I forgot how I got here 



Do we ever stop to remember how we got here — with whose support, or lack of it; through which structures and within what kinds of systems; shaped by which and whose decisions, and how we felt along the way?

What feelings accompanied us? What did we dream of? 

How many encounters happened by chance, where we couldn’t even foresee the outcome?



I forgot how I got here is a self-organised exhibition by 33 third-year Fine Arts bachelor students of the Royal Academy of Art  (KABK),  showcasing their current work ahead of the graduation year. By deciding to wonder about what they forgot, they open a new layer of thinking about their practice; wondering about what I forgot along the way is to reflect on the ways of being: what do I find important, what do I omit, who I am grateful for. Forgetting is a recurring pillar of the exhibition, but more importantly, a lens on their practice that critically examines how they got to what they made.



Photography: Klara Kusa 

A layer of resistance to forgetting unfolds in some artworks, while some invite forgetting as an act of unlearning. Some artists use a memory lapse as a medium. Some let go and forget through making, while others embrace the unknowing as an attitude. Their works invite questions and offer various perspectives on multiple subjects of attention, bringing together different affinities. Through their works, they reveal how overlooked societal structures and their values affect the subjective realities of their inhabitants.

By reviewing their growing up through family stories, dreams, visual symbols, the artists reflect on broader cultural systems and how those leaned on their shoulders. With their artworks they explore relations between themselves and the environment; edges of contact between their bodies and audiences; embodying belonging in their being and with others. It is being observed who is seen and who is forgotten in different social contexts. They recognise the paradigms of relating to plants, animals and landscapes they wish to be shifted - and shift them within their practice.


The students collaborate and exchange with each other, with their surroundings, in a creative process that sometimes asks for letting go of control and invites trust. They engage in an intimate contact with material; clay, metal, wood; found objects, branches, stones; paint, pen, scrapers. Their lives are documented in a way that allows broader readings, relations and associations while they place reflections on their everyday feelings in the exhibition space. Their dreams and visions sum in concrete objects, while they play with their obsessions or collections; curiosities, coincidences and attentions; pleasures and hurts.


While walking through this space; it will gradually get colder, it will gradually get darker; and it will leave you wondering; how can I join the resistance to oblivion, how can I keep breeding curiosity, and what will the future bring?



Elena Apostolovski

Consultant curator and exhibition mentor

2025
Nikolaus Kohout
Ines Kukrić
Chun Chen
Roni(a) Johansson
Minnie Fawcett-Tang
Famke Kroonbergs
Klára Kusá
Wout
Zuzanna Dziedzic
Helmi Kukka Kärki
Martina J. Parma Muñoz
Aleksandra Girshon
Jacobus Benning
Fionnbharr Ó Súilleabháin
Ásta Sól
Soeun Nam
Loona Dusser
Julia Maria
Julia Ivanova
Virginia Stevenin
Lumi Androvic Muzio
Jessica Kuhn
Aga Rymuszka
Tom Allsop
James Yuca
Hyewon Kang
Ismir Rajibayev
Laura Modoni
Bo Oskamp
Isa Zichterman
Viktor Dimitrov Marinopolsky
Alexandra Pavlovskaya-Lokchine
Kimia Khedri




Photography: Alexandra Pavlovskaya Lokchine and Kimia Khedri



Workshop documentation at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts 







Workshop documentation at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts