Every year, the Antwerp Art Weekend is an ideal moment for the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp to reach out to the wider art community beyond its walls, exposing the combined forces of students, teachers, and researchers in various presentations.

De Lange Zaal hosts 'The Return of the Ideal Studio', a sequel to the 2021 relocation of student's studios into an exhibition space. A place where students can join hearts, hands and minds in order to facilitate collective projects.

A selection of Antwerp's underground art scene photographer Mark Rietveld's legacy will be shown in De Tempel, while the In Situ department will show their new publication and exhibition based on research of Antwerp art in public spaces.

The fourth edition of the ‘Academy Open Air’ exhibition is curated by the Student Council, where they will apply their 'Hapjes' concept, meaning that students suggest other student's work to be presented on a big billboard in the Academy Garden.

In the Wintertuin, the Student Council also presents an exhibition, showing art from both Academy as non-Academy students.

Founded in 1663 by the painter David Teniers the Younger, the Antwerp Academy was one of the first art schools in the world. It is also one of the very first artists’ initiatives. Over the centuries, the Antwerp Academy, with its historic campus, has become an established name in the international art world.

As an active player in Antwerp’s art scene and in collaboration with national and international art institutions and educational organizations, the Academy profiles itself as a hub where students, researchers, external partners and a diverse audience can meet each other in an inspiring international biotope. A great number of exhibitions and events take place within the Academy’s walls as well as in their historical garden, all organized by students, teachers, researchers and external curators or artists’ collectives. Apart from that, the Academy also has an active policy in publishing its artistic research.