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.
Practising Futures
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.
Practising Futures
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, 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).
In the OCW Etalage, an exhibition space right next to the entrance of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and opposite the Central Station The Hague, a visual impression of the history of the Rijksakademie is on display. Designer Roosje Klap was invited by OCW to give shape to the presentation consisting of a diverse selection of works and quotes from Rijksakademie alumni. Klap in turn asked Rijksakademie alumnus Kévin Bray (RA 18/19) to create a collage of the various works of art by amongst others Daniëlle van Ark, Funda Gül Özcan, Marcel Pinas and Dan Zhu.
For this French multidisciplinary artist, a commission to his liking. “I started my career as a graphic designer”, he says. “After graduating from the Sandberg Institute, I worked for Roosje Klap’s studio for about ten months. A year after I started for myself, she invited me to teach at the KABK. When she was offered this project by OCW, it seemed logical to her to involve me, as an ex-colleague, but also because I am of course an alumnus of the Rijksakademie.” In his work Bray combines video art, painting, graphic design, sculpture, 3D photography and sound design, and is interested in the way all these different disciplines influence the way we consume information. He has a track record when it comes to creating complex montage works. "It's the perfect technique to bring together many different types of art practices”, explains Bray.
That was also the challenge: to forge these works, originating from different times, made with different techniques and materials into one composition in the best possible way. “I have strived not to correct any of the images we have used, to respect the content as much as possible and at the same time allow my creativity to flow.” Bray created an incredible depth in the collage, in which he effortlessly interweaves the various works of art with building elements from the Rijksakademies Kavallerie-Kazerne, including vistas, a painting lesson by Nicolaas van der Waay around the turn of the last century or an example of the current residency structure: a studio conversation between artist and advisor Ansuya Blom and artist (and then resident) Mu Yuming circa 2005.
Bray's background as a graphic designer served him well. “I tried to be as neutral as possible. You can see my signature, but at the same time there is nothing that looks like it’s me, except that I've brought all the works together. As much as I like to create an image that is a bit explosive visually, in this case I didn’t want it to dominate the original information. I compare it to a good typeface. A good typeface is one that doesn't demand too much attention. Actually, you shouldn't see it.”
Bray was a resident at the Rijksakademie in 2018 and 2019. A time he associated with a lot of freedom. “Freedom to fail, freedom to waste time, freedom to question everything: the way you interact with people, with your work, but also with life in general. You could always contact someone to discuss your ideas, but you could also choose to spend a lot of time on your own and struggle with yourself. All that struggling and especially that freedom to fail help you to deepen your research.” At the same time, the residency marked a major shift for him. “People have been looking at my work differently since then. I've been looking at my work differently. Because I was initially a graphic designer, I found it difficult to call myself an artist. After the Rijksakademie one exhibition followed after another. I just claim that title now”, he says laughing. “I am an artist, and am recognised as such.”
Kévin Bray has previously exhibited at venues including Witte de With in Rotterdam, Foam in Amsterdam and Palais de Tokyo in Paris. His work is currently part of Unfair Amsterdam and his solo exhibition 'Don’t forgive/get, them' opens September 4th at gallery Stigter Van Doesburg.
Photos: Sandra Felten/RA