Life After Rietveld and Sandberg: How can we stretch the limits of art institutions?
The session of Life After Rietveld and Sandberg on Thursday 24 April was hosted by Aram Lee (tutor VAV-Moving image) and Sonia Kazovsky (alum Rietveld, lead Art and Governance platform Rietveld/Sandberg and coordinator Jewellery - Linking Bodies). Watch the recording of this session below.
This last session examined different modes of working inside and outside of art institutions. The speakers reflected on the potential position of the cultural worker and on finding a balance with institutional structures as well as creating collectively run, inclusive spaces for learning and working together outside of the institution.
Various models of collaborative self-organization were presented, like the Dead Darlings collective by Jessie Yingying Gong and No Other Option by Gersande Schellinx, both alums of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, or the collaboration of the Jewellery Linking–Bodies department with Sugar House Studios and Stichting Vitaal Segbroek.
Aram Lee
Aram's research-driven practice revolves around reinterpreting materials found within institutions, often seeking to relocate their role and purpose through performative events, film, and video installations. A former resident of Jan Van Eyck Academie, the Goethe Institute Marseille, and guest resident at Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, her works have been exhibited internationally. She also co-founded When Site Lost the Plot, dedicated to exploring the topography of site-specific identity through film and media. She is a tutor at the Social Design Master’s programme of the Design Academy in Eindhoven and VAV-Moving image department at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.
Sonia Kazovsky
Sonia is an artist, researcher, and pedagogue based in Amsterdam. Her internationally exhibited practice interweaves artistic production, institutional intervention, and critical pedagogy – rooted in long-term collaborations, her work often unfolds across artistic, academic, and community-based contexts. She currently leads the Art and Governance program (former Student Council) at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Institute, supporting student-led initiatives at the intersection of art, policy, and self-organization. She is also developing a para-archiving pedagogical platform with Platform POST and Radboud University as well as collaborating with Sugar House Studios on integrating artistic practice into community service.
Jessie Yingying Gong
Jessie (alum Rietveld) has a lasting fascination with subjects concerning identity, symbols, and language. She uses a variety of mediums, including image-making, textile, installation, and performance, weaving those themes through her work in ways that interconnect. She is also part of the cross-disciplinary auction-performance Dead Darlings collective, that challenges notions of value, demand, desirability and commerce in art.
Gersande Schellinx
Gersande (alum Rietveld) is an Amsterdam-based interdisciplinary maker, writer, and designer. Her work spans various publishing platforms and focuses on creating contexts for publishing, research, and content creation. She is a bookbinding workshop specialist at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and an active member of the Blob Shop Collective. Gersande co-founded No Other Option, an artist-run space in the centre of Amsterdam – and as a current Rietveld employee, she feels she never really left school…
Life After Rietveld and Sandberg
Together with the departments, Rietveld and Sandberg organised a series of monthly sessions to prepare students and recent graduates for professional practice after their studies. By inviting both experts and alums, the series aimed to give participants a clearer idea of what professional practice they aspire to and what their first steps will be after graduation. The programme was open to Rietveld and Sandberg students as well as alums who have recently (less than 5 years) graduated.
