Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
Here you can buy 'Rijksakademie on the map' and if you scroll down play or download the free podcast tour by Hans Aarsman.
The city map ‘Rijksakademie on the map, 150 years of works in Amsterdam’ contains some 450 works in the public space by artists who were associated with the Rijksakademie from 1870 till now.
Practising Futures
Turn on. Tune In. RijksRadio. A continuous series of radio broadcasts in collaboration with Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
During 2020 Rijksakademie alumni will be taking over the RA Instagram account and share their practice in posts and stories.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
Due to the current measures regarding Covid-19, we unfortunately have to postpone our exhibition 'Live from the Rijksakademie, a Cabinet of Curiosities' and the presentation of our Artist Edition.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
Rijksakademie alumnus Kévin Bray was asked by designer Roosje Klap to create a visual impression of 150 years of Rijksakademie, commissioned by OCW (The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science).
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
In honour of what would have been Constant Nieuwenhuys' centenary, we share two of his early works from our collection.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
Today we publish 'Rijksakademie on the map, 150 years of works in Amsterdam', a city map of Amsterdam with 441 works of art in public space by artists who have been affiliated with the Rijksakademie for the past 150 years.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
A selection of works that can be found on 'Rijksakademie on the map'.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
Rijksakademie alumnus Arvo Leo (RA 17/18) will start his artist residency in ‘de Salmhuisjes’ in ARTIS in September.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
In the context of our 150 anniversary we’ve been looking at the imprint that the Rijksakademie has had on the city of Amsterdam.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
It's our birthday! The 26th of May, exactly 150 years ago, the Rijksakademie was established by law by King Willem III. We will celebrate this until May 2021 with the anniversary programme 'Activating Pasts, Practising Futures. But we also made a wish list, for when you want to give a present.
Activating Pasts
On May 26th 1870 the Rijksakademie was established by law by King Willem III.
Practising Futures
Last February, together with Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, we organised the lecture ‘Notes on Ososma: imagining spaces’ by artist and researcher Charl Landvreugd, in which he shared his artistic practice, his research and thoughts about future language. You can watch the lecture in full here.
Activating Pasts
Rijksakademie alumni John Rädecker’s and Paul Grégoire's contributions to the National Monument on Dam Square, with an important role for artist model Truus Trompert
Practising Futures
Last March artist duo Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz gave an artist talk about their recent presentation at the Venice Biennale, 'Moving Backwards'. You can watch the talk in full here.
Activating Pasts
1986: the start of our video art collection
In the mid-eighties the first video works are added to the Rijksakademie collection.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
Hollandse Meesters in de 21e eeuw
Artists Femmy Otten and Mounira Al Solh are the subject of two new portraits in the series ‘Hollandse Meesters in de 21e eeuw’
Practising Futures
Agnieszka Polska: Love Bite
The Frye Art Museum invites you to view selected video works from the solo show 'Love Bite' by Rijksakademie alumna Agnieszka Polska.
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Micro Art Online #1
Rijksakademie resident Lotte van Geijn investigates contemporary art in a quarantined world.
Practising Futures
Together with artist Frederique Pisuisse, Rijksakademie resident Saemundur Thor Helgason runs an online exhibition space called Cosmos Carl – Platform Parasite, an online platform that hosts nothing but links provided by the artist.
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These days art institutions are finding new ways to make their projects, exhibitions and collections accessible at home. Rijksakademie resident Silke Schönfeld's show 'invented traditions / imagined communities' at Gemeinde Köln has been made available for online viewing.
Activating Pasts, Practising Futures
Like so many others operating in the cultural field, recent developments around the Covid-19 virus have led us to review the activities the Rijksakademie had planned.
Practising Futures
As we get into our 150th year and related celebrations, we pause to take advantage of the presence of Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz in Amsterdam to invite them to talk about their recent presentation in the Venice Biennial, ‘Moving Backwards’. The work, amongst other things, questioned modernist notions of progress and linear time.
Activating Pasts
Posters, announcements of performances, organised in 1980 by the Studium Generale; the theory department of the Rijksakademie.
Practising Futures
On Thursday February 20, artist and researcher Charl Landvreugd will share his artistic practice, his research and thoughts about future language.
Practising Futures
Our 150th anniversary programme ‘Activating Pasts, Practising Futures’, asked for a new graphic identity to visualise our need for looking at the future of the Rijksakademie.
Activating Pasts
This picture, probably taken by painter H.M. Krabbé, depicts Jan Bronner (professor of sculpture), Helena C. Bastert (student 1911–1916?) and Jaap Kaas (student 1914–1920).
Practising Futures
To celebrate Rijksakademie’s 150th anniversary and the launch ‘Activating Pasts, Practising Futures’, alumnus Ade Darmawan, artist and member of ruangrupa, artistic directors of documenta 15, shared the concept of Lumbung that lies at the core of their project, as a future economy for art.
Activating Pasts
This picture, probably taken by painter H.M. Krabbé, depicts Jan Bronner (professor of sculpture), Helena C. Bastert (student 1911–1916?) and Jaap Kaas (student 1914–1920).
Jacobus (Jaap) Kaas was admitted to the Rijksakademie in October 1914, enrolled until 1920 and his main interest were the sculpture classes taught by Professor Bronner.
In 1914 he and his family fled a war-torn Antwerp, where before the Great War he already had been enrolled at the Antwerp Academy, to Amsterdam.
"The training as a sculptor lasted four to six years and was very intensive. They worked from 9.00am to noon, from 1.00pm to 4.00pm and from 7.00pm to 9.00pm, five days a week. And during summer months they had early morning drawing classes. The first year curriculum consisted of modelling heads and trunks after antiques and real life models, plaster casting, woodcarving, free and decorative composition, working from memory and finally anatomy. This was maintained for the following years. In the third and fourth years, the curriculum was extended to include stone carving. And this was 'en taille direct', i.e. working from stone with the sculpture gradually taking shape, in order to sharpen the power of observation and to strengthen the visual power. Finally, the most advanced pupils were allowed to continue working for one to two years in a separate room, a so-called lodge. Anatomy was taught by Herbert van der Poll, who also hosted the Artis drawingsessions. Antoon Derkinderen taught the sculptors the principles of painting, while theoretical training was in the hands of W. van der Pluym (art history and aesthetics). On Saturday morning J. Aarts instructed on graphic subjects. The Saturday afternoon was used for a joint museum visit led by Roland Holst, Six of Veth. The evening school the students were taught life drawing, led by C. L. Dake". 1.
Jaap Kaas has become known as the 'sculptor of Artis'. From its inception the Rijksakademie has been involved with Artis Zoo, or vice versa if you like; as 'artis natura magistra' (the official name of the zoo), is Latin for 'nature is the teacher of art'. Many of the Rijksakademie artists worked regularly in the zoo. Students of, for instance, August Allebe had mandatory sketch classes in Artis and there are still many animal studies present in the archives/collections of the Rijksakademie. Some artists even worked in Artis on a daily basis. Like Jaap Kaas, who got along well with the caretakers and gardeners of the zoo.
At the time, Sunier, the director of Artis Zoo, thought it was very important for Artis to have a good relationship with what he considered artists of a high standard. Kaas was hence offered a studio at Artis from 1927 to 1945.
The lion (1938) and tiger (1939) sculptures that are placed on the Plantage Middenlaan in front of what used to be the entrance to member-rooms, were made by Jaap Kaas. The commission came from the garden staff, who were allowed to submit a request for the placement of a work of art on the occasion of Artis' 100th anniversary.
A great deal of Kaas' sculptures can still be found at various landmarks in Amsterdam. They will soon all be featured in the 'City Map' in the making with works in public space by alumni of the Rijksakademie. A number of works he made during his stay at the Rijksakademie are part of our archive collection.
Although her work is also part of the Rijksakademie collection, unfortunately much less is known about the life of Helena C. Bastert. In all probability she was a niece of the painter Nicolaas S. Bastert, also a student at the Rijksakademie from 1876–1878.