AKI Academy of Art & Design

The Academy of Art and Industry or AKI Academy of Art & Design is an art academy in the Dutch city of Enschede, founded in 1946. The school is part of the ArtEZ University of the Arts, which also has branches in Zwolle and Arnhem.De Academy of Art and Industry was founded in 1946 by a number of textile manufacturers. Until 1955, Dirk de Leeuw was director of the Institute for Applied Arts Education, after which art teacher Bram Middelhoek took over. After fifteen years as a traditional school of applied arts, in 1968 the road to free modern art was taken under the new director Joop Hardy. For several decades, the AKI was the freest and most idiosyncratic art academy in the Netherlands. Hardy was succeeded by the artist Sipke Huismans, who was director from 1981 to 2001. For a long time, the educational institute was located on the Roessinghsbleekweg in a building from 1957, designed by Arno Nicolaï.

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