The Piet Zwart Institute is the center for postgraduate study and research of the Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam's art school.
The main academy building houses the study programs in Interior Architecture: Research + Design, Education in Arts, and Lens-Based Media.
They are based on the premise that contemporary art, design and media only exist in a wider social and cultural context, and connect artistic production and research with the public realm of discourse and display.
Research fellows included Lev Manovich, Bureau of Inverse Technology, jodi, Simon Yuill and Alessandro Ludovico.
The Piet Zwart Institute is spread over two locations in the center of the port town of Rotterdam, Netherlands, on the Karel Doormanhof 45 and the main building of the Willem de Kooning Academy, Blaak 10.
Course directors have been Anke Bangma (1999–2007) and Vanessa Ohlraun (since 2007) for Fine Art, Raphael van Amerongen (2001–2007) and Margaret Wijnands (since 2008) for Retail Design, Alex Suarez (since 2010) for Interior Architecture, Matthew Fuller (2002–2006), Florian Cramer (2006–2010) and Renee Turner (since 2010) for Networked Media, Simon Pummell (since 2009) for Lens-Based Digital Media, Robin Punt (2006–2010), Mirjam van Tilburg (since 2010) and Jojanneke Gijsen for Education in Art.