ArtEZ fact #3 ENG November 2011

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

ArtEZ fact Nr. 3 2011

EN version voor NL:

ArtEZ hogeschool voor de kunsten — November 2011

FRIENDS? About friendship in the arts

Open Stage “Pens at the ready.

Characters on standby.

Our (p)lot wide open.”

The Resilient Artist The Social Experiment collective organised a threeday experiment to increase artists’ resilience

Column F. Starik “I know only one or two of my fifteen Real Friends hundred friends” Stine Jensen

11 X Years later LOS Muziektheater “The most dangerous thing is when some-one thinks: ‘Oh, never mind.’”

13 Column F. Starik “Once there was a time when we operated in groups, young artists on our way to… well, what exactly?”

15

Real Friends

by Stine Jensen

The Resilient Artist The Social Experiment collective organised a threeday experiment to increase artists’ resilience

COLOPHON

10 You can have your friends over

ArtEZ fact is published twice a year by the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts. It is available for free to students, staff, alumni and friends.

12 Cartoon

EDITORIAL OFFICE ADRESS Onderlangs 9, 6812 CE Arnhem Postbus 49, 6800 AA Arnhem t. 026 3535 758 f. 026 3535 677

14 Vlisco a New ArtEZ Press Publication 17 “Friends Are Your Mirror Image” Kelly Tofohr is working on her degree show.

18 What are you doing?

José Koers, a second-year Associate Degree Interior Designer, has worked on a project to develop refugee accommodation in plastic.

22 Joke Alkema of the Studium Generale: “Our Aim is to Inspire and Motivate”

EDITORIALSTAFF Abeke Schreur (editor in chief ad interim and final editor), Vanessa Sloot (editor), Edith de Vries (editorial office secretaries) CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS EDITION Manon Berendse, Alex van der Hulst, Anton de Wit, Francien van Zetten

2&3

Open Stage The first batch of the new Creative Writing course: “Pens at the ready.

Characters on standby.

Our (p)lot wide open.”

9

Plus

EDITORIAL BOARD Michiel Braam, Ko Jacobs, Caroline Barmentlo, Froukje Swart, WillemJan Rijper, Janneke Brouwers DESIGN Hans Gremmen TRANSLATION Annie Wright PRINTING De Raddraaier EDITION 4.000 COVER PHOTO Episodes, a choreography by Tomaz Simatovic, photo Zoe Alibert

Content

Friends?

Nothing in this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the editor. www.artez.nl Adress changes for alumni Are you a former student and are you changing your adress? Email the change to artezfact@artez.nl (only for alumni).

20

PAGE 22, 23, 24

On December 2, ArtEZ Institute of the Arts’ Studium Generale will be holding its Friends! event, which focuses on the current meaning of friendship in the arts, scholarship and society. It will comprise a programme of master classes, workshops, films and a party, and can be attended by staff members, students and former students. You will find the programme at the heart of ArtEZ fact.

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

2

Friends?

Friends?

Ask any office worker whether friendship plays a major role in his work and the answer will rarely be a whole-hearted “yes”. You don’t choose your colleagues.

Moreover, a client is initially approached with a suitable sense of distance, a tailormade suit can function as a uniform and corporate culture serves as a shield.

Every working environment has its own conventions and unwritten rules so that working together does not naturally lead to friendship.

But things are different in the arts. As a warming-up for Studium Generale’s Friends! event on December 2, ArtEZ fact has investigated the importance of friendship for creative arts practitioners.

Text: Manon Berendse

TOMAŽ SIMATOVI (Koper, Slovenia, 1978) Dancer and maker — Based in Salzburg where he is working on his thesis; he also teaches dance at the Carl Orff-Institut of music and dance education, which is part of the Universität Mozarteum — Hoping to complete his Choreography Master’s in July 2012 “My performance Episodes is often seen as being an ode to friendship although that was not my specific intention. Through the choreography I examined how performers in a structure could still find the space to improvise. This meant that they had to maintain an open attitude and absolute sensitivity. I didn’t know the School’s students personally before the rehearsals started but I chose them very carefully. Not through an audition but by selecting them on the basis of their personalities. It involved seeing how they moved - both in class and elsewhere - and also how they talked and conducted themselves.

This is how I like to work on a piece: it gives me the opportunity to see more of someone and increases the possibility that things will click during the working process.

“A dancer without a capacity for empathy would not be able to function on stage with others. In my view, people in the arts enjoy deep contemplation and also like to assess and share their intellect, logic and emotions.

Maybe this facilitates friendship and we have indeed become friends through the process of creating Episodes.

“Yet you have to remain well aware of the nature of your contact, and that is the performance. And although you must dare to be vulnerable, you should also be vigilant of each other’s boundaries. Either consciously or unconsciously, intense collaboration can result in private matters being brought onto the dance floor. Besides, you also spend so much time together: You work, eat and travel together; you share the dressing room and sometimes even your bedroom. Personal issues are brought up more easily, and this can result in mutual tension or can interfere with the performance. That’s mixing business with pleasure, which is not a good idea for anyone.

“Professional dancers treat each other in a friendly way. They accept each other and can like each other but they definitely don’t have to be friends. You’re first and foremost colleagues.”

4&5 Friends?

ANSWER ME, production by Dood Paard, with Gillis Biesheuvel on the left. Photo: Sanne Peper

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

Episodes, a choreography by Tomaz Simatovic, also seen as an ode to friendship. Photo: Zoe Alibert

GILLIS BIESHEUVEL (Amsterdam, 1972) Actor and director — Since 1998, a permanent member of the Dood Paard theatre company along with Manja Topper and Kuno Bakker, both of whom are former ArtEZ theatre students — Completed his acting course at ArtEZ in 1995 “I was once asked to act with the Dood Paard company, and then again and then yet again.

I felt at home there and it was quite logical that I soon became a permanent member. We effectively form a family but one that’s based on sharing a deep fascination. What binds us is the fact that all three of us are pigheaded and persistent, and we love each other. This is what makes it productive. We’re responsible for not only our performances but also the publicity, sales and logistics. It’s hard work yet it also feels like a privilege.

“In this profession, if you work together on several projects and for a longer period of time, you will reveal a lot about yourself. You will become closer. That’s why we deliberately opt to separate in the summer and go our different ways. During the season we also separate by seeking other joint ventures. Hence, on a number of occasions I’ve worked with STAN’s Damiaan de Schrijver, KOE’s Peter Van den Eede and Willem de Wolf, and Matthias de Koning of Discordia. We refer to this as these companies’ co-productions, but it is also our own occasional company that happens in our spare time. It keeps us on our toes, and you then view yourself in a different way within the trinity of Dood Paard.

“Because our company is so small, we’re actively seeking co-operation that genuinely clicks. You have to want to work intensively and everyone’s input must be pretty much equal.

The fact that this still works is, I believe, due to our separating and coming back together at just the right moments. We share the same sense of humour. We get worked up about the same things and discuss books, films and TV series together. Actually, Dood Paard is one long conversation that generates the performances. Manja and Kuno are dear colleagues for whom I’ve developed a deep love. But you must also keep something for yourself, something private. For instance, I talk about literature with my best friend, but not with the intention of using this in my work. He takes it all a little less seriously.

“The future is uncertain so sometimes we’re also thinking about life after Dood Paard. Will I keep acting? Can I do that? Do I want that?

For example, acting on a film set is more anonymous. That’s nice but I don’t know whether I’d keep it up for long.”

“Dood Paard is one long conversation that generates the performances”

WIEBE KASPERS

Wiebe Kaspers (l) and Florian den Hollander (r)

“‘Trying out’ is a catchphrase in my rehearsals”

“When I play, I’m seeking space. The rehearsal period has to be light-hearted. Not lazy but also not too formal. “Trying out” is a catchphrase in my rehearsals. I want to find out what works best: first listen and only then should you judge. In this way, I force myself to figure out new things and to omit snap judgements. That can sometimes be tricky: casting off both your own pigheadedness and also other people’s because you think that you already know what works best. Of course, the art is to trust each other that it will work out alright.”

Friends?

“Last year I graduated at Zwolle. Now I’m attending the Music Master’s at Arnhem, where Tim also studies. We’re currently working on our first full-length programme, Meneer Winter. In the summer, we shut ourselves up in a small house for two weeks, wrote some new material and explored the theme of ‘expecting and its consequences’.

We both had a lot of problems with this. I’m quite headstrong and so is Tim. Florian is accompanying us on the bass for Meneer Winter. Is that difficult? No. Everyone’s role is clear. At first it felt as if a friend was playing but we’ve now become aware of each other’s qualities. You must dare to experience what each person can do. (Laughter) Tim and I make the decisions and Florian says all the wise things.

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

“I don’t especially choose to work with friends on performances but it frequently turns out that way. Only recently, I played Bram Vermeulen songs at the church in Jorwerd where I’ve always lived. This was with my mate Florian den Hollander. We met three years ago through a band at school. Then we became friends and we’ve started to play together. It can also work the other way around: For almost five years, I’ve been performing regularly with Tim Hammer as the theatre duo Hammer and Kaspers. To this very day, we still refer to each other as colleagues and mainly meet in terms of work: We don’t go to the pub together.

6&7

(Leeuwarden, 1990) Pianist and singer — Completed his piano course (Light Music) at Zwolle last year — Now attending the Music Master’s (Music Theatre) at Arnhem

BART VAN DEN HOVEN and REMCO SIEBRING (Arnhem, 1984) (Amersfoort, 1983) Prospective architects — Will complete their Architecture Master’s (with a specialisation in Context) in 2013 — Working at the B + O architectural firm in Meppel — Hoping to gain international work experience before they graduate

Photo: Guus van der Sande

Remco: “We know each other since the preparatory year that precedes the Architecture Course. We soon set up a student think tank along with a number of fellow students.”

Bart: “We like discussions.”

R: “Over the past months we’ve also been working together at the B + O architectural firm.”

B: “Remco has been working there for nine years and encouraged me to send in an application.”

R: “It worked! I’m soon going to spend six months in Japan. This means that we’ll be having less intensive contact both as friends and colleagues.”

B: “But we’ll keep in touch; I’m sure of that. We work with certain ideas and share the same vision of the future. We react to each other in a manner that is extremely direct and has no sense of caution. Outsiders sometimes find it shocking but we rely on each other’s worth.”

R: “If you can cope with each other’s criticism, you will consider your plan in a new way. Other people sometimes see these comments as an attack. Of course, meaningless criticism won’t work. But by now we know each other well and the main thing is that we simply want to push our plans ahead.”

B: “And if the plan still holds up after the discussion then it’s clearly worthwhile. Even though we don’t consider the profession in the same way. Our designs are also different. Perhaps that’s another important aspect.”

R: “Architecture is all about egos. In the Netherlands, this often causes tension during the construction phase.”

B: “The building world is fast-moving. During the working process, everyone is focused on getting his or her own things done despite the fact that exchanging ideas can also generate a great deal.”

R: “That’s why we launched our student think tank.”

B: “And we still want to go abroad before our graduation. When we graduate, we want to do it well. And we won’t be opting to design 20 dormer windows. We’d like to make a good start right away on a project that really matters. We’re following the competition circuit and are discussing how we would like to tackle it ourselves.”

R: “We’ve consciously postponed our graduation. We wanted to develop a good graduation plan and indulge our love of travel.“ B: “Perhaps those journeys will strengthen us in different ways. What we have in common is that we deal with our course less conventionally and that we’re already working as designers.”

R: “We want to learn as much as possible.”

B: “But we regard the architect’s role differently.”

R: “I’m fascinated by the relationship between the existing and the new, construction and landscape. In my work, I investigate the relationship between people and the environment along with how they influence each other.”

B: “Remco is more socially empathetic than me. That’s why he’s also going to Japan where they deal with the phenomenon of space in a quasi-sensual way and also have a great sense of detail. Personally I much prefer to create a well-founded concept where I think on the basis of a larger idea. Perhaps that’s rather Western: My favourite firms are based in New York and Copenhagen. I prefer to plonk down ten plans whereas Remco is good at working things out right down to the smallest detail.

So we complement each other very well.

EDWIN JACOBS (The Hague, 1961) — Director of Utrecht’s Centraal Museum since 2009 — Used to be director of the Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden and the Museum Jan Cunen in Oss

“Much is going on in the cultural sector and you have to be able to find your own niche there. Try to do that on a human scale. Not everyone can be your friend but a turquoise feeling in your life is definitely worth working towards. Turquoise represents balance in colour theory. You can regard it as fresh energy. How do you deal with other people?

If we’re discourteous at the desk, no one will ever enter the museum. However, if you give someone a few moments that are pleasant…”

Friends?

“A turquoise feeling in your life is worth working towards”

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

“Sometimes I invest a friendship into an acquisition for the museum. I see a great deal so it can’t happen often, yet I regard this kind of purchase as the expression of faith and admiration. I also mention this in our acquisitions formula. And although there’s a natural contact, it is never automatic that a friendship will lead to a business transaction.

Over the years, I’ve also learned to say this both to the artist friend in question and to my colleagues. Someone I admire for that very reason is Rudi Fuchs, the former director of the Stedelijk Museum, the Van Abbemuseum and the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag. He was also quite open about his friendships with artists such as Karel Appel, Baselitz and Immendorff.

He really promoted them. We may have disapproved at the time, but now we see the powerful ensembles.

8&9

“Being friends with artists and directing the museum works excellently so far as I’m concerned. My most extraordinary artist friendship is with Jan Andriesse. We first met in 1996. He drew my attention to a small area of shadow in a painting by Paul Gabriël, an artist of The Hague School. That little reflection in the water had an enormous spatial effect. I decided to invite Jan to mount an exhibition on Dutch light where we were to work together closely. Since then our friendship has exceeded the work. I find it important that he’s there; we constantly share ideas and feelings.

Open Stage

Open Stage

First batch, Creative Writing course

Photo: Creative Writing students

You who think that lesbians must love dogs.

You who believe that you can hypnotise the cat. You who like to talk to yourself in English while sitting on the toilet and reading pamphlets by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. You who slosh iced tea all over your cornflakes and eat sandwiches filled with pâté and chocolate sprinkles. You who reject men who won’t drink milk and rubbish middle-aged men who delight in sliding down the swimming pool chute without their children. You who want to spend at least one day a week in bed so as to watch films while sucking your thumb and read bad books right to the very end. You who keep rewinding crazy bits of film. You who have to sneeze each time you pluck your eyebrows and can’t stand it if someone strokes them in the wrong direction. You who sleep with socks on, ugly socks if at all possible and preferably odd socks. You. You who really like watching repeats because it’s so deliciously relaxing to know what’s going to happen. You who love storms with no thunder. You who adorn your laptop with fruit labels from the local supermarket and spell check all your emails.

You who sometimes shower four times a day in the winter, who always hold a pen in the wrong way and cannot manage to write anything neatly other than your own name, who purposely have the alarm clock go off too early so as to be able to continue sleeping “consciously” and who eat a banana each morning on your way because it’s always nice to have a habit. You with your fear of ladybirds and toadstools and of ladybirds on toadstools and you who get choked up at the sight of little lambs in meadows. You. You. You. Get writing!

Pens at the ready.

Characters on standby.

Our (p)lot wide open.

You can have your friends over

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

In September, the editorial team sent an email to every ArtEZ student requesting the submission of visual materials for the cover. A great deal of work was received and the team selected two images. However, it was felt that neither of them was suitable for the covers.

This page features one of these images: a photo by Rick Fraterman, who is a student of the teacher training programme Fine Art and Design in Education in Zwolle. The other photo is on page 10 (NL-version) and is by Job Willemsen, who is studying Product Design.

10 & 11

You can have your friends over

X Years Later; LOS Muziektheater

X Years Later

“The most dangerous thing is when someone thinks: ‘Oh, never mind.”

Friendship is an important theme for LOS Muziektheater’s Dookje van Dieren, Kim de Fuijk, Femke Vernij and Charlotte Waardenburg. “Because of our enthusiasm we tend to bulldoze each other sometimes.”

Text: Francien van Zetten

LOS Muziektheater

The four women of LOS Muziektheater share both the good times and the bad. Their lives form the basis of their performance Lijf on Stage. They sing about the power that friendship generates but also seek out its frayed edges. “It’s interesting when there’s conflict in friendship.”

Ultimate combination Waardenburg (2008; Master’s 2011), Vernij (2009), Van Dieren (2009) and De Fuijk (2008; Master’s, Tilburg Conservatory, 2010) are all graduates of the ArtEZ Music Theatre Course.

LOS Muziektheater was set up by chance in 2006.

Charlotte, Femke and Kim were asked to perform musical numbers at a birthday party, all of which they had been singing for an ArtEZ project. What they now needed was an accompanist. Vernij: “We knew that Dookje was a fine pianist and also a good singer”.

“It turned out to be the ultimate combination,” laughs Waardenburg. “We clicked immediately.” Two of the audience then wanted to book them for another performance, which resulted in the four students deciding to continue working as a group. In 2009, they reached the semi-finals of the Amsterdams Kleinkunst Festival and also got through to the finals of the Groninger Studenten Cabaret. Next season, they will give 60 performances of Lijf on Stage, their first full-length programme, which will be held at theatres throughout the country.

Blazing row The LOS women are completely different, both personally and in terms of music. While Femke and Charlotte opted for light music, Dookje and Kim have specialised in classical. And that’s only one example. “ We complement each other,” says Vernij. “That’s our strength.”

“But it’s also a pitfall that leads to endless discussions,” acknowledges Waardenburg.

Inevitably the LOS women do have the occasional blazing row. “We have so many ideas that, because of our enthusiasm, we tend to bulldoze each other sometimes,” says Vernij.

For instance, once she suggested a traditional song and Charlotte immediately came up with a rap version. Waardenburg nods: “We’ve agreed that in these situations someone only has to say ‘stop’ and she’ll be given the time to finish describing her idea. Only then will we discuss it and see whether it will fit in with the programme and in what way.”

Cartoon

Cartoon

Yaniev Azulai

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

Communication. The four women have discovered that it’s vital to articulate what’s bothering you. Waardenburg and Vernij explain that it’s then a matter of agreeing on ground rules and sticking to them. “If you’re on stage together, it’s a good idea to know what’s going on when someone’s obviously not happy.”

Waardenburg admits that it’s just like a relationship. “The four of us are married to each other,” says Vernij with a smile. “We see more of each other than our partners when we’re developing and performing a programme.”

Friendship is a constant process. ‘“The most dangerous thing is when someone thinks, ‘oh, never mind’,” says Waardenburg. “We’ve all gone through that phase. But you’ve got to get over it quickly otherwise your heart just won’t be in it anymore.”

12 & 13

Constant process

Column F. Starik

Good to see you

F. Starik is a writer, poet, singer and artist. From 2010 until 2012 he’s the poet of Amsterdam.

Recently he published the books of poems Songloed and Victoria, and the novel De gastspeler. Starik is a teacher at Creative Writing.

Column

Photo: personal archive F. Starik

My first friend was Ludolf Wentholt. He lived with his parents in a small bungalow bearing the extraordinary text “4turning point4”. His father was a mathematician. In the evenings, his mother liked to make something that she claimed was an Indonesian rice dish. It was a good idea to get out of there long before suppertime. Otherwise, before you knew it, she’d asked you whether you would like to stay for tea. And I found it impossible to say no. When Ludolf dropped by my place, I’d run upstairs and keep as quiet as a mouse until he left without achieving his mission. Ludolf had no redeeming features whatsoever.

The next friend, Gerrit van den Heuvel, had a sister and her name was Ankie. Ankie had something resembling breasts or at least a first attempt in that direction. I was sometimes allowed to feel them. In the afternoon, Gerrit and I would climb up onto the roof of their shed and throw eggs from the chicken coop at passers-by. I liked staying there. At night I would sneak down the corridor to Ankie’s room, climb into her bed and gingerly slide my hands inside her pyjamas. Then we would lie there completely still. I think that we were both scared that my hands on her miniscule boobies would make her pregnant.

My next friend was Erik Ellinger. His father was a psychiatrist. The man scared the hell out of me. I thought that psychiatrists could see what you were really thinking and I was secretly in love with his wife, Erik’s mother: a beefy Austrian whose hobby was baking tarts.

We were regularly allowed to make buttocks out of the dough. To do this, using the side of your hand you’d slice a considerable dent down the middle of the ball of dough. Then, with both hands, you would carefully push the two halves together and - lo and behold - there were buttocks. Erik had a pony. He’d won it in a colouring competition organised by the shopkeepers association. He hadn’t even coloured the drawing in that carefully, but the pony had to be won by someone who could afford a paddock, which Erik’s parents evidently could.

Once there was a time when we operated in groups, young artists on our way to… well, what exactly? Ultimately most of them were heading for addiction, the loony bin, a respectable existence, a scary disease and ultimately death. There are few survivors. Of course, there’s Paul but he usually phones to see if he can borrow some money because he’s a bit short of cash. I still find it impossible to say no.

I know only one or two of my fifteen hundred friends and then only very slightly. Since I started working seriously and never had the time to go anywhere that I didn’t already have to be, I consider everyone I meet there to be my friend. I learned from Ilja that what you’re supposed to say on these occasions is: “Hello there. Good to see you.”

The Dutch fabric manufacturer Vlisco plays a conspicuous role in shaping that African identity. Vlisco, which was founded in 1846 and has always been based in Helmond, prints fabrics by means of an industrial procedure that is related to the Indonesian batik. There is an enormous market for these materials and particularly in a group of countries located in West Africa and Central Africa. What is so extraordinary about this is that Vlisco has not just suddenly acquired a strong market position in Africa, it has actually become an indisputable part of African cultural heritage and African pride. The question then arises as to how a completely Dutch product can gain such an important position in African culture. An additional question concerns the way in which the company has managed to maintain and even strengthen that position in a strongly globalised fashion world that relies increasingly on cheap production.

Author: Jos Arts Publication date: January 2012 Binding: paperback Product dimensions: 12.2 x 16.4 cm Number of pages: 144 Illustrations: approximately 100 full-colour images Design: Mariola Lopez

14 & 15

Part seven in the ArtEZ Press and ArtEZ Fashion Professorship series of fashion monographs

ArtEZ Press

Vlisco

Ethnic origins, social status, political persuasion, wealth, religion, sexuality and power: clothes can express all these aspects and, for the keen observer, also serve as signs of someone’s identity. This applies equally to both Western and African garments. In a continent largely dominated for hundreds of years by Western colonialism, it is hardly surprising that Africans frequently use clothing as a way of indicating their position.

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

New ArtEZ Press Publication

Manifesto by Stine Jensen

Real Friends

Real Friends

Thou shalt honour thy real friends How many real friends do you have? After some deliberation, most people will probably say four or five. As based on American friendship research, this is roughly the universal average and the number that people will mention when asked.

Four or five. As a matter of fact, this is also the number that women often admit to when men ask them: “How many relationships have you had?” “Approximately four of five.” Aha! Apparently, this is a number that men are just about able to deal with.

American friendship research has also shown that the number of “real friends” has fallen to two or three. That’s interesting because online we’ve actually acquired a whole lot more. The average number of Facebook friends is around 200. So what’s happened?

Has the computer become our new best friend or are we spending so many hours sitting behind our metallic boyfriends and girlfriends that we no longer have the time for more than two or three real friends? Have our requirements for friendship become more stringent?

Are we more frequently disappointed?

Count your friends.

Count? Isn’t that something for toddlers?

Isn’t it about quality rather than quantity? After radical unfriending, shouldn’t we be focusing on “slow friendship”? After all, there’s “slow finance”, “slow cooking” and “slow sex”.

And, of course, you can also count slowly.

ArtEZ Studium Generale invited Stine Jensen to write this manifesto for its FRIENDS! event.

Jensen (1972, Denmark) studied literary theory and philosophy, and has published a number of novels and various non-fiction works. Her 2011 essay, “Real Friends”, was written for the Philosophy Month.

Thou shalt not participate in Miss Wet T-Shirt contests It’s a pain when photos turn up of the one and only occasion when you’ve had too much to drink. There are well-known examples of this such as the time when a woman posted her “Miss Wet T-Shirt Ibiza 2008” photo online, which is now doing the rounds of the desks at her office.

But provided that you don’t participate in Miss Wet T-shirt contests, you will naturally have no worries about continuing to use the largest digital public toilet.

You don’t have to flush. We like sniffing around each other’s remains.

Social media comprise the largest open sewer in the world.

Thou that taketh, shalt give all Friendship Politics 2.0: Those who traffic in people should not be surprised if they become a commodity themselves.

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu distinguishes three kinds of “capital” or ways in which you can acquire power and influence: economic capital (possessions), cultural capital (knowledge) and social capital (network).

Intimate capital is the true currency of this era. Unlike the capitals mentioned above, intimate capital has a democratising effect. It is not a way of distinguishing yourself socially, rather it eliminates differences and it equalises. Intimate capital is negotiable privacy.

Those wishing to acquire power should invest in intimate capital.

On social media we are pimp, prostitute and john all rolled into one.

Prostitute yourself as well as you can. You are your own commodity.

Count your customers.

Make a list of everything about yourself that you would not want to find online. Save this digitally as “Me-kiLeaks”. That’s your intimate capital.

Which of the items on this list would you want to share and with whom? Only with yourself? With your therapist? With your family and also your friends? With your followers? With Mark Zuckerberg? With companies, journalists or the government?

Unfriend all the companies, institutions and organisations on your list. How many friends do you still have?

Before you send someone a friendship request, first ask yourself: Can I use him or her? Is he or she useful for my life?

Count your friends. Then you will immediately know how many enemies you have.

Just as Eskimos have ten words for snow and the Dutch ten words for rain (drizzle, mizzle, driving rain, etc.) we also need a richer jargon for friendship. This must go beyond “friend”, “colleague”, “acquaintance”, “follower” and “Facebook friend”. What we need are not more “real” friends but a richer jargon so as to be able to make subtle distinctions between the fun friend, the useful friend, the follower and the two or three real friends. No more adjectives - such as “good” or “reasonably good” friends - but more nouns. Discover your inner Eskimo. Invent more words for friendship.

Let us pray each day to Mark Zuckerberg, our one and only true friend, the inventor of Facebook and the greatest matchmaker in the world. Let us thank him from the bottom of our hearts for new friendships and unexpected relationships.

“A ‘What a wanker’ button would bring the whole network crashing down”

16 & 17

In his Ethica Nicomachea, the philosopher Aristotle (348-322) makes a distinction between friendship based on fun and usefulness, and friendship based on a higher goal such as common moral virtues. While the first two friendships are fleeting, voluntary and focused on satisfying the ego, the last form concerns “true friendship”. According to Aristotle, this involves discussing ideas and virtues with each other: a friendship based on character.

Hence, this friendship is not based purely on amusement and practicality but also on the common good.

Facebook above all focuses on “useful” friendships and “fun” friendships. Facebook friendships involve “fast food friends”.

Intended to boost your ego. As Schopenhauer wrote: “Other people’s heads are a wretched place to be the home of a man’s true happiness”.

When using social media, we are enslaved to amour-propre, a term coined by another philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Amour-propre is the self-love that we derive through the endorsement of others. Social media butter us up. There is just one button, “Like”, which is just as well because a “What a wanker” button would immediately bring the whole network crashing down.

We want admirers. That’s why we continue to use it.

Real Friends

To do list

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

Thou shalt endorse others

Friends are your Mirror Image

“Friends Are Your Mirror Image”

Kelly Tofohr, a final-year student attending the Fine Art and Design in Education Course in Arnhem, is working on her degree show.

Text: Anton de Wit

“Both the wonderful and ugly sides play a central role”

“With nine other people I’m part of a closeknit group of friends. We’ve known each other since kindergarten and are still best friends.

I found that so extraordinary that I wanted to devote my degree show to it. It’s easy to take friends for granted but sometimes it’s also good to stop and think about it. Friendship has many wonderful aspects such as the love and support that you give each other. But it can also get ugly: the quarrels and hurtful criticism. Friends are your mirror image.

I want both the wonderful and ugly sides of friendship to play a central role in my degree show, which will take the form of an installation. I’ve made a frame around a large mattress on the wall, and have also cut niches into it, in which I’ve placed pots. Nine of them: one pot for each of my friends in the group.

The pots contain imprints: a head, an arm, etc.

The mattress represents the cosiness and safety of these groups. However, the pots also evoke associations with urns in which you keep the ash of deceased loved ones.

Another, as yet unfinished, part of my installation consists of vases where once again there is a vase for each friend. Although they all have the same basic shape, I then work on each vase in a different way. I’ll probably put them in front of the mattress so that the mutual distances will symbolise the relationships between these friends. For this part of the installation I also got my friends to fill in a questionnaire. What’s your idea of friendship? What do you feel are the strengths and weaknesses of each individual? Who are you closest to and who are you least close to?

Etcetera. This resulted in a very consistent impression where it’s obvious that everybody has known each other for a long time.

Humour. The sense that you are not alone, that there are people around you.

All my friends mentioned this as being the most important aspects of friendship. Of course, their answers were not always equally original or profound. They all have different backgrounds: there’s a builder, a teacher and also a hairdresser. Yet sometimes I was really touched by what I found when reading the questionnaires. The builder’s answer to the question about your idea of friendship was quite simply ‘replacement family’. That’s expressed so perfectly. My degree show will be a homage to the members of my replacement family.”

José Koers, a second-year Associate Degree Interior Designer, has worked on a project to develop refugee accommodation in plastic.

Text: Vanessa Sloot

“This project’s most important lessons were that you’re working for a real client and that you’re therefore also responsible for presenting it well. Moreover, you learn to look at how the space will be experienced: How do you feel inside it? This is extremely important for people who have been forced to flee their countries! Having to come up with an idea and also develop and present it in just one week was tricky. It means that it won’t quite turn out the way you want it to. On the other hand, you certainly learn to work under the pressure of time. You’ve got the idea and if you had more time you would be able to finish it off properly.”

18 & 19 What are you Doing?

“You Learn to Look at how the Space Will Be Experienced”

José: “We had to take various aspects on board. For instance, the shelter had to provide space for a number of families yet still be easy to transport. So we devised a 30-metre-long plastic shelter that can be rolled up. The roll can then be conveyed on the shelter’s poles.

Hence, the whole thing can easily be brought by truck. The poles will also be made of plastic so that everything’s lightweight. You have to unroll it in a particular pattern that takes the form of waves. There’s also a smaller roll in the opposite form. In this way, you can create separate spaces so that several families can be housed while maintaining a certain degree of privacy. Our idea was considered to be the most practical and feasible. A prototype will be made if everything works out.

The Institute of Architecture has its own blog that includes project descriptions.

See: http://academievanbouwkunst.blogspot. com

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

What Are You Doing?

Associate Degree? What’s that?

The Associate Degree (AD) in Interior Design is a two-year course for people who have already gained the Dutch MBO qualification and would like to continue their training without having to do a four-year higher vocational course. After completing the AD, you can apply to enter the third year of the Bachelor’s Interior Architecture Course.

The client for this project was DSM Resins of Zwolle, a manufacturer of resins and composite materials. José’s group came up with the idea that had the most potential. photos:José Koers

For artists, standing on the sidelines is no longer an option. Elke Uitentuis is very definite about that. Cuts (which have hit artists hard), the Arab Spring, the global economic crisis, the new nationalism in the Netherlands and all the other problems have ensured that artists can no longer remain aloof. “And that’s a problem,” says Uitentuis. “Because how can you resist yet still remain true to your artistic values? On my course here in Enschede, I was taught that art must always be ambiguous and never unambiguous because then it’s activism.

Art had to be self-reflective and was never allowed to refer to politics.”

In 2007, Uitentuis and her associate Wouter Osterholt organised Wolkom yn it Heitelân (“Welcome to the Fatherland”) in Leeuwarden.

This comprised a debate on the power of protest against the tightening of the Dutch refugee policy. For this project, Osterholt and Uitentuis invited a number of people including fellow-artists Klaas van Gorkum, Iratxe Jaio and Jonas Staal. In 2010, this group decided to commence operating as the Social Experiment collective.

Set in motion “If you immerse yourself in a particular issue, it will generate images. Once you have images, you can make art,” says Uitentuis.

She adds that the collective does not simply want to reflect social developments but also to set them in motion. And that does not have to result in the unambiguous. “There are a number of levels in this visual language.”

Uitentuis has discovered that art can most certainly refer to politics and admits that she is an artist who is seeking answers rather than raising questions. “I want to understand the world and make it better.”

The Resilient Artist

Text: Alex van der Hulst

photos: Elke Uitentuis

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

The Social Experiment collective (which comprises Wouter Osterholt, Elke Uitentuis, Klaas van Gorkum, Iratxe Jaio and Jonas Staal) organised a three-day experiment at the invitation of Studium Generale.

To increase artists’ resilience, police academy lecturers held classes for participants at ArtEZ Enschede’s academy building. The aim here was to “break through passivity.”

20 & 21

The Resilient Artist

When ArtEZ Studium Generale asked Social Experiment to hold an activity in Enschede, the group decided to investigate the changing relation between art and political reality.

Elke Uitentuis: “It’s because of the drastic reductions in subsidies that we artists have finally realised just how much we depend on politics.”

The five artists decided to organise a three-day training “for resilient art”. Lecturers from the police academy held classes in interrogation techniques and dealing with violence. The participants slept in log cabins on the Enschede campus and spent their evenings reflecting on what had happened that day.

From lawyers to anarchists “I got far more out of it than I thought I would,” says student Lynn de Rijk after the weekend. “I particularly learned a lot from the discussions with the other participants. They came from different backgrounds: from lawyers to anarchists. Nowadays, you find yourself far more frequently answering questions from people, who almost attack you for being at art school. And they always want to know what the point of art is. During this weekend, I learned that you must first be able to define the world in which you live so that you can then describe the point of art in that world. I never realised that I didn’t know that; but I did realise it once I was confronted with issues that are never discussed at art school. I think my work will become more politically engaged because of this weekend.”

Open mind “An intense weekend,” concludes Klaas van Gorkum once it was over. The group of participants comprised ten students, ten

outsiders and the five organisers. Van Gorkum: “Everyone came to the weekend with different ideas. Some of the participants thought that it was going to be like the Stanford Prison Experiment and were looking for a hidden meaning that didn’t actually exist because we spent so much time reflecting on what happened. Others were more interested in their attitude vis-à-vis authority and particularly the police. I was struck by the fact the police are so heavily involved with observation. Also during interrogations. Naturally, as an artist you’re doing exactly the same thing. And just as officers must keep an open mind when embarking on an interrogation, so you must also work in an unbiased way as an artist.” Elke Uitentuis: “For us, it was also about breaking through passivity. Looking at the potential for a new form of organisation.” Klaas van Gorkum felt that that was quite noticeable during the experiment. “The group dynamic was such that some participants realised that they could make active interventions in their daily transactions.” Elke Uitentuis: “Of course, a totally different organisational structure is utopian; there’s a basis that you have to bear in mind. We want to get a grip on life and the politics that directs it. The question is whether or not you want to be part of a competitive structure. At this point in time, almost all of us are slaves to our own lives and particularly their rapid tempo.”

Klaas van Gorkum: “One of the participants was a musician, who talked about an opera without a score and which consisted of everyday conversations. You can also regard this Social Experiment in the same way.

Everyone had his or her own role. It won’t just influence our work, in a certain sense it was our work.”

Twice a year, Studium Generale organises a major event with lectures, fi lms and workshops (etc.). These activities supplement the education of ArtEZ and focus on subjects concerning the arts, scholarship and society. This is also where theory and practice met. Joke Alkema, head of Studium Generale: “Our aim is to inspire and motivate students, lecturers and other interested parties. Through the projects, the students encounter in an organic way not only people from their own fi elds but also students and experts from other disciplines. Moreover, this enables lecturers from the various courses to come into contact with each other.

“Each year we focus on two themes. This gives us an opportunity to examine them in greater depth while our education can also capitalise on the projects. Naturally, we’re constantly researching current developments in both arts education and the arts themselves. In order to keep up to date, we maintain an entire network of professionals and we also keep a watchful eye on the latest specialist literature. In addition, we deploy a think tank comprising students from the various courses and the different ArtEZ locations.

“This was also how we came up with the theme for the next event on December 2: Friends! Collaborate, Interact, Share. Social media are currently enormously popular. This immediately leads to questions such as: ‘What do the social media mean to you, to the concept of friendship and to your work as an arts practitioner?’ And, if you take this any further, you will also wonder about what the concept of friendship means in relation to the arts as a vocation. On December 2, we will be exploring this theme from a number of different angles. Although the arts will play a central role here, we will also be considering areas such as philosophy and biology. We have compiled a great list of guest lecturers for the master classes, workshops and lectures. There will also be a first-rate fi lm programme and an amazing party.

In short, it’s a day not to be missed!”

A multi-disciplinary event about the current meaning of friendship in the arts, scholarship and society In today’s society, the concept of friendship has developed completely new content through social media such as Facebook and its Dutch equivalent Hyves. We live in a culture of exchanging, sharing, networking, ‘friending’ and ‘unfriending’. What is a friend? And what does friendship signify for your life, identity and artistic calling?

FRIENDS! COLLABORATE, INTERACT, SHARE is a multi-disciplinary event about the current meaning of friendship in the arts, scholarship and society. It will be a day full of lectures, master classes, workshops, a film programme and a party.

During the morning programme, a number of extraordinary guests will describe the theme in terms of philosophy, fashion, biology, sociology and spirituality. These prominent individuals are not the kind of people that you meet everyday so make sure that you don’t miss them!

During the afternoon programme, you will encounter important contemporary artists at master classes and workshops. The subjects comprise: internet art, co-creation, open design and deploying social media as marketing/distribution tools, collaboration within artists’ communities, artist duos, interdisciplinary and other collectives, and interaction with the public.

During the evening, you can settle down at the Focus film house and be amazed at the programme that Impakt has organised and will also introduce.

You can then kick up a storm at an all-night, multi-disciplinary informal party at Luxor Live, which has been arranged in close co-operation with various ArtEZ students and Nachtkerk.

There will be live acts, a poetry slam, installations, performances and, of course, loads of music!

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Text: Vanessa Sloot

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

“Our Aim is to Inspire and Motivate”

December 2 2011, Arnhem FRIENDS! COLLABORATE, INTERACT, SHARE

ENTRANCE Lectures, workshops and master classes (Musis Sacrum): free of charge Film programme (Focus film house): free of charge Party (Luxor Live): 5 euro (reservations: www.luxorlive.nl) REGISTRATION AND FURTHER INFORMATION You can find the latest information and register for the workshops and master classes at: www.artez.nl/studiumgenerale See also: www.facebook.com/ allemansvriend

PLENARY SPEAKERS, LECTURE PROGRAMME: Marcel Becker (1961) is employed at the Practical Philosophy Department of the Faculty of Philosophy at Radboud University of Nijmegen. His field of research is applied ethics in the broadest sense of the term. He is primarily involved with administrative ethics, business ethics and media ethics. Aristotle is his main source of inspiration, whose ethics frequently concern friendship.

Midas Dekkers (1946) presented more than a thousand columns in Vroege Vogels, the Sunday morning VARA radio programme. These were also published in the anthology Alle beesten. Other publications focus on bestiality, mortality, sport and the love of red-haired women.

His children’s books have won numerous awards in the Netherlands. Just like his adult books, they are available in many different languages. Midas also presented TV programmes such as Midas and Eerste Druk. >> www.midasdekkers.nl Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries (1983) graduated in 2009 from the Department of Fine Art at ArtEZ Zwolle.

In 2010, he studied Social Design at the No Academy’s post-graduate course. Since then, he has been working on assignments in the public space such as “two monuments for terrific people” and a social project in a developing neighbourhood in Haarlem. Moreover, he is researching social design for Premsela, a fashion and design institute. >> www.himmelsbach.nl

Stine Jensen (1972) is a philosopher and literary theorist. Her publications include the following nonfiction books: Waarom vrouwen van apen houden, Ik lieg dus ik ben, Het broekpak van Olivia Newton-John and Turkse vlinders. Her novel Dokter Jazz was nominated for the Academica Debutantenprijs.

Together with Rob Wijnberg, Jensen wrote Dus ik ben. Een zoektocht naar identiteit and she also made a television programme with the same title. Her most recent book is Echte vrienden. Intimiteit in tijden Facebook, GeenStijl en WikiLeaks. >> www.stinejensen.nl

Viktor & Rolf (the designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren) launched their own design house after graduating from Arnhem Academy of Art in 1992. Viktor & Rolf are widely recognised and respected for their conceptual glamour and provocative haute couture. Their spectacular shows and collections have been shown for more than 20 years in Paris, and their label has become known throughout the world. >> www.viktor-rolf.com

Lama Geshe Ngawang Zopa Geshela (1967) was born in India to Tibetan parents. He entered the Sera Je monastery to become a monk at the age of 11. After studying for 23 years, Geshela gained the highest level of distinction: the Geshe Lharampa degree.

Geshela spent two years at the Gyume Tantric College so as to undergo further training in Buddhist Tantra. In 2001, he was appointed the head of Sera Je’s education committee, a task that he successfully fulfilled for three years. Geshe Ngawang Zopa’s main teacher was His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This programme may be subject to change.

Further information about the other speakers and workshop leaders is available at www.artez.nl/studiumgenerale

AFTERNOON

EVENING

MAIN AUDITORIUM, MUSIS SACRUM, ARNHEM: PLENARY LECTURE PROGRAMME 9.30 Doors open 10.00 A word of welcome from Dingeman Kuilman, Chairman of ArtEZ Board of Governors 10.05 Introduction by Marcel Becker, ethicist and panel chairman 10.20 Stine Jensen, philosopher and literary theorist 10.45 Lama Ngawang Zopa, Tibetan lama.

Interpreter: Hans van den Bogaert 11.20 Midas Dekkers, biologist 11.45 Viktor & Rolf, fashion designers

Workshops and master classes will be held in various auditoria at Musis Sacrum + S&G Ondernemingscentra Eusebius Singel + Generale Oost + the Kortestraat Master’s building

EVENING PROGRAMME: DERDE VAN MAHLER/FOCUS FILM HOUSE/LUXOR LIVE 5.00-6.00 Drinks for everyone at Café Derde van Mahler (incl. wrap up

by Marcel Becker) 8.00 Focus film house: Film programme compiled by Impakt 9.30 Luxor Live: FRIENDS! party in co-operation with Luxor Live, Nachtkerk and various ArtEZ students

MUSIS SACRUM CORRIDORS 12.15 – 12.45 Interval and installation

by Domenique Himmelsbach de Vries (fine artist) VARIOUS SMALLER AUDITORIA, MUSIS SACRUM, ARNHEM: PARALLEL THEMATIC LECTURES 12.45 – 1.15 Emio Greco | PC (dance makers) About Collaboration, an Interview with Peggy Olislaegers.

Jos de Mul (philosopher) The Artwork in the Age of Digital Recombinability Frank Meeuwsen (digital strategist) Social Media as Marketing Tool

1.30 - 3.00 MASTERCLASSES I — Tom America & Klaske Oenema (musician & fine artist) — Ronen Kadushin (designer/ open design) — Emio Greco | PC (dance makers) — Wunderbaum (actors’ collective) 3.00 – 3.30 INTERVAL 3.30 – 5.00 MASTERCLASS II — IRWIN (artists’ collective) — Julia Born & JOFF (graphic designer & fashion designer) — Maurer United (architects/interdisciplinary design agency) — Antonio Jose Guzman (fine artist & founder of the international artists’ collective The State of L3) — Gabriella Maiorino & Cosmin Manolescu (dance makers) — Liesbeth Groot Nibbelink (dramaturgist) — Roos van Geffen (theatre maker)

1.30 – 5.00 WORKSHOPS — Sarah Vanhee (theatre maker) — Arno Schuitemaker (dance maker) — Bart van Rosmalen (musician, theatre maker, theoretician) — Benjamin Newland (musician, fine artist) — Jaap Roggeveen (song writing lecturer, musician) — Hilde Smetsers & Bram de Wijs (performing arts marketing strategist & musician) — Floris Schoonderbeek & Gaby Zwaan (designers’ collective & fine artist) — Josephine Bosma & Constant Dullaart (media theoretician & fine artist) — Lancel & Maat (artists) — Antoine Peters (fashion designer) — Ellen Deckwitz (author, poet, poetry slammer)

ArtEZ fact nr. 3 — November 2011

MORNING

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FRIENDS! Programme, December 2 2011, Arnhem