afgang, we see paintings, sculptures, ceramics, a diorama, a relief. Even the films presented contain a materiality.

A (re)turn to the material form. Something tangible amidst a world of contrived, virtual interactions. I feel invigorated by that. I hope you do too.

Here is a list of lessons I learned from this year’s graduating students:

I learned that ceramics shrink 11% when fired.
I learned that sometimes the biggest challenge is to produce no form at all.
I learned that wood can bend.
I learned that the King passes by here sometimes.
I learned that language, when lost, can be replaced by music.
I learned that the Danish healthcare system can be racist, and I learned the importance of advocating for policies to change it.
I learned the names of Moluccan mountains.
I learned that the Little Mermaid is a beautiful trans man.
I learned how to watch a sleeping shark.
I learned to listen to Faroese women.
I learned that the CPR doll used in hospitals is modelled after an anonymous girl who drowned in the Seine. We can call her Anne.
I learned that time is the most powerful artistic tool.
I learned about the transformative experience of motherhood.
I learned the power of nonlinear storytelling.
I learned how to decolonise through colour.
I learned what is lost when a whole industry is reduced to ash.
I learned how to misuse magic words/I learned a new grammar.
I learned how to look at a canvas and see the layers behind the surface.
I learned that one can marry art.
I learned that ceramic vases can move like dancing men.
I learned the lyrics to the classic song ‘Team Spirit’.
I learned that chickens can get colds too.