Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) is dedicated to ground-breaking and interdisciplinary research dealing with the relations between culture and society.

ARC (art_research_convergence) is an outreach initiative of Leiden University Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, and the University of the Arts The Hague, for the active communication of artistic research.

Since the disaster in Japan, professors, staff and students of the department of Japanese Language and Culture at Leiden University have regularly been contacted by the media asking for their opinion about the events taking place there. Ivo Smits and Kasia Cwiertka, Professors of Japanese, give their…

When you walk into the Gorlaeus Building, you will notice it immediately; the artwork 'The Cloud' hangs prominently in the hall and cannot be missed. Artist Jos Agasi designed it especially for this location. ‘Intuition, imagination and creativity. Scientists and artists have more in common than they…

Bernini and Pallavicino, the artist and the Jesuit cardinal, are closely related figures at the papal courts of Urban VIII and Alexander VII, at which Bernini was the principal artist. The analysis of Pallavicino's writings offers a new perspective on Bernini's art and artistry and allow us to understand…

At ACPA, the collaboration between Leiden University and the University of the Arts The Hague, artistry and academia meet at the highest level.

How are contemporary art practices from Southeast Asia negotiating notions of art and tradition?

Overview of the Leiden Asia staff per area or country.

Art of Captivity / Arte del Cautiverio tells a compelling story about Central America's drug war through a series of rich photographs. The book, which is entirely bilingual in English and Spanish, focuses on Guatemala, which has become the primary point of transit for cocaine produced in the Andes and…

Explore the intersection of arts, literature, and media in this interdisciplinary research master’s programme. Whether you're interested in medieval manuscripts or modern digital culture, this programme offers the flexibility to tailor your studies to your interests.

Kohei Suzuki, Assistant Professor at Institute of Public Administration, was interviewed by Infobae about loneliness in Japan and the role of government and society.

Debate, BASIS The Hague, Universiteit Leiden

The Platform for Arts Research in Collaboration (PARC) is an online and offline platform for researchers working in and beyond the fields of Composition, Music, Art and Design to exchange knowledge, experiences and public events, stimulate collaboration and increase the visibility of their research…

From 11 to 17 September, Leiden will be all about art and science. What can the combination of these two domains do for us? And how can cooperation between them be strengthened? Several public events and a brand new symposium for specialists should answer these questions.

The arts and science: for years, they were seen as opposite extremes. One calls on emotion and the other on reason. The Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) proves that nothing could be further from the truth. ACPA is where the knowledge and expertise of Leiden University and the University…

How does contemporary art and culture represent nuclear contamination in post-nuclear landscapes?

Troughout the ages, art has always had a large impact, from the first cave drawings until modern art forms. In the Bachelor's programme Art History at Leiden University you will not just get to know art from the Netherlands and Europe, but also from North-America, Asia and Africa. Study art from the…

D.P. Kok defended his thesis on 10 October 2017

Wenxin Wang defended her thesis on 26 October 2016

Subproject of

Many students dread writing a thesis. Master’s student Laura Robustella's practice-based thesis shows that it is well worth the effort. She developed an art exhibition based on her master’s thesis.

The LAK offers a wide range of visual arts courses. The diverse offerings are suitable for both beginners and more advanced students. Classes accommodate varying levels of experience. Quality is our top priority, which is why we work with professional and enthusiastic instructors. Courses are open…

Inaugural lecture, delivered upon acceptance of the Chair in Theory of Research in the Arts, at the Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University, on 10 February 2017, by Professor H.A. (Henk) Borgdorff.

Are you thinking about studying Arts, Literature and Media? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Of the 29 students who are still in Japan, the remaining four students in Tokyo have been advised to leave the area affected by the disaster.

On Wednesday 5 February 2025 Milan Ismangil successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

This publication aims at the analysis of the performance of a corpus of Fongbe stories that I collected in three villages in the south of Benin in 1976 and 1977. The corpus consists of 37 stories (57.000 words). The stories aim at children’s education.

Josien de Klerk and Tennessee Miller examined the interplay between students’ illness and recovery experiences and academic work culture in this context.

Spirit priests and ancestor cults in new guinea's far west

Visual art today is strongly interlinked with today’s society, a connection which is reinforced and deepened by social and other media. In Arts, Media and Society you will explore this relationship and analyse how it reflects and impacts the issues of our time, while also learning practical and academic…

This two-year master’s programme in Philosophy of the Arts combines in-depth philosophical training in continental philosophy and aesthetics with the academic study of one or more arts, such as visual, musical, literary, and performing arts. Of the 120 EC of the programme, 40 EC will be taken in a discipline…

On 25 November, Professor Ineke Sluiter received the Medal of Honour for Arts and Sciences in the Order of Orange-Nassau. She was presented with the medal by King Willem-Alexander.

Many Leiden scientists will be taking part in the Night of Arts and Science on 17 September. Find out what's on for English speakers.

The aim of this project is to study the influence of Longinus’s treatise ‘On the sublime’ on practice and theory of architecture and theatre in seventeenth-century Paris and Amsterdam.

An impressive 60 alumni recently came to the Dutch Embassy residence in Japan to meet, network, see friends and practise their languages.

This research will investigate which aspects of On the sublime received attention in the intellectual milieu of the seventeenth century and how the sublime found its way in the political and artistic discourse of that time. Thus I aim to shed light on the role of art in politics and society in this…

The Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) is one of the few research institutes in the world in which researchers in the field of literature, art, architecture, design and media studies come together to conduct research into the cultural production of the western world, from classical…

This programme adopts a new approach based on the paradoxical nature of these responses in early modern Italy: it draws on rhetorical discussions of lifelikeness and living presence, and it uses the anthropological theory of art as agency developed by Alfred Gell.

Here you can find the recordings of the Eighth Global Internet Governance (GIG-ARTS) Conference. Hosted in 2024 by GTGC.

Come to the Night of Arts and Science in Leiden 's historic city centre on 17 September. You can enjoy music, interactive experiments, theatrical plays, lectures, modern dance, comedy and much, much more. Many of the activities are in English.

Dirk Huyge (Director) & Wouter Claes (Vice-Director)

On 3 and 4 June 2024, GTGC acted as the host for the Eighth GIG-ARTS Conference. This edition had the theme ‘Thirty Years of Multistakeholderism in Internet Governance: Assessments and Prospects'.