WHW Akademija is an independent, tuition-free interdisciplinary study program for emerging artists founded by the curatorial collective What, How and for Whom/WHW in 2018.
The name of the program, like that of the collective, includes the acronym for the three crucial questions of economic organization, What, How, & for Whom. Based in Zagreb, Croatia, the program accepts 8–12 fellows per year. Its aim is to work with the participants in Zagreb over the course of seven months on new forms of self-determination based on modes of critical reflection, curiosity, and encounters among artists, artworks, arts professionals, scholars, and practitioners in various disciplines. The program consists of a series of intensives, experimental exercises, workshops, and seminars, as well as a range of exhibitions, performances, and discursive programs that are in large part open to the public.
The members of the advisory board of WHW Akademija are: artist David Maljković, Zagreb; Emily Pethick, the director of the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam; Kathrin Rhomberg, artistic director of the Kontakt Collection, Vienna; and Christine Tohmé, director of Ashkal Alwan and the Home Workspace Program in Beirut.
WHW Akademija is realized in partnership with the Kontakt Collection, Vienna. The collection focuses on experimental and neo-avant-garde art in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe from the late 1950s onwards.
Main funders of WHW Akademija are Kontakt Collection, Erste Stiftung and Foundation for Arts Initiative.