ArtEZ fact no. 4

ArtEZ fact nr. 4 — May 2012 Magazine of ArtEZ Institute of the Arts

Former Students and the Class of 2012 on the School of Acting’s Finals Performance

Musicians Crossing Borders

Where Can We See the Latest Batch of Dancers?

Preview of the Art & Design Students’ Finals Show

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The Water Beneath Maastricht. Danielle Bakkes on her Mooder Maas finals project.

12 Graduating on the Catwalk. Four Fashion Design students describe their fascination with fashion and their dreams for the future.

24 The Last Performance in the Pressure Cooker. A shotgun wedding or a fantastic time? The finals performance at the School of Acting results in stress, commotion and pleasure.

29 Question Marks turn into Exclamation Marks. The fourth-year Dance students about their work placements at various dance companies.

49 Musicians Crossing Borders. While one organises his own festival, another combines music and dance.

56 List of all ArtEZ finals 2012!

COLOPHON

ArtEZ fact is published once every six months by ArtEZ Institute of the Arts. The magazine is distributed free of charge to arts lovers, students, alumni and ArtEZ staff members.

EDITORIAL ADDRESS Onderlangs 9, 6812 CE Arnhem PO Box 49, 6800 AA Arnhem t. 026 3535 758 [email protected]

EDITORIAL TEAM Abeke Schreur (editor-in-chief), Abeke Schreur and Alex van der Hulst (final editing), Vanessa Sloot (editor) and Edith de Vries (editorial secretary) CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE Alex van der Hulst, Anton de Wit, Manon Berendse, Francien van Zetten and ArtEZ finals students PHOTOGRAPHY Lianne van der Laar, Duncan de Fey, Hans Vroege and Peter Stigter EDITORIAL BOARD Michiel Braam, Ko Jacobs, Caroline Barmentlo, Froukje Swart, Willem-Jan Rijper, Janneke Brouwers and Juliëtte Huygen DESIGN AND LAYOUT Hans Gremmen PRINTING De Raddraaier

TRANSLATIONAnnie Wright Printed in an edition of 5,500 copies (in Dutch)

COVER Work finals student Pieter Jan Boterhoek, Graphic Design

The next issue of ArtEZ fact will be published in November 2012No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the editor-in-chief. www.artez.nl

ALUMNI CHANGE OF ADDRESS Are you a former student and about to move? Please email your change of address to [email protected]. This is only intended for alumni.

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And for the rest:1 Editorial

4 - 54 Sneak previews of work by Fine

Art, Interaction Design, Cross-media Design, Comic Design, Animation

Design, Illustra-tion Design and Graphic Design students

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Collectie Arnhem 2012

21 Openness in teaching. The finals project of four students on the Education in Arts Master’s

34 Interior Architec-Interior Architec-ture Students

Design for the Crisis

38 Printers’ Hell, Designers’ Challenge

55 Making a Small Rectangle Laugh. An ArtEZ Press publication on Bas Maters

42 In memoriam Wilma Sommers

44 Enjoy. Bad. Weather.

ArtEZ finals 2012; the Beginning of the Future!

Whether or not there’s a crisis, graduates from ArtEZ Institute of the Arts view the future in a positive way. Naturally there’s tension but only in terms of that final performance or exhibition. What follows is that other life, beyond the Institute, where you will be an arts and culture professional and frequently also an entrepre-neur. In this issue of ArtEZ fact, you can read about the last works that are being made by finals students at Arnhem, Enschede and Zwolle: the ArtEZ finals 2012. Here, concluding your time as a student is also your business card for the outside world. Along with crisis and cutbacks, optimism is also a theme in the finals work. In this issue, ArtEZ fact shows the beginning of the future.

From 9 May to 8 July, a total of approximately 600 students will present themselves through exhibitions, fashion shows, theatre performances, dance perfor-mances, and concerts. All the arts disciplines are represented here: the Fine Arts, Architecture, Fashion, Design, Theatre, Dance, Music and Education in Arts.

The ArtEZ finals are being held at the three ArtEZ locations: Arnhem, Enschede and Zwolle. But also in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and a number of other cities. Everyone can attend the ArtEZ finals but it’s important to make reservations on time in terms of many of the performances and also the fashion shows.

For the complete list, see page 56 and for more informa-tion: www.artez.nl/finals.

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“My work is ironic and provoca-tive. I want to initiate a socially critical discussion. I’m also a provocative person and I like seeing how people react to both me and my behaviour. My inspiration comes from my immediate environment where I spend hours walking through the city or simply observing things and using them as ideas. I try to find and develop new relations between things. Alternatively, I

turn small details around in such a way that a completely diffe-rent story is suddenly created. My strong point is using small and subtle situations so as to make something entailing the wow factor. The longer I work with provocative ideas, the more ideas I have and the more my view of certain things changes. Hence, the logic for normal things shifts and acquires a completely different meaning.

I would like to persuade people to keep thinking for longer than usual and to ask themselves the question: Why not this way as well?”

www. robertrickhoff.blogspot.comwww.robertrickhoff.com

Exhibition Art & Design Enschede, 4 – 8 July

ROBERT RICKHOFF Crossmedia Design

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“My finals project is about the combination of graphic design and fashion. I want to make a statement with this. I use fashion as a means of communication. I’m inspired not so much by the fashion industry itself but mostly by the everyday things that people do, which I see happening around me, and also by what they’re involved with. Clothes reveal who you are; you use them to create a certain identity. As an

experiment, my lecturer gave me an assignment to select a report from each day’s newspaper and to make a miniature item of clothing about it.”

Exhibition Art & Design Zwolle, 4 – 8 July

MARLOUS VAN GROENESTEIN

Graphic Design

The Water Beneath Maastricht

The Institute of Architecture students graduate in late autumn. However, there will be plenty of excitement before that time. This is because the architect Danielle Bakkes, who graduated last year, has been nominated for the Archiprix, which will be announced in June. Her project Mooder Maas comprises a design for a water network beneath Maastricht, which can drain off flooding from the Maas.

Text: Manon Berendse

“Who would dare to mess around with ’t Vrijthof?”

A view of the square and underground concert hall on the watercourse

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You graduated early last year. Or late, depending on which way you look at it. You finished your finals project in March, which you’d spent a year-and-a-half working on.

“I’d opted for research that was on quite a large scale and that takes time. But this was a conscious decision. I consider it important to maintain good contact with all those involved, and there were many in my case: the Rijkswaterstaat, the Waterschap Roer en Overmaas and the Municipality of Maas-tricht. My Mooder Maas plan offers a solu-tion to climate change both in and around Maastricht. The title of my plan refers to a Limburg song that lovingly sings the river’s praises and addresses her as ‘Mother Maas’.”

Are you a trendsetter with your subject? Climate issues are again being highlighted at the Institute of Architecture.

“No, it’s just coincidence. I came up with the idea for this subject because I’ve personally experienced the sheer impact of rising water levels in Limburg. I grew up in Slek (to the south of the town of Echt, ed.) and in Beesel (near Roermond, ed.). I have seen how the Maas can throw every-thing and everyone into a state of complete chaos. Most people think of the delta in terms of flooding, but we have the same problem in Limburg and it certainly won’t decrease in the future.”

What exactly is Mooder Maas? “My plan offers a solution for the City of Maastricht where rising water levels cause major problems when the Maas bursts its banks in Limburg. I channel the excess water away through a water network that extends across the city like netting. I was looking for a method that wouldn’t involve any form of division in the city, but would actually add quality. By integrating this network into the city in small steps over the next 40 years, new situations will be created that will transform Maastricht into a city of water while simultaneously solving the climate issue on time.”

That’s remarkable because you’re working as an interior architect yet you consciously chose a large-scale, urban planning finals project that is not part of your future specialisation.

(Laughing) “The lecturers said that I enjoy

constantly opting for the most difficult route and that has indeed turned out to be true. But I also felt that this finals project offered me an opportunity to work an in-depth way. I wanted to show that I could also do this. And because I didn’t have much of a technical background, I discovered that I was really good at thinking out of the box. The people at the Rijkswaterstaat, whom I’ve had a lot of contact with, were enthusiastic about it. Although I was still working on the project, they invited me to participate in the National Maas Symposium. Here, I won the prize for the Dutch youth contri-bution to the Symposium and also made contact with both the Waterschap director and Albert Nuss, the alderman for mobility, sustainability, accessibility and knowledge economy, who is also a district alderman for Maastricht North-East.

“All that response and interest was great. And it helped my project. I was also able to present it to a special working group, which is developing a structural vision of the future of Maastricht for the Municipality.”

What did they think of it? (Laughing) “They were delighted that I’d invented things that they didn’t dare to mention or even think about. Who would dare to mess around with ’t Vrijthof? But I decided to develop the most difficult area because I thought that if I could show what could be done there, people would also understand what this approach can deliver. I came up with a spatial solution that neatly deploys the fact that the watercourse is located some 11 metres beneath the street. A building with a public function can be constructed within the space of a block behind ’t Vrijthof. I’m thinking of a concert hall here. Maastricht likes to present itself as a cultural city, yet it only has the Theater aan ‘t Vrijthof, which is simply bursting at the seams. The underground concert hall would mean that people could come eye to eye with the water that is being drained away in the watercourse. The building’s roof would be at street level and would also serve as a public square.”

What did you find difficult? “Changing scale: that you have to make the right decisions that form the basis for the

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things that you want to develop further. Am I turning off at the right place? Have I over-looked anything? My external mentor, the Amsterdam architect Peter Defesche, was a good guide during this process. With his urban planning experience, he ensured that I maintained the right pace.”

Yet the fact is that your plan was selected for the Archiprix because of the wide range of logically developed scales that you deal with.

“Er… that’s true. That is what this project has given me. Because I blindly opted for a challenge, I have been able to taste the freedom that is created when, as an archi-tect, you release your helicopter vision on all the different component parts and authorities. You think on the basis of a larger aggregate so that the possibilities are increased and small groups start working together that still don’t co-operate as much as they could. Working together is great. It brings you new ideas and opportunities.”

What are you doing now? “I’m working in Arnhem at studiokeesmarcelis, where interior architecture goes hand-in-hand with architec-ture. I like it!”

www.daniellebakkes.nl

time. The high quality of the prize-winning plans leads us to expect that the talent of those taking part in Archiprix will signify an enrichment of the professional world. During a public event, the jury’s assessment is announced, the plans are shown for the first time and a book comprising the submitted plans and the jury’s report is also presented.

www.archiprix.nl

The Archiprix Foundation is a collaboration between nine higher education design courses in the Netherlands that cover the fields of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture. Each year, these courses select their best finals plan for submission to Archiprix. Unlike most competitions, there is no common design task. Hence, scale, issues and presentation differ per plan. Archiprix often presents up-and-coming talent for the very first

Danielle Bakkes

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“I enjoy constantly opting for the most difficult route”

The water finds its way

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“My animation film ‘Trilemma’ is about ‘selling politics in anima-tion’. In other words: How do you incorporate politics into an animation film without it automa-tically becoming either activism or propaganda? I’m trying to find a balance between an objective tone and a critical one, but I’m also striving to ensure that the film will be well structured aesthe-tically. I’m inspired by the way in which old American, Russian and Dutch political and propaganda animations communicated their

message. By investigating their use of colour, composition, music, symbolism and, most of all, humour, I see how these techni-ques can be applied in a contem-porary context of current affairs. I’m trying to make a film that will continue to stand on its own two feet even after the context no longer exists.”

www.vimeo.com/soap


SOPHIE K A ARS SIJPESTEIJN

Animation Design

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“My work is created out of the way in which I view my surroun-dings. I’m particularly struck by the utensils of our daily lives. That’s why I look for things that serve as the basis of my work in places such as shops for recy-cled goods and jumble sales. They are often very ordinary objects such as a buggy, a bed frame, a sandpit shell or an egg box. What I find interesting about them is, for instance, their forms

or materials but often it’s also because I see them lying next to something else. In this case, it’s the connection between the various objects that appeals to me.”


DIEKE VENEMA Fine Art

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“My medium is video and film. In my work, I try to imbue the incomprehensible and non-tangible aspects of life with form: its point, the future, death. I do this by focusing on what is tangible: the daily actions and commonplace rhythms that everyone knows. Here, I’m looking for the moment where the non-tangible is at its most palpable or visible. With my work, I want to offer the viewer a different perspective on the everyday and the questions that are familiar to us all: questions about existence. That doesn’t always have to be ‘heavy’; it can

be serious and concentrated but also frivolous and flippant. This means that the works, which are generated here, are varied. At present I’m editing a short documentary about a 16-year-old farmer’s son. It’s a silent film; there’s no speech except for the words that he uses to bring the cows into line. It shows the boy and his existence: getting up, eating and working. In a fixed rhythm that won’t change for the rest of his life.”


HILDE TIMMER Fine Art

Graduating onthe Catwalk

On 7 and 8 June, around 20 Fashion Design Bachelor’s students will be showing their finals collections during the annual ArtEZ Fashion Show. This time, the catwalk for up-and-coming fashion talent will be held at the Kleefse Waard industrial park in Arnhem. The Fashion Master’s candidates will also be showcasing their work with an installation that involves film. Other Bachelor’s presen-tations comprise the third-year students’ Collectie

Arnhem 2012, the second-years’ “New Aristocracy” collection and the first-years’ “Protest” work.

Four Fashion Design finals candidates describe their fascination with fashion and their dreams for the future.

Text: Francien van ZettenPhotograpy: Lianne van der Laar

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A priest with his hands devoutly folded in front of his midriff. This modest statue forms the starting point for Jeff Montes’ finals collection. His garments for women are dominated by pure forms and exceptional materials such as duch-esse satin that has been reinforced with glass fibre.

As a child, Jeff Montes made a drawing of the self-absorbed priest while spending many hours sitting in the Catalan Santa Maria Cathe-dral in Tarragona. He was again moved by this statue when he visited the church a year ago. “I saw extraordinary symmetrical forms in these snowy white, sandstone figures. It was like looking at extraterrestrials, who had found their peace in isolation.”

Jeff Montes called his finals collection “Dolores” after his great-grandmother, the grandmother of his Spanish mother. “Dolor means pain in Spanish. It represents mourning, death and that purely Spanish Catholic sensi-bility.”

For Jeff Montes, the first three years of his course were a quest. During his final year, he discovered that he’s a designer of forms, who works on the basis of intuition and experimenta-tion. “I start with a rectangular piece of fabric. I end up with the final form by cutting into one side and then mirroring this, or by making a single pleat.” A white jacket has a single, promi-nent pleat at the waist and the sleeves naturally fall into folds that suggest prayer.

Jeff Montes (Arnhem, 1987)

Praying Priest

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First you collect a great many things: pieces of fabric and other materials, photos, second-hand clothes, swimsuits, old design furniture and much more besides. Then you try out things with materials and patterns. You crochet and knit. You experiment and select. “I find my inspiration amongst accumulated coincidences and things that I find on the street,” says Maxime Cartens. “Just like my fascination with the unknown.”

The boning in part of a “truly vulgar, second-hand swimsuit” constitutes the basic form of her finals collection. “It was completely unex-pected but that boning really flatters the body. I only noticed it once I laid out all the drawings next to each other.”

Maxime Cartens describes her style as Scandinavian, easy-to-wear and minimalist.

She is innovative in terms of not only how the fabric is treated but also the small details in the finishing. She combines diverse fabrics and materials, and goes to extremes in her research. “You’ve got to listen carefully to your material. It must be right. Choosing is difficult. You learn to trust your own choices.”

The future’s still open, says Maxime Cartens. Attending a work placement, continuing her education, photography and travel: there are so many attractive options. But there’s one that really stands out: “I want to do a work place-ment. At Calvin Klein in New York. Following my work placement at Hennes & Mauritz in Stock-holm, I would now like to go to a company that works for a totally different target group”.

Maxime Cartens (Amsterdam, 1990)

Collecting

Esther Kruyer (Emmeloord, 1990)

The kitschiness of ice skating

Naturally, Esther Kruyer sometimes dreams of having her own label. But not quite yet. “I still have a lot to learn.” For her finals collection, she was inspired by the brightly coloured, glit-tering outfits that are worn by ice skaters. “I’ve added a graphic twist to the kitschiness of ice skating.”

She has transformed sportswear boning and colour blocking into wide sweaters and a long, box-like jacket. Large volumes on short skirts. “Very organic but also very sharp and straight. I find that contrast interesting. You can create an intensely feminine silhouette with it.”

She’s dying to get to grips with a commer-cial fashion company. “I would really like to know how that works,” says Esther Kruyer. With her Fashion Design degree under her belt, she mainly wants to gain experience and earn money. But most of all, she’d like to spend some time working in New York. “I love speed and sport, and I’m fascinated by colour, animals, films and music. Actually, in every-thing around me.”

Esther Kruyer grew up at her parents’ market gardening company in the Noordoost-polder. Creativity, common sense and self-discipline were instilled in her at an early age. “It’s great to create a really weird object by way of inspiration, but more than anything else I want to make a first-rate, comfortable product that loads of people will want to wear.” “I want to make a

first-rate, comfortable product that loads of people will want to wear”

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PreviewThom Barends (Amsterdam, 1989)

Between drifters and decadence

“My generation is the first one that will not automatically be better off than its parents. Up till this time, the economy has continued to grow but now all that’s changing,” says Thom Barends. An article to this effect set him thinking. The contrast between the ultimate luxury and decadence of the 1980s and the life of a drifter on the street generated the theme for his Fashion Design finals collection.

Thom Barends views himself as a style designer. He is not per se looking for new forms. “I design on the basis of existing items of clothing that offer me a great deal of scope.” He transformed a 1980s couture jacket with square shoulders, an extreme waist and protruding hips into a quilted body warmer. “The collection is about combining contrasts and is inspired by the practical considerations of drifters.

The French photographer and artist Jean-Paul Goude, who combines and improves images, serves as an example for Thom Barends. His ultimate dream is to breathe new life into an old and dated fashion house, as has happened with Lanvin, Dior and Chanel. “Their history is fascinating.”

Over the coming year, he wants to gain work experience and to figure out the financial feasibility of a Master’s course at the renowned Central St. Martin’s College in London. “Who knows, maybe I’ll manage to get a grant.

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“A collection inspired by the practical considerations of drifters”

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Photo: Korte Hoogstraat / Blaak “My work is based on a fascina-tion with monumental modern architecture. Or rather with the confrontation with - on the face of it - a clear structure, the natu-ralness of the volumes and the rhythm of light and shadow.

“Through the reflections on a building, I experience the surrounding environment in a new way.But how can my work convey something of that personal expe-rience to the viewer? I seek to

investigate this and to reproduce this experience by experimenting not only with format, perspec-tive, composition, use of colour and layers of paint but also with the contrast between matte surf-aces and glossy ones along with the organic and the geometric.”

www.roosvandijk.com

Exhibition Art & Design Arnhem, 4 – 8 July

ROOS VAN DIJK Fine Art

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CollectieArnhem 2012

The Collectie Arnhem will be shown alongside the finals work at the Fashion Show that will be held on 7 and 8 June. Here, third-year students have worked together on designing a single collec-tion. Every aspect involved in developing an actual collec-tion is discussed in this project: the design, making samples, styling, presen-tation, funding, showing, selling and producing. In the Collectie Arnhem 2012, which is called lllllllll llllll, 24 third-year students share their vision of the new era.

StoplStartOn the 21st day of the 12th month of this year, the sun will increase its energy radiation and regenerate the earth’s vibration. This is the moment that a new era will begin: a time in which our spiritual beliefs and philosophical systems will change radically. Everything that used to be incompatible will flow into each other. The Collectie Arnhem 2012 represents the transformation of an energy frequency. The silhouettes are like deeply rooted trees: cylindrical forms over widening forms. Curving stripes imbue both straight and flared items with a fluid effect: shimmering contours and vibrating waves both on and over the body.

Collectie Arnhem will be shown alongside the finals work at the Fashion Show June 7 and 8. The exposition of Collectie Arnhem will be held June 1- June 31 at Dudok Arnhem. The collection is also on sale starting from June at Arnhem Coming Soon, Kerkstraat 23 in Arnhem.

www.collectiearnhem.comPhotography: Peter Stigter

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Three disciplines (dance, theatre, fine art) literally converge with their surroundings (an Interfaculty project)

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“Our Park Pardon collective emphasises the narrative image in the broadest sense of the word. As based on various tech-niques, we make zines, books for adults and children, and other, unique hand-made objects. By creating our own world, we are seeking the demarcation between a naïve and an aliena-ting way of telling stories. Park, our first publication, comprises 20 interpretations of a park, as

created by 20 illustrators, who come from throughout the world and whose language matches our vision.”

www.parkpardon.com


BLOEME VAN BON en GER AN KNOL

Illustration Design

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Openness in teaching

Four experienced Interfaculty lecturers have briefly become students again. José Huibers, Margreet Luitwieler, Nicole Martinot and Anneke Meijers are graduating in July as Masters of Education in Arts, a two-year, part time course. The four of them attended the Tailor-Made Master’s: a side route within the Education in Arts Master’s that is intended for lecturers who are looking for a little extra depth. The four lecturers researched the ways in which students colla-borate at the Interfaculty.


“You’ve been teaching for years, have devel-oped your approach and style but still have plans for how to make things either better or different. In your daily practice, you often don’t have the time or the mental space that is needed for developing these plans success-fully. This Master’s presents lecturers with an opportunity to experiment in planned periods of time. It’s tough, because alongside our ‘ordinary’ jobs as Dance, Theatre and Fine Art lecturers, we’re also working for 20 hours on the Master’s and this naturally entails the customary peak moments of hectic activity. But we’re enthusiastic. It gives you more insight into each other’s discipline and enables you to consider your students, your profession and your vision of lecturing in a different way. The programme offers you the opportunity to become a better lecturer.”

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Three disciplines (dance, theatre, fine art) literally converge with their surroundings (an Interfaculty project)

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“I also thought that I already knew everything”

The moving and reverberating shadow casts a new light on the fusion of dance, theatre and fine arts (an Interfaculty student project)

From left to right: Anneke Meijers, Margreet Luitwieler, José Huibers, Nicole Martinot.

Photo: Hans Vroege

Dynamic research Following a year of theory, the four women set to work on their research, which is based on Action Research. Martinot: “We conduct research in an intensive way by involving fellow lecturers, who are not attending the Master’s. In addition, we’ve made interviews with execu-tive staff at ArtEZ, the Professor of Theatrical Creative Processes at Utrecht Institute of the Arts and a PH D student, who knows every-thing about collaborative forms at teacher training courses. Hence, our research into the way in which students from different disci-plines co-operate, is embedded in an intricate context at the Interfaculty.

Being open “In addition, we’ve organised a workshop on the issue of what Interfaculty lecturers should be able to do. Which skills do they use? We’ve asked colleagues to observe us during the classes and have also approached the students to think along with us. Hence, this is a very dynamic way of performing research. And it requires close co-operation. You must have that capacity as a lecturer and it’s some-thing that we also expect from our students. Being open to other people and new things is certainly important at the Interfaculty.

Journals “The journals that we asked the students to keep have generated amazing insights and exceptionally rich material. In these logbooks, you hear them prising open discoveries about their disciplines, their backgrounds and them-selves. A student from the Fine Art Course says that the Dance and Theatre students frequently tell him and his course mates that they’re “slow”. ‘But they are their own mate-rial whereas we must first invent it,’ he writes. Keeping a journal enables students to think more deeply about their role in the creative process and also about what they do or do not dare to contribute. It also gives them the opportunity to be able to talk about their work. We’ll certainly make that journal a regular fixture.

Teaching in a different way “We have not yet completed our findings, but there are certainly some striking conclusions. For instance: the fact that you must constantly gear yourself to the knowledge and skills that students have already acquired. As a lecturer, you would be better able to use their exper-tise if you dare to abandon the traditional way of teaching. For example, students are quite capable of organising their own collaborative forms, which you really don’t need to structure. In that sense, “coach”, as we’ve been calling ourselves for some time, has become a more honest concept. We increasingly supervise on the basis of what already exists.

Dialogue and openness“Openness in teaching: this is what the four of us have gained. Sometimes teachers dwell in their own little kingdoms, and I also thought that I already knew it all. But the Interfaculty soon cures you of that. It’s dominated by the will to sort it all out together. For two years, we co-operated closely on this pilot. Ultimately, you begin to merge with each other and that’s quite extraordinary.

“This openness has also resulted in external dialogue. Of course, that can be tricky because not all the colleagues around you will be dealing with these kinds of issues. But it is worthwhile. You’re better equipped to involve yourself with the students because you are a student with the same questions and strug-gles, and the same pleasure and enthusiasm. Every lecturer in higher vocational education can gain a Master’s. Hence, I can imagine that this pilot will generate a lot of good things and possibly a minor for Working in an Interdisci-plinary Way”.

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The moving and reverberating shadow casts a new light on the fusion of dance, theatre and fine arts (an Interfaculty student project)

THE ARTEZ INTERFACULTYArtEZ provides teacher-training courses in all the disciplines, which work together at the Interfaculty. Hence, the students are more effectively prepared as arts teachers in a profession where the emphasis is increasing on the relation between the different arts.

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The Last Performance in the Pressure Cooker

A shotgun wedding or a fantastic time? The finals performance at the School of Acting results in stress, commotion and pleasure. Former students Dragan Bakema, Keja Kwestro and Joeri Vos look back on their finals year, the performance and the period thereafter. “In the photos from that time, I’m covered with eczema and I have a cold sore.”

Text: Alex van der Hulst

A finals performance at the School of Acting is a group achievement. Once again, the students show what they’ve got on offer as a class. Acting in the finals performance means that you’ve already gained your degree. So secretly it’s an opportunity to attract the attention of casting agen-cies and companies. This is certainly true of ITs (the International Theatre School Festival) in Amsterdam where all the finals performances are repeated in the summer. Joeri Vos graduated from Arnhem in 2006: “In our year, they’d just launched the Kemn-A-Award for the best actor at ITs. We found it all a bit embar-rassing because a performance isn’t just some sports competition where the winner takes all. The entire class has to be good and if one person is a little weak then the rest must help him along. But ultimately it’s a fucking pain if two people from your group are nominated for the Kemn-A-Award and you’re not”. Keja Kwestro won the Kemn-A-

Award in 2010 for her role in the finals performance of Blue Remembered Hills. “ITs is much more exciting than acting in the performance at Arnhem. Everyone wants you to succeed at your own school. At ITs, you’re being watched by a variety of other schools and people from the profession. I enjoyed it more during the previous years when I only came to watch. In 2010, I found it so scary that I almost fainted. I wasn’t thinking about the Kemn-A-Award: the only thing that mattered was acting as well as I possibly could. It’s always great to win something like that but I don’t know whether it’s actually helped me.” Dragan Bakema is more critical of the finals performance. “An academic shotgun wedding,” is how he describes it. “Everyone attended a work placement during the third year. Then you suddenly had to get back together in the fourth year, although you were much more concerned with yourself. In any case, I was more

involved with things other than that finals performance. I had a small role in our performance (De Ziekte Die Jeugd Heet, 2005). People, who hadn’t done a work placement, were more inclined to have their eye on the major roles. For me, it was just something that we had to do rather than what I personally wanted. You shouldn’t attach too much impor-tance to that performance. Real life is tough, you must really fight, make phone calls and go in search of roles. Don’t expect that loads of work will just come your way following a successful finals performance.” After the work placement, it takes time to get used to being with your fellow students again. “It’s great to be acting with the people who you really know,” says Kwestro. “It benefits both the work climate and our productivity. But quarrels will happen if you’re around each other for such a long time. Yet the way we clashed was good; it was just like sisters.”

“A performance isn’t just some sports competition where the winner takes all”

Acting ten times betterThe groups graduating from the School of Acting in Arnhem are modest in size. Each year consists of between five and ten people. So when you’re selecting a finals performance, you have to bear in mind the number of roles in the play, although there is always the option of double roles or of having a role played by several different people. This involves a lot of meet-ings. A play must be chosen and the final-year students will also select their own director. This was an easy choice for Keja Kwestro and her classmates: “In the third year, we attended many workshops that were given by directors. We were all very enthusiastic about Sarah Moeremans’ workshop. Every single one of us acted ten times better, and Sarah was not only extremely young but also very energetic. Ernst Braches, the course leader, noticed this and hinted that it would be better to select our director in good time rather than to wait until that hectic finals period. So we’d already asked Sarah in the third year and fortunately she said yes. We met at the beginning of the fourth year and started looking for a work where we would all have a single role with a long arc. This was because we’d often acted separate scenes at school. We read plays, and on the fourth time that we met up we decided to opt for Dennis Potter’s Blue Remem-bered Hills. But it’s a play for five men and two women whereas our class consisted of six women and one man. So we had to change it around a bit. We spent a long time discussing how to cast the roles but ultimately Sarah had the final word”. But things were different with the Class of 2006. Joeri Vos wrote the play Alpha Centauri himself. “We found it hard to decide on a play,” says Vos. “So I suggested that I’d write one. I’d already written a play in my third year and I was allowed to submit the one I’d write for the performance in lieu of my finals paper. All plays involve roles of different sizes but here I could bear my fellow students in mind when developing this work. I’d already cast the roles in my head but I kept that secret. I think that they were ultimately cast in a different way.”

Pressure cookerAs mentioned previously, the students’ last performance at the School of Acting does not influ-ence their chances of gaining their degree. Anyone who makes it to the performance, will automati-cally pass. Assessments are made on the basis of the previous four years, the individual projects and the finals paper. But this doesn’t mean that the finals perfor-mance is any the less hectic. The students are expected to do every-thing themselves: from promoting the performance to the scenery. “All that work limits the number of times that you are able to present the finals performance,” says Keja Kwestro. “Yet we still managed to perform it almost ten times.” Kwestro describes how a great deal of pressure is created by having to complete both the work placement and the finals paper while also preparing the performance. Everything coin-cides in the spring. “When I look at a photo from that time, I see myself covered with eczema, that I have a cold sore, and that I’m standing next to a classmate, who doesn’t look too good either. At the time, my mother was telling me that perhaps it would be a good idea to take vitamin pills. But it’s really great once the other things have been completed and you can concentrate completely on the finals performance.” Finals groups have some-times gone on to form companies such as ‘t Barre Land and Dood Paard. The Class of 2006 have such good memories of their last performance that this year they are reprising Alpha Centauri at the Bellevue theatre. Joeri Vos: “It’s a piece about a bankrupt travel agency and that’s still topical. What’s more, all the actors, who have since moved to totally different parts of the country, were enthusiastic about performing it again”. Both during and after his course, Dragan Bakema has had his doubts about its contents. “I don’t know what it’s like now, but at that time I felt that they should have focused more on the individual. What’s good for one person, can be not at all good for another. When I was there, televi-sion was looked down on despite the fact that it’s an important part of the profession. You must

KEJA KWESTRO (1988) has acted with Toneelgroep Oostpool, Keesen & Co and De Toneelmakerij, and has also attended a work placement at NT Gent. She graduated in 2010 with “Blue Remembered Hills”, which was directed by Sarah Moeremans.

DRAGAN BAKEMA (1980) has acted with the RO Theater and Toneelgroep Amsterdam. He has also appeared in many films and television series including “In Therapie”, “Loverboy”, “Medea”, “De Troon” and “Rembrandt en ik”. In addition, he has written, produced and acted in the films “Olivier etc.” and “Hunting & Zn”. Bakema is currently playing the leading role in the musical “Soldaat van Oranje”. He graduated in 2005 with “De Ziekte Die Jeugd Heet”, which was directed by Karst Woudstra.

JOERI VOS (1981) has acted with Keesen & Co and Eric de Vroedt, and also set up the TG 42 theatre group in 2008. His reputation is based on the play “Mightysociety8, Geert Wilders de musical”. Vos has made adaptations for Oostpool and has written a number of plays including “De Sjoerd Vollebregt Show”. He will become the permanent director of Oostpool as of 2013. He graduated in 2006 with “Alpha Centauri”, a play that he also wrote himself and which was directed by Gerardjan Rijnders. This year, the play will be reprised at the Bellevue theatre on 13-17 and 20-24 June.

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“You really need positive arrogance in this profession”

be multi-functional as an actor because you never know where you will end up. You mustn’t view the course and its lecturers as being sacred. There is a the kind of positive arrogance that you really need in this profession. On the other hand, I will never deny the Academy’s positive sides. It’s a place where you can make mistakes and learn a lot from them.” Joeri Vos: “It’s a pres-sure cooker. You do a great deal in those four years. It’s better to make a complete idiot of yourself in an obscure hall during your second year than in front of the entire nation in a film or on televi-sion. But the course is just a first step. You won’t learn some trick that you can keep repeating for the rest of your career. You must continue to develop as an actor. You improve or you stop”.

The Class of 2012“You’re going to make yourself known to the public at large. That’s very exciting. There will be direc-tors and casting agency people watching our finals performance at the ITs Festival. This is where our career begins.” Roy Baltus describes the tension amongst the theatre school’s finals class of 2012. The work placements have been completed, the papers have been submitted and all that’s left is the finals performance. It will be held in Arnhem and also in Amsterdam at ITs, where every Dutch theatre school will show what its finals year has on offer in 2012. Arnhem still has to choose a play in April. Through an unexpected change of directors, the process leading up to the last performance has suffered a slight delay. Joeri Vos has been asked to direct. He graduated as an actor from Arnhem in 2006 and is now a playwright and director. “There’s a fair amount of democracy when I’m directing,” says Vos. “I’m also an actor so I know that actors are capable of thinking for them-selves. I will decide on the basis of what they come up with.” The Class of 2012 has to decide whether they will go for a real actors’ play with major roles where they can act in an arc or for a collage of minor roles and scenes. Roy Baltus has already made his choice. “I love a long role, I find it more interesting.” His classmate Tirza de Boer is still unsure. “I have to work out what I want. It’s also tricky because I’m really busy with another project. I’ll only have the time to get nervous about the finals perfor-mance once that project’s finished. I’m not thinking about it at all right now.” After the finals performance, the students must find their feet in the theatre world. “I’m longing to be able to divide up my time myself,” says Tirza de Boer. “It’s high time because this was my second course. But those four years in Arnhem have passed by in a flash. It’s astonishing that it’s all ending now.” According to the students, the Class of 2012 is a well-functioning class that works but isn’t a tightly knit collective. Their work place-ments varied from youth theatre in the Netherlands to acting in Africa. Joeri Vos is extremely enthusiastic about the class. “They’re willing to do anything. That’s the advantage of working with young people. An actor in his sixties can be set in his ways.”

A Lie of the MindMid April this play was chosen. As inspired by American films, the eight students of the School of Acting in Arnhem are launching themselves into the world by grad-uating with Sam Shepard’s black comedy A Lie of the Mind. This play is about family, Western individu-alism and the desire to indulge shamelessly in violence, drink and unbridled love. Somewhere in a god-forgotten corner of America, the haywire marriage of Beth and Jake brings two broken homes together. What follows is a brazen explosion of pent-up, inarticulate tensions and repressed emotions. A Lie of the Mind unravels the myth of the American Dream: a world of eight-cylinder limousines, westerns and Rock ‘n’ Roll. This is achieved by ruthlessly attacking its greatest ideal: the family.

Text: Sam ShepardTranslation: Rob KlinkenbergDirection: Joeri Vos and Isil VosActing: Roy Baltus, Tirza de Boer, Michaël Bloos, Lowie van Oers, Gonca Karasu, Elise van ’t Laar, Floor Rolf and Leander de Rooij

June 5 - 14 , Arnhem, June 24 Amsterdam (ITS festival).

Michael Bloos, Leander de Rooij, Roy Baltus, Gonca Karasu, Elise van ‘t Laar, Tirza de Boer, Lowie van Oers. Floor Rolf is missing on this

picture. Photo: Hans Vroege

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“I use performance and show video recordings of this. I opted for performance simply because of its direct way of working with people. In this way, I explore the boundaries between physical awareness and mental aware-ness as if they are two worlds that are unrelated to each other.

“I want to abolish the idea that performance functions as theatre in the context of theatre and as fine art in the context

of fine art. Just call it a border region where theatre and fine art come very close together. I call my work “Performance” although it will probably acquire another name in due course.”

www.myrthevandermark.com


MYRTHE VAN DER MARK Fine Art

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“My finals paper deals with effective communication in the public space. Here, I explain that current advertising statements are becoming less conspicuous and are also losing their effici-ency. My paper includes count-less examples of how it could all be different. The fact that this entails new ways of communica-ting - and as yet there is no new and ultimate means of commu-nication for the public space -

means that there is all the more room for the fun of experimen-tation and trying new things out. I really love typography and for that reason I initially began with a small research project into typography in the public space. I then made my own 3D type-faces in cardboard and started projecting on them.”

www.rikvantklooster.tumblr.com


RIK VAN ’T KLOOSTER Graphic Design

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Question Marks turn into

Exclamation

Marks

No fourth-year student will be participating in the finals dance performance. This is because most of the ArtEZ Dance students are spending their fourth year attending work placements at a variety

of dance companies. They are also working on their personal development plans so as to focus on, for instance, their professional and entrepreneu-rial skills.

Text: Anton de Wit

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Mirella Castagna. Photo: Lianne van der Laar

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“I don’t believe in the stereotype of the lonely artist”

Jasper van Luijk. Foto: Lianne van der Laar

Mirella Castagna (1990), a fourth-year Dance student attending a work placement at De Stilte company in Breda

“I come from Portugal but the dance courses there are not that good. That’s why people recommended that I should go to the Netherlands. I’m really loving the Dance Course. Right now I’m working hard on the performances that I will give as part of my work placement at De Stilte company in Breda. We visit schools both in the Netherlands and abroad, where we perform for the children and also dance with them. This teaches you to dance in a highly expressive way and to communicate the meaning of your movements clearly. You mustn’t be too abstract with children. Dancing for children means learning to think like a child and making contact with the child within. “The kids react in a really positive way to these performances. They laugh, they scream, they make comments. Kids are extremely honest, which can be confronting, but this is also a real lesson. For that matter, they also learn a thing or two themselves: they discover that you can communicate with not only your voice but also your entire body. Kids are naturally good at this, they communicate very effectively in a physical way. “I will be graduating in June but I don’t know what the future will bring. I prefer not to think about that; I like living in the here and now. I really feel at home at De Stilte. I’m learning a great deal from the other dancers, and Jack Timmermans, the artistic director, is brilliant. So I’m hoping that I will be able to continue at this company. They’ve indicated that they’re happy with me and that they’re 99% certain that they can offer me a contract for next year. They couldn’t be 100% sure because of the current subsidy climate. But there’s still a reasonable chance of a future here.”

Jasper van Luijk (1987), a fourth-year Dance student attending various work placements that include Dansateliers (Rotterdam) and Generale Oost (Arnhem)

“I’ve spent much of my course on stage and I’ve learned a great deal from that. Yet I’ve always regarded myself as a maker rather than a dancer. I want to tell my own story and not simply be a cog in someone else’s. That’s why I’ve been taking extra choreography subjects. Last year, in my third year, I was allowed to create a short performance. That was tough because I had to do this alongside my regular subjects. It’s hard physical work throughout the day and then I still had to continue until late into the evening with my own performance. “But the result was fantastic. My performance was included in the programme of the Korzo Theatre in The Hague. I was also able to make a piece for the Holland Dance Festival and Conny Janssen. That was a real honour. I was then asked to take part in the Brand New project at Dansateliers Rotterdam, where new choreographers are able to work with extremely experienced dancers. Also a real stroke of luck. Right now I’m working on my finals project, a location-based performance about social isolation, which will be shown during the Festival aan de Werf in Utrecht. “My work is about people, relationships, social values and individuality. I’m really still seeking my own language here. Each performance starts as a question mark. Exchanges with dancers, programmers and composers lead to the words and the sentences, and finally the question marks are turned into exclamation marks. This is the quest that I hope to continue after I graduate as a choreographer. It’s certainly been the perfect beginning but of course I’m just a rookie. I still have to leave my mark on the arts world. To make people believe in my work, to expand my network. Perhaps it all sounds a bit commercial but I don’t believe in the stereotype of the lonely artist. You have to see opportunities everywhere.”

Shifted, the performance of Jasper van Luijk is part of Festival aan de Werf in Utrecht May 21- May 25. With music from finals student Lennart Siebers. Read his interview at page 52.

INTERNATIONALLY MIXEDThe third-year ArtEZ Dance stu-dents will be dancing in the Internationally Mixed perfor-mance. This comprises a col-laboration between ArtEZ, the dance schools in Cologne and Valencia, the choreographers Georg Reischl and Iván Pérez, the composers Christiaan Richter and Benjamin Schreuer. Dutch orkest de ereprijs or-chestra will be playing live. Performances will be held from 22 to 29 June in Bathmen, Nijmegen, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Rotterdam and The Hague. They will also take place in Spain and Germany.

www.internationally-mixed.eu

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

WHERE CAN WE SEE THE LATEST BATCH OF DANCERS? The fourth-year Dance students do an internship at Scapino Rotterdam, Dansgroep Amsterdam, Lonneke van Leth, Compagnia Zappalá Danza (Italië), Skanes Danstheater (Zweden)De Stilte, Noord Nederlandse Dans, IDTGenerale Oost, Dansateliers, AYA, Leine Roebana en Jan Fa-bre.

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“We’ve redesigned the film programme of the Go Short Festival. This design focuses on not only the films’ identity but also interactivity with the visitor. All the films have maintained their visual individuality in this design through the use of still scans. These chronological screen shots create an impres-sion of the course of the film, its use of colour and, therefore, its atmosphere. A touch screen

makes it possible to navigate through the various film blocks (documentary, art house, anima-tion, etc.) and also provides background information such as the director, genre and country of origin. When the visitor acti-vates the film, alternative films are automatically suggested that in some way correspond with his choice. In this way, the visitor is seduced into deviating from his original film programme.”


JONAS GROOT KORMELINK en A ART ROST

Interaction Design

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“My work invites the viewer to enjoy the infinite seductiveness of paint and the three-dimen-sional illusion. However, I also use black humour to highlight their intrinsic weaknesses and undesirable associations. This concerns powerlessness as opposed to excessiveness, such as the constant need for greater comfort, greater experience and greater self-awareness. By producing icons and grotesques,

I try to irritate viewers so that they can turn up their noses and walk away with a deliberate grin.”


S IMON DIERKES Fine Art

Interior Architecture Students Design for

the Crisis

The “Help, Crisis!” theme of the finals assignment of the Interior Architecture Bache-lor’s students is certainly timely. At the beginning of April, we spoke to the students Sahar Jaber and Jorien van Glabbeek about methods and sharing, strug-gles and optimism. Crisis? What crisis?

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“You also learn a lot about yourself as a designer. What do you represent?”


Jaber and Van Glabbeek, who are both Inte-rior Architecture finals students, have just completed an interim presentation where they showed their fellow students and lecturers how they’re transforming the theme into their own design. Their concept is under construc-tion; its development is still in full swing.

So what have you got your teeth into?Jorien: “The idea is that we will think up a new

situation for the art and culture institutions of Zwolle, which will have to make cutbacks over the next few years. Our assignment is to investigate how to accommodate all these small groups within a single building”.

Have you been able to get to grips with this theme?Sahar: “Certainly. It appeals to us. It’s topical

and it challenges us to be innovative. What’s the art world like right now and how is that going to change? This is what you need to check out again. And it’s good to show how seriously we can do that”.

Jorien: “The assignment is challenging and relevant. Cutbacks are going to be imple-mented. So the dark clouds above the art sector are about to erupt. I find it inspiring to think about that”.

Sahar: “You also learn a lot about yourself as a designer. What do you represent?”

Jorien: “On a personal level, it’s also the calm before the storm: we’re graduating. These are our final months at the Academy as we move towards to the exhibition”. How do you interpret the assignment?

Jorien: “I work on the basis of abolishing borders. I think that disciplines will seek each other out still more. A crisis is an invitation to work together on a more inten-sive basis. Where the Metropole Orchestra initially organised a one-off concert with a rapper, I can envisage that in the future these exchanges will take place on a longer basis and will inspire each other. In my opinion, the next step would involve sharing the same premises and swapping working methods”.

Sahar: “ I want to show that art and culture is for everyone and is not just an elitist hobby. Art introduces you to new things, it enables you to look at things in a critical way and stimulates your ability to solve problems. That’s why art should automatically be included in every form of education. And this is also what I want to work on in my design. Here, I’m not referring to the Dutch Cultural and Artistic Training subjects but to an actual, physical place where everyone can learn and work. Just as you used to go to the gymnasium with your class for an hour of sport, I can now imagine that all the children of Zwolle between the ages of seven and 18 will come to this building for their art and culture activities. And this will also effortlessly bring them into contact with the city’s cultural institutions”.

How do you interpret the assignment?Jorien: “I work on the basis of abolishing

borders. I think that disciplines will seek each other out still more. A crisis is an invitation to work together on a more inten-sive basis. Where the Metropole Orchestra initially organised a one-off concert with a rapper, I can envisage that in the future these exchanges will take place on a longer basis and will inspire each other. In my opinion, the next step would involve sharing the same premises and swapping working methods”.

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“The dark clouds above the art sector are about to erupt”

Sahar: “ I want to show that art and culture is for everyone and is not just an elitist hobby. Art introduces you to new things, it enables you to look at things in a critical way and stimulates your ability to solve problems. That’s why art should automatically be included in every form of education. And this is also what I want to work on in my design. Here, I’m not referring to the Dutch Cultural and Artistic Training subjects but to an actual, physical place where everyone can learn and work. Just as you used to go to the gymnasium with your class for an hour of sport, I can now imagine that all the children of Zwolle between the ages of seven and 18 will come to this building for their art and culture activities. And this will also effortlessly bring them into contact with the city’s cultural institutions”.

What will your building look like?Sahar: There will be vistas throughout it so

that the children coming to one of the four arts classrooms will see musicians and dancers rehearsing and artists at work. It won’t be a transparent building: I really want the children to have the idea that they can discover things. So routing is an impor-tant point in my plan just like scenarios. How can users be guided? What are they coming to do here and what will they also take in along the way? How they can already catch sight of the bookshop while they’re still hanging up their coats? How will they be able to see into the studios while going upstairs to their workspace? I want the visi-tors’ comings and goings to be visible. This means that the building is also in constant motion”.

Jorien: “I’m opting more for the merging of different kinds of spaces: from studios for artists to commercial businesses such as a jeweller’s, a third world shop and a tattoo shop. Companies that are also trading in crafted, creative products. I can imagine artists devising tattoos or designing a new piece of jewellery that can be made by a goldsmith on the premises. Different forms of cultural enterprise beneath a single roof. We’ve presented our interim design and now it’s time to zoom in further: on interior objects, the details, materiality and the lighting plan. And in my case, that also means the acoustics because I haven’t included any walls in my design. Instead I use voids and open spaces”.

How did you research the present situation in Zwolle?

Sahar:As a class, we share information about Zwolle and its cultural institutions. We keep each other up to date with the data that we collect and the interviews we make. Of course, that was quite an undertaking because where do you start? But, as a group, we’ve certainly gained a good idea by constantly informing each other about who we’ve visited and what that produced.

What was it like to present your interim concept to each other? Sahar:There are around 20 of us students and

it’s nice to see how all of us are developing our own plans.

Jorien: The fact that we share information may also make it easier to provide feedback. Sahar and I work together regularly. For instance, after this kind of presentation we describe to each other how we think we should take the next step.

Sahar: It’s important to consider things out loud. That way you’re constantly testing your own ideas.

The finals exhibitions will present an overall picture of each participant’s research by means of maquettes, drawings and materials surveys. Along with the thematic practical assignment, the students are also developing their individual finals work. Exhibition Architecture & Interior in Zwolle 4 - 8 July

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Printers’ Hell, Designers’ Challenge

Sander van der Woude is a graphic design student and an Honours Programme par-ticipant. His finals subject is the design of the story of Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. A story that was a conside-rable undertaking for the printers of 1759, the year of its publication, and which remains a challenge for the designers of today.

Text: Sander van der Woude

The 1759 novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by the British writer Laurence Sterne was a disaster for the printers of that time and is still a tricky assignment for the modern graphic designer. This comic classic dates from the Age of Enlightenment yet hovers on the edge of Modernism. It is far less well known than other British classics, which may be due to the fact that that it was way ahead of its time.

As the title suggests, this story concerns the life and, more espe-cially, the opinions of Tristram Shandy. Tristram has just been conceived in the first three volumes and, as the “author” of the story of his own life, he describes his father, his mother, his uncle and other people who play a role in the run-up to the beginning of his existence. It is now far more common to play with time in this way and we are also accustomed to stories that are full of flashbacks and interwoven narrative lines. But the way in which Sterne wrote was quite revolutionary at that time. Speeding up, slowing down, looking back and digressions: as a reader you are constantly tossed back and forth. Laurence Sterne was very much aware of the graphic techniques of his age and he took them to an extreme. It is for that reason that this remains an interesting book for me as a student of graphic design. For instance, the title page of Volume 1 begins with:

Ταρασσει τοὺς ’Ανθρώπος οὺ τὰ Πρὰγματα, αλλα τὰ περι Πραγμάτων,

Δογματα.

Nowadays, Epictetus’ quotation in Greek can easily be typed in on a computer and will roll out of a printer at the touch of a button. Yet in 1759, not every printer just happened to have a type case lying around that contained Greek letters in lead. This meant that he would have had to have them made and transported by horse and cart. All this for a two-line quote.

Page 73 is completely black and symbolises the death of a character in the story. Apart from a great deal of black ink, this cost the printer little by way of effort. But it is an example of a graphic element that heightens the story’s impact. There are also a great many images that are not intended to be decorative; rather they function as actual narrative elements that help to tell the story and which you cannot leave out of this book. Marble printing, pages that have been torn out and etch-ings are all examples of techniques that are used in the book’s design. These are examples of the Modernist separation of form and content that combine to tell the story. Graphic designers could learn a lot from this literary work in terms of techniques, contents, storytelling and conscious design. You could even argue that this book symbolises the birth of the graphic profession some 250 years ago.

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The Honours Programme of ArtEZ offers students theory in-depth and the possibility to conduct research in the field of their chosen course.

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““This is a cartoon which is part of my finals project about the Swingjugend in Hamburg.”

www.swingundbratwurst.blogspot.com


AMANDA MAJOOR Comic Design

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“My work concerns aesthetics, organising and making beautiful things. Hair as a product of your appearance is part of this. With hair, you can change yourself and make a statement. Hair defines your identity and not only because of your DNA. Hair is more than dead material and this is what I want to show.

Hair concerns everyone because everyone has it. For me, hair leads to questions such as: When is hair beautiful and when is it something dirty? People consider hair that’s been cut off to be dirty. But not the hair on your head. Where does this fascination with hair come from? Hair offers me the opportunity to work with various media. For instance, I’ve made my own Hair-vetica alphabet. In the film Every

Day, you will see me shaving myself bald. This allowed me to experience how that felt and what it changed.” www.pascalebrinkel.de


PASCALE BRINKEL Crossmedia Design

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“I mainly make drawings that are usually based on mixed techni-ques such as pencil, paint and collage. I work on both a large and a small scale. I also make animations. Playing with mate-rials is an important theme in my work. I try to surprise myself and I never have a clear idea of how an illustration will turn out. I would like to convey the pleasure of drawing to the viewer. Ultima-tely I managed to do this in my stop-motion animations: a series of short films in which I bring simple animals to life beneath

my camera. At the moment, I’m working on a work placement assignment for Sesamstraat so as to see how this way of working lends itself to an applied product. Recently, I won the stArt Award, an important prize for young illustrators that is presented by the children’s magazine Boekie-Boekie.”

www.steefwildenbeest.nlwww.vimeo.com/36479657


STEEF WILDENBEEST Illustration Design

Wilma Sommers

(1960-2012)

“Some dream. Some do. Some do both.” This slogan from a cigarette advertise-ment was the motto of Wilma Sommers, a lecturer and the co-ordinator of the ArtEZ Product Design Course in Arnhem. On Saturday, 11 February 2012 she died at the age of 52 in a tragic accident in Amsterdam. Her dreams made her very demanding; her dynamism gave her purpose.

In this article, three students and former students outline their experiences with this inspiring person, who was key to the entire course. “When I’m considering how I will develop my finals project, I think, ‘Shit, Wilma was much better at knowing what I have to do’.”

Text: Anton de Wit

An extremely honest person with a nose for quality

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Some dream. Some do. Some do both.

“Half-finished work was not an option”

Frank Kolkman, former student and designer: “Wilma gave up her own career as a designer so as to be an educator. I think that the course has become her design practice. She was an extremely demanding person but also so full of life. For instance, she liked to drink beer with us at the end of each day and was the life and soul of the party but the next morning she was completely fresh and profes-sional at school. Whatever she did, she did wholeheartedly and without any compromises. At her funeral, I talked with a lot of her present students. What struck me was that they were devastated that they could no longer show their finals work to Wilma. Because if she had said that it was good, then you knew for sure that it was indeed good. That’s also how I always expe-rienced it during my four years of intensive contact with her. Wilma spoke straight from the shoulder and she was extremely honest. If she thought something was no good, she would say it. Half-finished work was not an option. On the other hand, she was always the first to say that some-thing was good. She recognised the quality in you, often before you knew it yourself. And she then did every-thing she possibly could to help its development.”

“Wilma was the course”

Juliette Huygen, third-year student: “Right at the beginning of the course Wilma suddenly said to me, ‘You’re not a designer so there’s no point in drawing.’ Of course I was absolutely shattered because I’d embarked on this specialisation with the idea that I was about to become a product designer. This meant that I had many discussions with her. But ultimately - and partly through her - I was able to discover that my real talent is for developing concepts. That was fine so far as she was concerned so long as you really dared to go for it. Hence, my relationship with Wilma was not always an easy one and I think that that applies to many of the students. She was very direct and confrontational. If I was going to have a talk with her on Wednesday afternoon, I was already worrying about it on Sunday evening. This was because her opinion really counted. You needed her backing. But if you got it, she’d really fight for you. For instance, she totally supported Collectie Arnhem Product, the produc-tion line that we third-years develop and launch on the market. Wilma was the course. So things are really strange now. It’s not only Product Design that has lost its direction, it’s us students as well. When I’m considering how I will develop my finals project, I think, ‘Shit, Wilma was much better at knowing what I have to do’.”

“She really cared about her students”

Lenneke Wispelwey, a former student and designer: “There was thunderous applause when the coffin was carried outside. The funeral was attended by so many people, including former students who had graduated years ago. A reunion for the wrong reason. It felt like a family; I can’t describe it any other way. Does it sound weird? She was the pivotal person in a small department; you saw her the whole time. Literally, because her office was a glass space right in the middle of the building. Wilma was the heart of the course. “I also clashed with her. She made me swear and she made me cry. On one occasion, I said to her, ‘I have sleepless nights every time I talk with you.’ She didn’t know how to react to this and simply said, ‘You also give me sleepless nights’. It was only later that I realised that she probably meant it. She really cared about her students. “Ultimately I think of her with gratitude. Her criticism has tough-ened me up. It really helps me now that I’m a free-lance designer. You have to be sure of yourself and to be able to deal with criticism. It’s a real pity that Wilma never visited my own studio. I would have loved to have shown her what she had helped to achieve.”

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Enjoy. Bad. Weather.

Each year, the third-year Product Design Course students are responsible for developing the Collectie Arnhem Product. This forms a regular part of the course and is partly supported by Made in [Arnhem]. The 17 third-year students behind the Collectie Arnhem Product 2012 are presenting their vision of this day and age.

Collectie Arnhem Product 2012

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handkerchief

Enjoy. Bad. Weather.

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“We step into ‘the downpour’ and enjoy each drop as if it were the last one. Where others withdraw and economise, we want to invest in a more intensivel life. We don’t want to stop the rain. What we do want to do is to ensure that the rain doesn’t restrict us. We consider it a challenge to approach ‘bad weather’ in a positive way:

ENJOY. BAD.WEATHER.”

The students based this theme on their own generation. A generation that has reached maturity at a point in history when systems seem to be collapsing. The world is falling apart with each passing day. Will Greece go bankrupt? Will I get the flu? Will there be bad weather tomorrow? By seeking new meanings and a different perspective on the world, the collection provides a counterbalance for the stress and lethal efficiency that everyone encounters on a daily basis. The students begin modestly. The weather is trivial yet it defines everything. Weather websites deter-mine when we decide to take the bike. Bad weather is the collection’s starting point and is used as a metaphor for each day’s bad news, stress and calculating professionalism.

You can buy Collectie Arnhem Product at Arnhem Coming Soon, Kerkstraat 23, Arnhem.

Exposition Collectie Arnhem Product June 1-July 31 at Dudok Arnhem.

storm lamphandbag

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rain cape bag

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necklace

rain boiler

ring

dry hanger

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Preview

“I started specialising in sculp-ture two years ago. At that time I was using furniture as a means of communication so as to express a person’s character. Recently, I’ve been working with media such as photography, drawings, collages, things that are almost performances and video. The material and medium depend on the message. My work has now developed into a language, which I can use to express my opinion and to provide commentary on what’s going on in the world. I’m

inspired by society and people, by the contrast between nature and culture, and by some funny, banal and stupid situations that people can end up in and which often go unnoticed. As I describe it right now, it’s still very open. But as an artist, I find that you must be able to cope with many stimuli so as to be an accurate mirror image.”

www.lisasebestikova.com


LISA SEBESTIKOVA Fine Art

Musicians Crossing Borders

One has consciously opted for something that’s never been done before while another has come from Romania to study at Arnhem: musicians whose finals concerts have involved crossing borders.

Text: Alex van der HulstPhotography: Duncan de FeyPreview

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“Artists should seek each other out so as to survive in this difficult climate”

Alex Freise (1988), fourth-year Academy of Pop Music, instrument: guitar

Gradu-ating with a festival

“I wanted to make an impression. I learned to think out of the box while taking the Music Management minor. That’s why I checked out what had never previously been done at the Academy of Pop Music finals exams. Normally you play for your friends, your family and the lecturers. I wanted to go a step further. A festival has never been done, open air has never been done and the crossover in my festival has also never been done. The festi-val’s called Enschede Rocks and it will be held on 7 June at the Oude Markt in Enschede. It’s a festival for a broadly based public. I want to showcase the various projects that I’m involved with: We Are Cecile, Beethoven and the Johnny Boys. We Are Cecile is an up-and-coming modern metal band where we’re trying to fuse pop with metal. Beethoven is an extremely successful cover band and the style of the Johnny Boys resembles that of Coldplay, Kings of Leon and 30 Seconds to Mars. DJ Schwarzmusik will get the audience moving and I will then perform with the Johnny Boys, the provisional name of a new pop-rock project with Christian Schwarz (the guitarist of We Are Cecile) and members of Beethoven. We Are Cecile will provide the heavy sounds. We will conclude the festival with Beethoven. All the musical projects are in some way connected with each other although the music is certainly diverse. Another important part will be a fashion show. The German designer Emell Gök Che is a friend of mine. I’d asked her to advise on the styling of the décor. We came up with the idea of showing the garments that she’s designed while I play guitar with a rock trio. Sem Christoffel and Mart Nijen Es (band members of Ad VandenBerg) will also be taking part. Ghislain Belvroy is responsible for the models and the team of make-up artists. Although I’m not even thinking about, it is my finals exam. This means that I will be assessed on creativity (the festival’s contents), the management (how the festival has been organised) and technique (my guitar playing). It’s a fantastic amount of work and fortu-nately I have a good network. The New Enter-tainment Enschede booking agency is helping me. Steven Baoh, the manager of Beethoven, has taught me about how things happen in practice and is really helping the project. The Academy of Pop is also supporting me. So now it’s a matter of hoping that the weather is good; otherwise maybe I’ll just have to put up a tent.”

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“I checked out what had never previ-ously been done at the Academy of Pop Music finals exams”

“I find it important to know how a piece was created”

Ana Stamp (1986), Classical Music Master’s student, instrument: piano

18 emotions

of a composer in love

“I came to Arnhem for Frank van de Laar. I’d already gained my Bachelor’s in Romania. He came over to teach a summer course there. Normally, it’s so busy that you’re only able to play for a teacher on one occasion; but it just so happened that this time there were only three participants. This meant that we were able to work with him every day and I loved the way he taught. I asked whether I could come to Arnhem and study for my Master’s with him. He has such a wonderful sense of music that he can even say valuable things about Roma-nian pieces that he didn’t even know. I’ve specialised in miniatures. For that reason I will be performing Robert Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze during my finals presenta-tion along with the Third Suite of the Romanian composer George Enescu. The Davidsbün-dlertänze comprises 18 different pieces that vary from happy to sad and from exuberant to playful. I’ve studied Schumann’s biography; I feel that it’s important to know how this piece was created. It turns out that he wrote the Davidsbündlertänze for his future wife, Clara Wieck, after he’d had a blazing row with his future father-in law who opposed the relation-ship. You hear the shifting emotions that are experienced by people in love. I started learning this piece before last summer. It’s still not right but I can’t get enough of it. It’s a long piece and I keep discovering something new. At first, I avoided listening to other people’s performances, which always involve a personality of the performer. This is something that I first wanted to develop myself. However, once I’d estab-lished my personality, I did listen to the other versions. I like playing miniatures from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. I love contemporary music. I want my finals performance to be different than the customary going on stage, bowing and starting to play. I’d really like to involve a dancer in the performance along with video projections and slides of images. I’ve still got to arrange all that so I don’t know whether I’ll succeed. I hope that I can stay in the Netherlands after my course. I’m already teaching at the international music school for children. I’m also giving lots of concerts including one with the singer Stefanie Janssen. I hope to be able to give many more concerts here.”

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PreviewLennart Siebers (1988), Fourth-year Jazz and Pop, instrument: piano

You’re allowed to dance

“I’m very visual for someone who’s primarily involved with music. I was like that as a child: I always saw images when listening to music. Many musicians are mainly concerned with the sounds that must follow each other. In my case, I look for the images that can follow each other and the sounds that fit with them. For my finals performance on 20 June, I want to abandon the standard image of the stage. I don’t yet know what form this will take. You have 50 minutes and it’s up to you how you want to fill them. I want there to be movement in the perfor-mance. Maybe something with dance. As a composer, I’ve been working with a choreog-rapher on various dance productions. Making music for dance was an eye-opener for me. You work in a completely different way than for music alone. I also use that experience when I work for other musicians. However, my finals performance will prob-ably not involve live dance but I will work with projections of moving material. No actual choreography but abstract images that will make the whole thing more surreal. I’m working on this with a visual artist. We’d also like to get the auditorium on its feet. There are no set places for members of the audience; they can choose where they want to go. It will also be a surprise for us. The course gives you plenty of freedom. Here, you have the possibility to do your own things and also to collaborate with other arts disciplines. These possibilities are unique at ArtEZ. Music schools in the rest of the country are generally much more restricted. After I graduate, I want to collaborate even more intensively with the other disciplines. New dance productions are planned for the coming season and I also want to do my own work. Just doing is music too limited. So far as I’m concerned, collaboration can play a more central role. I think that artists should increas-ingly seek each other out for larger projects so as to survive in this difficult climate.”

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“Making music for dance was an eye-opener for me”

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Preview

“The combination of people and sculpture was generated by my fascination with fashion, dance and the anatomy of the human body. Covering and changing the body is how I create a sculptural form, a process where meaning is constantly subject to change. Packing the human body in large polyether foam forms generates a moving sculpture that is domi-nated by the quest for balance and equilibrium. Ensuring that minimal movements can be seen requires a great deal of effort on the dancer’s part and also

involves unnatural positions. This quest is recorded on film.“

www.wytskeaverink.com


W Y TSKE AVERINK Fine Art

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Preview

“I spent a lot of time in Fries-land for my finals project. To be precise, I was in North-West Friesland where I spent my youth. The place is called Zwarte Haan and it’s a small hamlet in the Municipality of Het Bildt. I left home more than three years ago but I like to come back to the area where I grew up. For me, it’s of great personal value, which is why I decided to do my assig-nment about it. The first thing that I’ve been doing is ‘branding’ the area. I’m conducting a lot of research into the people who live

here, the nature and the climate (etc.) along with the sound of the sea, the space, the peace and quiet and, for instance, the things that are washed up along the coast. Everything that can be relevant. I want to find a diffe-rent way of viewing this region, which for many people is new and nondescript. I’m not really trying to elevate it as a trending place. What I do want to do is to see it in a new way. For me, this area has something almost Scandinavian, something rustic and authentic.

My paper dealt with how people are currently trying to define their identity; it also discussed aspects such as personal space and the value that we attach to authenticity and our own ‘thing’. My finals assignment concerns the relation with my native region and the possibilities for involving it to a greater extent in other people’s lives in 2012.”


PIETER JAN BOTERHOEK Graphic Design

Preview

Making a Small Rectangle Laugh

ArtEZ Press, our publishing house, produces books such as the ArtEZ alumni series. Far-mers - by the pho-tographer and ar-tist Louise te Poele - was the first in this series and was brought out in 2011. The second book, which is about Bas Maters and is titled Een vierkantje laten lachen, will be pu-blished in Septem-ber.

Since the 1950s, Dutch art in the public space has changed radically in terms of form, character and me-aning. The artist and architectural designer Bas Maters (1949 – 2006) was one of the central figures in this movement and a pioneer of the much talked-out Arnhem School. His work consists of environmental art along with a great many monu-mental sculptures that were destined for the public space and for institu-tions and companies. In addition, he frequently worked collaboratively on large-scale projects such as master plans for architecture, urban plan-ning and landscape. His legacy also includes the customary two and three-dimensional studio work. But apart from his professional practice, Bas Maters was always active in edu-cation. At the age of 24, he became a lecturer at the Institute of the Arts and the Academy of Architecture in Arnhem, both of which were precur-sors of ArtEZ. He trained dozens of students, who in turn left their mark on the public space. Maters played an influential role in his professional field and helped to shape develop-ments in art as related to architec-ture, urban planning and landscape.

ArtEZ Press books are available at the bookshop, www.bol.com and www.wbooks.com.

Bas Maters (1949-2006); 35 years of environmental art

and architectural design

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Between 9 May and 8 July, the ArtEZ degree candidates will be presenting their finals work in Arnhem, Enschede, Zwolle and a number of other cities. The ArtEZ finals can be attended by everyone. For further information, see: www.artez.nl/finals.

\ ART & DESIGNThe Bachelor’s and Master’s fashion courses will be showcasing their designs on the catwalk in Arnhem. The Art & Design finals exhibitions will take place in Arnhem, Enschede and Zwolle. A scoop for both ArtEZ and the Netherlands will be the finals show of the first higher vocational education Comic Designers, whose work will be exhibited in Zwolle. The Fine Art Master’s Course will be pre-senting work in not only Senegal (Dakar) but also Arnhem. The Art & Design ex-hibitions can be visited free of charge; it is advisable to be prompt when ordering fashion show tickets.

\ ARCHITECTURE & INTERIORStudents of the Interior Design Bach-elor’s and the Interior Designer Associ-ate Degree courses are showing their finals work in a joint exhibition in Zwolle. The bachelor’s students’ subject was “Help, Crisis!” while the associate de-gree students concentrated on “Young Interior Designer Meets Young Fashion Designer”.

\ MUSICFrom the beginning of May to the begin-ning of July, finals concerts will be held on virtually a daily basis at the ArtEZ School of Music in Arnhem, Enschede and Zwolle. These concerts will be extremely varied: from jazz and pop to dance, classical and musical theatre; from instrumental to vocal and from small to large strengths. Each location has its own programme. Performances will also be held at external locations.

\ THEATREThere will be many theatre performances. For instance, at the School of Acting’s finals play, the latest batch of acting tal-ent will be featured in Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, which is being directed by Joeri Vos. You can read the article on page 24. Moreover, the fourth-year Theatre in Education Course students are individually creating a performance with amateur actors.

\ DANCEThe Dance degree candidates will be attending work placements during the ArtEZ finals period, which you can read about on page 29. In Internationally Mixed, the third-year students will be dancing with students from Valencia and Cologne. The Dance finals performance will be given by the first and second-year students. In addition, you can visit the interactive Dance in Education event. Here, students will demonstrate the profession’s many different aspects: workshops, teaching methods, research, choreographies and dance performances, etc. Performances will also be given by the finals students of the Choreography Master’s.

Details concerning the ArtEZ finals 2012 were still incomplete at the time of going to press. Please check www.artez.nl/finals for the most up-to-date information.

Arnhem

Enschede

Zwolle

Other cities

Mei

THEATREFrom 29.05 Bachelor of

Theatre in EducationDANCE23 to 25.05 Master of

Choreography

MUSICFrom 09.05 Classical

Music / Jazz & Pop / Academy of Pop Music / MediaMusic / Music in Education / Music Therapy / Master of Music

THEATRE21 to 26.05 Finals Festival

Bachelor of Theatre in Education

Juni

ART & DESIGN07 and 08.06 Fashion Show19 to 21.06 Dutch Art

Institute (Master Fine Art)MUSIC11 to 27.06 Jazz & Pop08, 29 en 30.06 Classical

Music THEATRE05 to 14.06 Bachelor of

Theatreto 14.06 Bachelor of Theatre

in EducationDANCE 27.06 Internationally

Mixed, ArtEZ School of Dance in collaboration with schools of dance in Cologne and Valencia

14 to 16.06 Finals performance of Dance (first and second year)

26 to 30.06 Dance in Education Event

MUSICClassical Music / Jazz &

Pop / Academy of Pop Music / MediaMusic / Music in Education / Music Therapy / Master of Music

MUSIC25 to 29.06 Classical Music

/ Jazz & Pop / Music in Education

DANCE22.06 Bathmen, Inter- nationally Mixed23.06 Nijmegen, Inter- nationally Mixed26.06 Amsterdam, Inter-

nationally Mixed28.06 Rotterdam, Inter-

nationally Mixed29.06 Den Haag, Inter-

nationally MixedTHEATRE24.06 Amsterdam, School of

Acting final presentation

Juli

ART & DESIGN04 to 08.07 Product Design

/ Interaction Design / Graphic Design / Fine Art / Bachelor of Fine Art and Design in Education

04 to 07.07 Dutch Art Institute (Master Fine Art)

MUSIC02 to 05.07 Music Theatre02, 03 and 06.07 Classical

Music

ART & DESIGN04 to 08.07 Crossmedia

Design / Fine Art MUSICTo 04.07 Classical Music /

Jazz & Pop / Academy of Pop Music/ MediaMusic / Music in Education / Music Therapy

ART & DESIGN04 to 8.07 Animation Design

/ Illustration Design /Graphic Design / Fine Art / Bachelor of Fine Art and Design in Education

ARCHITECTURE & INTERIOR04 to 8.07 Bachelor Interior

Design/ Associate Degree Interior Designer

MUSIC02 to 04.07 Classical Music

/ Jazz & Pop / Music in Education

EDUCATION IN ART02.07 Master of Education

in Arts

ART & DESIGN 06 to 8.07 Amsterdam

(subject to change)Master of Typography

ArtEZ fact no. 4

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Transcript of ArtEZ fact no. 4