air#0

theAcademy

is a place forartists ...

>>

2This publication sets out to offer aninsight into the diverse collabora-tions with the first four AIRs, toreveal what they have yielded for theartists, and to explore the benefitsfor educational practices and ourvision of the prospects for artresearch at the Amsterdam Schoolof the Arts. The question also arisesas to whether consideration of simi-lar initiatives can hone the ability tomake choices. Should we use ourAIR programme to position our-selves within a particular area ofdevelopment, or are we perhapsemploying a strategy so susceptibleto influence by trends that the ten-dency is to apply it in a rather prag-matic fashion? What matters? Whatwould make a difference?

theAcademy

is a place forartists ...

>>

3

Let’s suppose

4Notes on AIR, the Amsterdam School of the Arts’ artist inresidence programme.

1. The initiation of a new artist in residence programme was funda-mental to the research group Art Practice and Development at theAmsterdam School of the Arts when it was established at the end of2003. The AIR programme enables each of the four creative faculties(the Netherlands Film and Television Academy, the AmsterdamConservatory, the Academy of Architecture and the Theatre School) toannually invite an artist as Guest Professor.A strong notion existed as to why the AHK wished to involve artistsfrom the diverse disciplines directly in art education and research,but the form this involvement was to take was undefined. What wasclear, in any case, was that it should respond to the dynamic of artpractice itself.The research group can now look back on the first generation of AIRs(Peter Delpeut, Joël Bons, Luc Deleu and Emio Greco|PC) and specif-ic experiences can be placed in a broader context: the tradition andlong-term development of artist in residence programmes on the onehand, and on the other the explosive growth in the number of oppor-tunities for artists to work outside their usual environment or tobecome attached to academies and universities as researchers.

2. Artist in residence programmes are a growth market in nationaland international art practice. The Dutch-based network TransArtists, which advises artists on residency programmes worldwide,presently has more than 700 options on its books: from Germany toIndia, from visual arts to interactive media and from the seclusion ofan island to the pandemonium of a metropolis. Cultural exchange should perhaps be viewed as a vital strategy forsurvival in our globalising society, and the increasing number ofartist in residence programmes is a positive consequence of theadvancing internationalisation of the art circuit. Nonetheless, thereare reasons to keep a critical eye on this ‘contemporary phenome-non’. 1)

If proof were needed that the motives behind the various artist in res-idence programmes are widely diverse, then the pool of Dutch initia-

Let’s suppose...

1) Dominiek Ruyters, ‘Commentator of toerist? De artist in residence als hedendaags verschijnsel’ (Commentator or tourist? The artist in residence as contemporary phenomenon), Metropolis M, #3.2005

Tourist or commentator?

Let’s suppose...

5

2) Janneke Wesseling, ‘Het atelier is overal’ (The studio is everywhere), NRC Handelsblad, 19.03.2006

tives alone – entirely financed by the government – provides it: thereare residencies that serve no other purpose than the personal devel-opment or inspiration of the artist himself (in addition to the manyateliers it manages abroad, the BKVB Fund recently created just sucha position in Drenthe, the Netherlands); there are artists’ initiativesand art centres that work primarily on a per-project basis (often char-acterised by a lack of transparency regarding the available facilities);and a growing number of institutions and enterprises expect an artistin residence to contribute to the organisation’s culture. The AHK is,perhaps, an example of these last mentioned, as are the Yo! OperaFestival and the IDFA, which also include their guests’ names in theirexternal communications. More recently, innovative programmeshave been initiated that require resident artists to address issuesrelating to their own citizenship: the Stedelijk Museum supportsBijlmAIR in the Bijlmer district of Amsterdam; Beyond, the art eventin the new suburb of Leidsche Rijn, includes a residency; and SKORtakes care of the Fifth Season artist in residence programme at theWillem Arntzhoeve Psychiatric Clinic.This wave of programmes is contributing to a contemporary move-ment whereby individual artists are wresting themselves free of self-imposed studio-bound isolation and becoming increasingly nomadicand flexible. 2) But this also places artists in a vulnerable positionand – as evidenced by the variety of approaches to the application ofartists – all too easily allows them to become instrumentalised,unless they make clear choices about the reasons for, and the natureof, their involvement.

The career of an artist as artist in residence is not a new phenome-non. Once the societal status of the artist surpassed that of thecraftsman, a foreign sojourn or a placement outside the establishedwork environment became an indispensable component of artisticdevelopment; the name of one of the most prestigious Dutch artprizes, the Prix de Rome, refers to the seventeenth-century traditionof artists being invited by the Académie de France to stay in the shel-tered setting of the Villa Medici. Here they were systematicallyencouraged to break free from national limitations and were all butcompelled to ally themselves with ancient culture. Although crucialaspects of this exclusive scholarship have been superseded (the

A gateway to the international art circuit?

Let’s suppose...

6prestige of the oldest academy, the allure of Italian influences, and theconcept of a single artistic centre), the original intent of the institutionhas persisted in many variations: it appears that even then, such gen-erosity was not unconditional.Former Dutch State Secretary for Education, Culture and ScienceRick van der Ploeg set up an artist in residence programme for hisministry as a component of a hospitable cultural policy. 3) Thoseinvolved were in fundamental disagreement as early as the interimevaluation in 2001: should the primary criteria for successful residen-cy be ‘the wishes and ambitions of the artist rather than possiblebenefits for our country’?4) Or should the programme distance itselffrom the idea of classical Xenia and require that ‘in their turn, theseprominent foreign cultural figures give something back in the form oftheir reflections on the state of the arts in the Netherlands, and inthis way enter into a critical dialogue with the Dutch arts and culturesector’? 5) The DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) aprogramme in Germany, by contrast, has for 40 years been recog-nised as a ‘forum for an artistic dialogue that goes beyond cultural-regional and, more specifically, political borders’. 6) This organisa-tion evidently has fewer qualms regarding the producttive combina-tion of residencies and international cultural politics, and is willing toinvest on a large scale to obviate the threat of cultural isolation. Thegenerous gesture made by DAAD to effect this ‘international repre-sentation of contemporary art in Berlin’ 7) illustrates that sanctuaryand autonomy need not conflict with an appeal for public accessibil-ity and social engagement.Nowadays, as in the past, an artist in residence programme reflectsthe changing cultural position of the artist, and thus, implicitly, theexpectations that we as hosts or members of society or audiencehave of him. Is the artist a commentator or tourist, pioneer or prose-lytiser, consultant or ambassador? No matter for what reason or withhow much sensitivity an artist in residence is placed, the institution-al host must reflect upon the extent to which he is interested in thespecific expertise of the practising artist and whether he values thatparticular artist’s way of seeing: ‘I show you what I see and how I,somebody, though apparently me, see it. And so too now, in Rome,which is as imaginary as any city, because one sees alone. 8)

3) For a recent critical analysis of Dutch international cultural policy and for an understanding of the necessity fora more explicit participation in the international cultural arena, see All That Dutch, Amsterdam, 2006 4) Letter from the culture council, W. Zorgdrager, 19.12.2001 5) May 2002, letter from the State Secretary of Culture6) ‘Forum des künstlerischen Dialoges, der die kulturregionalen und allemal die politischen Grenzen überschreitet’, press release, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, March 2001

Can the AIR bring ‘friends’ along?

7) Ibid., ‘Internationale Repräsentanz der zeitgenössischen Kunst in Berlin’ 8) ‘Ich zeige Dir das, was ich sehe und wie ich, irgendwer, eben ich, das sehe. Und jetzt, in Rom, das ebenso imaginär ist wie jede Stadt, denn mansieht einzeln.’ German writer Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, during his stay in the Villa Massimo in Rome, 1972–1973 9) Henk Borgdorff, ‘Het debat over onderzoek in de kunsten’ (The debate on research in the arts), Theater Topics II,De theatermaker als onderzoeker, 2006 10) ResCen, research aims, www.mdx.ac.uk/rescen

7 3. Other models, however, also impact on the research group thataspires to invite artists as researchers into an academy. An interna-tional debate has blossomed over the last ten years about ‘whether aphenomenon such as research in the arts exists – an endeavour inwhich the production of art is itself a fundamental part of theresearch process, and whereby art is partly the result of research’. 9)Encouraged by the reform of universities in the United Kingdom andScandinavia at the beginning of the 1990s, artists there have for sometime been able to attain an academic degree – masters or doctorate– through their work, and practice-based research is now widelyaccepted in art courses. Furthermore, despite the continuing divisionbetween Science Education (WO) and Higher Professional Education(HBO) in the Netherlands, the nature of artistic research is also beingdebated here. Grudgingly, the educational establishment is grantingspace to the artist-researcher by introducing research departments,increasing the level of cooperation between HBO and WO, incorpo-rating the research task of the HBO system in legislation, and so on.Abroad, artists are already appointed to universities and academiesas Research Fellows or Research Associates. This tradition, rootedin the Anglo-Saxon model of scientific research, is interpreted par-ticularly broadly in relation to artists. A salient example is the inter-disciplinary ResCen (Centre for Research into Creation in the Per-forming Arts) attached to Middlesex University in North London,where, over a number of years, artists can develop and practice meth-ods based on research drawn from their own proposals. ‘ResCenexists to further the understanding of how artists research and devel-op new processes and forms, by working with professional artistsand others.’10)Within the normative framework of this university, cre-ative knowledge – that rather fashionable term for the tacit and sen-sory cognition embodied in art – is not placed in opposition to scien-tific or intellectual knowledge, but has apparently been emancipatedand can consequently facilitate the production of an other, equallyvaluable, form of knowledge.

These institutional changes, and the public debate about them, wouldbe unthinkable if reflection and research had not already becomeinseparably bound up in contemporary art practice. Institutions andartists alike increasingly describe their activities as research, or, as

How can we know if he is welcome?

8the curator and culture theorist Sarat Maharaj puts it, ‘Most of us feelwe’ve been doing artistic research for years, without quite calling itthat.’ 11)Influenced by contemporary trends among artists – or in the art mar-ket – artist in residence programmes all over the world have shiftedfocus from production and presentation to research and develop-ment. As a consequence Dutch post-academic institutes such as theJan van Eyck Academy and the Rijksacademie van BeeldendeKunsten (National Academy for the Visual Arts) now label their activ-ities ‘research’ and their residential participants ‘researchers’.However, the art critic Domeniek Ruyters warns that artist in resi-dence programmes with this focus unwittingly contribute to the‘increasing invisibility of art’ 12) because their policies serve theprocess rather than any material result.Ultimately, the central issue for the research group Art Practice andDevelopment is not the hotly debated subject of the academisation ofart education and research, and the word development was chosenfor a specific reason: to describe the research activities of artists andto place them in the context of tangible practices. The AHK’s AIR pro-gramme must also reflect upon whether criteria can be formulated todistinguish art practice from art practice as research, and discover towhat extent its residents contribute to the artistic agendas of the fac-ulties.

4. This publication traces the four remarkably divergent paths takenby filmmaker Peter Delpeut, architect Luc Deleu, composer-artisticdirector Joël Bons and dance company Emio Greco|PC during theiryear in the AIR programme. The expectation was that they would notisolate themselves entirely from the academic institution concernedto operate exclusively according to their own conditions and ideas.But on the other hand our AIR programme has no blueprint and soeach faculty entered into discussion and made its own arrangementswith its resident artist. Luc Deleu made use of an existing education-al format at the Academy of Architecture. Emio Greco|PC and JoëlBons developed entirely new projects at the Theatre School and theAmsterdam Conservatory respectively, and Peter Delpeut operatedoutside the direct educational framework of the Netherlands Film andTelevision Academy, becoming an interlocutor for management,directors of studies, and tutors. Their approach also varied with

Should we offer to house a roving, mobile artist?

11) Sarat Maharaj, ‘Unfinishable sketch of “An unknown object in 4D”: scenes of artistic research’, Artistic Research, published by A. Balkema and H. Slager, Amsterdam/New York 2004. 12) Dominiek Ruyters,‘Commentator or tourist, the artist in residence as contemporary phenomenon’, Metropolis M, #3.2005

9regard to content: from a clearly defined assignment to cast a criticaleye on certain aspects of one Academy’s curriculum, to an artisticexchange with an authentic practice considered especially enrichingby the faculty concerned, and to novel investigative queries closelyconnected with recent production and the AIR’s own interest in edu-cation and knowledge transfer.The AIRs we were fortunate enough to welcome during the 2004-2005academic year knew only too well that they were not being offered aretreat that lent itself to seclusion. Their host fully appreciated eachperson’s unique knowledge, vision, inspiration and enterprisingnature on their own terms, and it looks back with joy and respect onthe contributions they were willing to make to the educational prac-tice of each faculty.

What next?/Crucial questions remain unanswered, of course, and after the firstfour AIRs (and the five since) nothing has been solved and the iden-tity of the programme is still very much under development. Whatkinds of places do the faculties offer? What is the difference betweena visit and a residency? Does the AHK even have a view on the roleof artists in education? What does the artist want from the art school,and what does he bring to it? What artistic issues within contempo-rary practice are relevant? What risks is one willing to take? And, most particularly, how do we acknowledge the ‘otherness’ of theresident artist and avoid any chance that the guest must adapt to thehost’s excessive hospitality, and thereby become assimilated by adominant institutional culture?13)Finally, I wonder if those artists engaged in the setting up of residen-cies can provide solutions to this complex puzzle. The British choreo-grapher Wayne McGregor, for example, has taken the initiative of cre-ating a ‘place of rest’ for close colleagues. Every year, he invitesabout fifteen people to stay for a few weeks on the grounds of hisimmense villa on the Kenyan coast. Perhaps because of his world-wide success and extraordinarily busy schedule, he refuses to con-trive any goal or mission for others. He simply offers his guests asabbatical: ‘Visual artists, neurologists, architects, anthropologists,fashion designers: they don’t have to do anything. If they want to workon an idea, that’s fine. But it’s not a requirement. No pressure to pro-duce. Just go.’ 14)

13) The hazard of the guest being ‘rendered harmless’ by excessive hospitality is the central theme of Jacques Derrida’s essay ‘Over gastvrijheid’ (Of Hospitality, Cultural Memory of the Present), Amsterdam, 1998

What would we miss if we dispensed with the AIR programme?

10Are we then to return to the most altruistic form of an artist in resi-dence programme? The challenge for the research group Art Practiceand Development remains to actively seek out that field of tensionbetween autonomy and engagement and thereby place the currentrelevance of our own intentions under continual scrutiny – here andnow, and together with the artists we will welcome in the future.

Marijke Hoogenboom / May 2006www.ahk.nl www.transartists.nl www.daad-berlin.de www.mdx.ac.uk/rescen/ www.villamedici.it

14) Annette Embrechts, ‘Dansen vanuit je hoofd’ (Dancing from your mind), De Volkskrant, 27.04.2006

What are the implicit expectations?

Co-productions,

special activities,

guest professor /

The research group Art Practiceand Development initiates and co-

produces projects that make aninvestigative contribution to the

future of the arts. These projects form part of newartistic developments, stimulate

artistic and educational crossovers,and boost the flow of international

artists to the AHK. >>

11

12Na(ar) het Theater / After Theatre? /An international conference on post-

dramatic theatre with Hans-Thies

Lehmann, Professor of Theatre Studies

at the Johann-Wolfgang Goethe

University, Frankfurt. Supported by the

Theatre School, the University Theatre

in Amsterdam, DasArts, Theater

Gasthuis and Maatschappij Discordia.

Mini-conference /A series of workshops organised in col-

laboration with Dance Unlimited and the

Springdance Festival dedicated to the

shifting possible contexts for contempo-

rary performance-making through a

combination of practice and discussion-

based formats. Guests were Blast

Theory, Rimini Protokoll, Boris

Charmatz, Jeroen Peeters (2005) and

Ibrahim Quaraishi and Evelina Domnitch

and Dimitry Gelfand (2006).www.du.ahk.nl/asif/

Collab Lab /An ongoing project for artists from the

fields of dance/choreography and media

art to explore interdisciplinary practice

through collaboration, initiated by

Dance Unlimited with the NFTA (inter-active media), HKU, the Piet Zwart

Institute and others. It was led by Scott

deLahunta and Nik Haffner.

www.du.ahk.nl/cold/

An Academy /Together with Theater Gasthuis, An

Academy is a series of experimental,

non-institutional learning situations that

keep changing location, time and con-

text. In 2005 and 2006, An Academy was

hosted by the Holland Festival and invit-

ed ten makers from different disciplines

to investigate the festival as a learning

zone.

www.anacademy.org

Pierre Audi / Guest Professor

2004–2005 /Pierre Audi is the artistic director of the

Netherlands Opera and the Holland

Festival. During the academic year

2004–2005 he worked with eight young

graduates and postgraduates of the

Amsterdam academies of theatre,

dance, music, film and architecture on

an adaptation for film and other media

of the opera Pelléas et Mélisande by

Claude Debussy. The principal inspira-

tion for this project was Audi’s belief

that there have been few successful

adaptations of opera for film, while the

blending of these two relatively modern

artistic disciplines could contribute to

the development of a unique form of sto-

rytelling, one that encompasses musical

as well as textual and visual elements.

He was strongly motivated by his mis-

givings following the failure of his first

film scenario for Pelléas et Mélisande: ‘It

is an enormous challenge to adapt opera

and music theatre to film. Very few

attempts have been truly successful.

Those that have been, have taken great

risks to achieve their goal. I realised in

the process of trying to complete the

What is the difference between a visit and a residency?

13 Pelléas script that I needed to search

further in new territories to carry the

story, the music and the characters.

I wondered if such new territories could

be found by opening up the problems to

more people?’

Audi challenged the participants to

clarify their own motivation for their

involvement in this research project

rather than referring to his original

postulation. Audi was able to use the

project to give new impetus to the fulfil-

ment of an old dream: a film will shortly

be made of Pelleas et Melisande, a joint

production of the NPS and IdtV Arts &

Documentaries. The music will be

performed by the Radio Filharmonisch

Orkest conducted by Ed Spanjaard.

Dual Master in Artistic Research /In art research, the artistic product or

the creative process is not the sole

objective: it is the subject of the investi-

gation itself. Such research has, as yet,

not been granted a place in Dutch high-

er education. This form of research dis-

tinguishes itself from classical artistic

disciplines by its intertwining of prac-

tice in theory. It provides an alternative

to the traditional dichotomy in research

(applied and practice-oriented on the onehand, and fundamental and theoreticalon the other), and the sometimes artifi-

cial distinction made in the Dutch edu-

cation system between artists and art

theorists.

Artistic Research is a dual Master

focusing on the development and open-

ing up of new perspectives in both art

practice and research. Artistic practice

is combined with theoretical insights

and departure points. The goal of the

Artistic Research dual Master is to

educate artists and scientists able to

underpin art practice with theoretical

knowledge and enrich scientific

research with insights gained through

art practice.

The degree programme runs for one and

a half years and is carried out by the

University of Amsterdam. Part of the

programme track is given in collabora-

tion with art institutes, such as the

theatre workshop ‘Theater Gasthuis’.

The Master is supported and carried out

by the ‘supplying’ institutes: profession-

al art training programmes at the

Amsterdam School of the Arts and the

Rietveld Academy/Sandberg Institute,

academic programmes carried out at the

schools of Art, Religion, and Cultural

Studies at the Faculty of Humanities at

the Universiteit van Amsterdam, and a

number of workshops.

www.hum.uva.nl/graduateschool

Top down? Bottom up?

14Associateresearchers /Professional artists carry out

research or address issues pertaining to art education in the

context of contemporary developments in the arts.

>>

Rozalie Hirs /OpenMusic / Computer-aided composition and innovative composingtechniques / Amsterdam Conservatory /from 2005The resarch project OpenMusic com-

bines the introduction of contemporary

composing techniques with a practice-

oriented investigation into composition

students’ creative processes. The sub-

ject of the creative process is one of the

most mysterious for an artist. Can the

OpenMusic software make this process

manifest and can digital technologies

lead to innovation in the creative

process? This project forms part of the

composing practicum organised at the

Conservatory by Joël Bons and the

Nieuw Ensemble in cooperation with the

royal conservatories in The Hague and

Hilversum.

www.rozalie.com

Tom Frantzen / Back in shape! / Academy ofArchitecture / 2004–2005Conceptual thought, which dominated

the international architectural world in

the 1990s, is no longer the sole paradigm

exercising influence on the design

process. There is once again enormous

interest in form and authentic artistic

working methods.

Frantzen investigates past shifts in the

study of form in architecture education

and whether the contemporary nature

and content of the field is in keeping

with the post-conceptual climate. Is it

desirable to boost the craftsmanship

15

Does the AIR have views or aspirations regarding education?

and the expressive technical abilities of

students, or do contemporary creative

strategies actually require a greater

autonomy from the profession?

www.frantzen.nl

Carolien Hermans /Stories in cross-disciplinary theatre

practice / Theatre School / from 2006Carolien Hermans explores the way

stories are told in contemporary and

cross-disciplinary theatre practice.

Stories are not just stories: they say

something about the way we perceive

ourselves; they say something about our

capacity to connect the past to the

future; and most of all they say some-

thing about how cultural identities are

constructed in our society. Stories are

always told by means of a body. Often,

however, the body is forgotten. Carolien

Hermans reinserts the body in process-

es of signification and meaning-giving

in a theatrical context. She also explores

alternative ways of storytelling, focusing

on a Deleuzian world in which narra-

tives are essentially plural, fragmented,

non-linear and nomadic. Carolien

Hermans relates these research issues

to her own artistic practice. This year

she will commence a practice-based

PhD research in collaboration with the

Middlesex University in England.

16Sonja van der Valk /Investigation into the foundation of an

interdisciplinary centre of excellence for

art criticism / from 2005A recurrent and perturbing theme in the

ongoing debate on art criticism is the

gulf between the criteria employed for

assessment and an art practice that

long ago discarded the modernist canon.

This investigation develops on the

expertise gained through the successful

pilot project, A new generation of

cultural journalists. It seeks to gain an

overview of the various positions taken

and practices employed in contemporary

art criticism. Wherever possible, and

using foreign training centres as

reference points, observations will be

translated into practical proposals for

a school of art criticism.

www.domeinvoorkunstkritiek.nl

Jos Zwaanenburg /Contact microphones for traditional

instruments / Amsterdam Conservatory /from 2006Live electronics is taking an increasingly

prominent place in Western music prac-

tice, especially now that accessibility

has improved with increased affordabili-

ty. As a result, different live electronic

solutions are developed for each player,

piece and composer.

Can such idiosyncrasy – specifically in

the area of traditional instruments

extended by live electronics – be com-

bated? And can a satisfactory method

be developed for describing the musical

functionality of electronics?

Testing contact microphones and defin-

ing their (musical) functionality should

lead to a standardised approach:

a library of scores and contact micro-

phones will be compiled for all instru-

ments (classical and jazz) taught as a

main subject at the Amsterdam

Conservatory (CvA), which will support

the training of instrumentalists to work

with live electronics. Students of all

main subjects will be involved in the test

programme. This research will lead up to

the CvA’s relocation in the summer of

2008 to its new building, where a sepa-

rate studio for live electronics is

planned.

http://www.visisonor.net/Marionette.htmlhttp://www.visisonor.net/audio.html

http://www.xs4all.nl/~huygensf/zwaanenburg.htmlhttp://music.york.ac.uk/research/projects/improv_project_04/

http://web.inter.nl.net/users/BartonWorkshop/bartonframe.htmhttp://www.euroeducation.net/euro/obmedia.htm

Edit Kaldor /To pieces: a structural and practical

analysis of contemporary performance

practices / Theatre School / from 2005Kaldor’s investigation focuses on a

hybrid theatre practice in which the

borders between disciplines constantly

shift. It is usually encountered within a

close-knit network of international

festivals and production houses, from

Frankfurt to Beirut. Kaldor is a member

of this innovative performance network.

From her perspective as a maker she

investigates how the new generation of

theatre students at the AHK can con-

nect with these developments. The pri-

mary aim is to provide concrete case-

studies by facilitating direct contact

with artists and performances.

1717 Marion Tränkle /Responsive environments: the relational

stance of the physical body to the

embodied space / Theatre SchoolAmsterdam and Brunel UniversityLondon / from 2006The aim of the proposed research is to

develop an artistic practice of interac-

tive performance-installations and to

conceptualise design methods for

embedding technology that enables

interaction in responsive environments.

In order to construct such methods,

Tränkle will explore associated perfor-

mative, architectural and computational

design practice. This approach is based

on a broad, multi-disciplinary perspec-

tive, but will focus on a substantial simi-

larity between the disciplines mentioned

by framing both performance and archi-

tecture as relational practices dealing

with space and body. The relationship

between the human body and its techno-

logically charged environment is thus

placed at the centre of the proposed

research.

This project leads into a practice-based

PhD at Brunel University, Faculty of

Contemporary Drama and Performance

Studies, in cooperation with the

Amsterdam School of the Arts.

www.interact-in-space.net

What artistic issues within contemporary practice are relevant?

Scott deLahunta /Digital interfaces as creative tools /Theatre School / from 2005There are many fields of practice con-

cerned with the recording, analysing,

archiving, modelling, documenting,

simulating and notating of human move-

ment. These include choreography and

dance, architecture, cognitive and com-

puter science, film animation, visual

anthropology, biomechanics, engineer-

ing and technology research. The

research project Digital interfaces as

creative tools speculates on the poten-

tial of a set of shared standards and

procedures for movement research that

emphasises the value of choreography

and dance in relation to other fields of

practice. Contributions include the

notation research project by Bertha

Bermudez from the company EG|PC.

www.sdela.dds.nl

18‘Arts faculty’ needs

emancipation/It is high time that professionally

oriented higher educationreceived the financial means forresearch. And it should also be

possible to obtain a doctorate inart, contends Henk Borgdorff..

>>

In the Netherlands, art education – at theatre and film schools, con-servatories, and art and architecture academies – is categorised ashigher professional education, or HBO. This is exceptional in interna-tional terms because elsewhere art is generally taught at universitylevel.

There is also no counterpart to art education in universities, becausealthough art history, musicology and theatre sciences are concernedwith the arts, there are no university equivalents to HBO arts cour-ses, as there are for the technical, agrarian or managerial courses, forexample. After attaining a Masters degree, there is no third phaseavailable to art students, whether at university or in the HBO system.For this reason, in the Netherlands there is no research conductedinto the arts that involves art both as means and end. This flaw has anegative impact on the level of knowledge in the field and on publicdebate on art and art practice.

In 1798 Immanuel Kant published the manifesto Der Streit derFacultäten, in which he stated the case for the ‘lower faculties’ inrelation to the ‘higher faculties’. The lower faculties included the nat-ural sciences, the humanities and philosophy, which at the time couldonly be studied up to Masters level. The higher faculties – theology,law and medicine – led to doctorates. The higher faculties wereaccountable to church or state, and still today these institutionssupervise religious practice, the administering of justice, and health-care – and they protect the related professions.At the end of the eighteenth century, the state attempted to interferewith the content of Kant’s philosophical text Die Religion innerhalbder Grenzen der blossen Vernunft (Religion within the limits of merereason, 1794). This provoked Kant to once again take a stand, and hemade a forceful argument for freedom to study in those lower facul-ties that were not primarily professionally oriented, but advocatedpure scientific investigation.His statements contributed to the intellectual climate that enabledthe establishment of the Friedrich Wilhelm (later, Humboldt)University in Berlin in 1809. Here the connection between educationand research was forged and, what is more, students of the lower fac-ulties gained the right to study to doctorate level.

19

NRC Handelsblad / 29.09.2005

19

20Following in this tradition, the time has come to state the case for theemancipation of the lower faculties of the modern age: the arts.In the Dutch scientific world the implicit hierarchy between funda-mental and applied research was dispensed with some time ago, asevidenced by the Netherlands Organisation for FundamentalScientific Research (ZWO) being renamed the Netherlands Organ-isation for Scientific Research (NWO). Research in the arts in educa-tional context must now be granted similar opportunities.And so the time is ripe for the Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW)to restore its original name: the Royal Netherlands Institute forScience, Literature and the Fine Arts. This would endorse the ideathat sciences and the arts, although dissimilar in nature, make equal-ly valuable contributions to our culture.

In concrete terms, this means that in this context both direct and indi-rect government funding would be made available to the arts. At present, the structural financing of research in art education isprovided for, to a very limited extent, in the funds for associate pro-fessors. This would bring the funds available to a level equivalent tothat found elsewhere in higher education, make those involved in arteducation eligible to compete for NWO resources and subsidies, andallow for research placements for trainee research assistants to becreated and assessment committees to be established. Furthermore, as well as funding practice-based training to Masterslevel, it must surely be possible for the lowest faculty to establishcourses leading to arts Doctorates.There is no hierarchy of values between the faculties of the humanmind, and the institutional faculties within which these abilities areaddressed and utilised should be treated equally.

Henk Borgdorffis Professor of Art Theory and Research at the Amsterdam School of the Arts

NRC Handelsblad / 29.09.2005

21

22Artistic agenda /

Extracts from ‘Application for the research group Art Practice andDevelopment, Amsterdam School of the Arts’, November 2002

From maestro to specialist team-

member / Academy of ArchitectureArchitecture in particular and urban

planning in general have their own artis-

tic order. They are also under constant

public scrutiny. Changes in legislation

and regulations, in commissions and

financing, and in approaches to housing,

work and communication, continually

force the designer to critically re-evalu-

ate his proposed assignment. Practical

examples of this include the transition

from tight scheduling to more open sce-

narios; the growth of legislation, regula-

tion and public agreements towards a

compelling datascape; the increasing

density in a particular cultural land-

scape, with the consequence that many

assignments entail re-design; and the

changing role of the designer – from

maestro to specialist team-member.

This has brought about fundamental

changes in the design process and in

the role of the designer. The artists in

residence will be deployed to channel

the practice of these new developments

into the educational sphere. It is a long-

standing practice of the Academy of

Architecture to invite guest tutors work-

ing in the field. The research group pro-

vides an opportunity to place a selected

theme in an educational context for a

longer period. In this way, not only are

new themes examined on the level of the

individual assignment, they also con-

tribute to a wider debate among the

tutors and staff responsible for the

development of the curriculum.

23 Breaking down traditional

barriers / Amsterdam ConservatoryThe diversity of international music

practice at the beginning of the twenty-

first century is unprecedented. Higher

musical education is set the exceptional

task of doing justice to a multiplicity of

styles, genres, idioms, practices, combi-

nations, audiences, stages, professions

and skills. One can no longer reliably

navigate by referring to traditional clas-

sifications: recreational and serious,

contemporary and historical, jazz and

classical, descriptive and abstract,

mono-disciplinary and interdisciplinary,

functional and artistic, creative and per-

formative, etc.

Given the enormous variety of spe-

cialisms, the Amsterdam Conservatory

has decided to break down traditional

barriers between the departments, sub-

ject groups and major subjects to gain a

perspective on the most important

issue: the quality and integrity of the

music or musician, regardless of form.

The practice of productive eclecticism

and dedicated specialisation must be

transposed into the educational arena.

Whether it involves enhancing histori-

cally informed performance practice, the

relationship between cognitive analysis

and expressive synthesis, music for

theatre or film, orchestral performance,

live electronics, music technology,

chamber music or big band swing, the

challenge is to achieve best practice

and to develop new practices. The

artists in residence will be selected on

the basis of their anticipated contribu-

tion in this context.

What specific expertise do artists have?

24Transdisciplinary practice and tech-

nological advances / Netherlands Filmand Television AcademyFilm is an inherently multidisciplinary

art form: the NFTA educates students in

eight distinct disciplines that combine

to create a single artwork – a film. There

is plainly a connection between film on

the one hand and other art forms such

as theatre, architecture and music on

the other, but this relationship is cur-

rently insufficiently explored within the

Academy.

The great technological advances of

recent years have altered the filmmaking

process and put great demands on one’s

attention, leading to the neglect of

transdisciplinary and relatively

unchanging subjects such as film music,

the experience of space (relating toarchitecture) and visualisation (relatingto the visual arts). Especially in these

areas, the artists in residence pro-

gramme will provide educational innova-

tion by stimulating practice-based

research and initiating and contributing

to the development of a curriculum to be

offered within the NFTA.

Innovator and emancipator

Theatre SchoolWhen it comes to innovation, students

are a driving force in the school: they are

the performers and makers of the future.

To be attentive to what new generations

bring to the school is to constantly

address issues such as the place of the

performing arts in these times; the dif-

ference between professional and ama-

teur art practices; the synthesis of, or

difference between, Western and non-

Western forms of art expression; and

the position of Dutch theatre and Dutch

dance within the context of international

developments. Additionally, the Theatre

School faces challenges in the areas of

music theatre, direction and theatre

design. The artists in residence stimu-

late artistic questions, artistic develop-

ments and renewal among those running

the School: directors of study, artistic

directors and tutors. The goal is to

improve the quality of education in the

Theatre School. And it should not be

merely reactive to the demands and des-

ignations of the familiar field concerned:

it can also act as an innovator and

emancipator within it.

What risks is one willing to take, and what does one want to discover?

2525

What is the resident artist’s mandate?

‘What questioncontributes

to your own evolving

sense of knowledge?’

>>James Lee Byars, World Question Center, 1969

26In Belgium in 1969 the American artist James Lee Byars made a per-formance that was presented as a live broadcast on national tele-vision. It was calledThe World Question Centre. Encircled by support-ers Byars made telephone calls to about a hundred people he claimedwere among the most brilliant personalities of the time. They includ-ed John Cage, Luciano Berio, Joseph Beuys, Hans Hollein, CedricPrice, Robert Jungk, Marcel Broodthaers, Simon Vinkenoog andRitsaert ten Cate. Byars wanted to find out what questions theseartists, thinkers and scientists asked themselves. Despite frequentfaulty connections and scarcely intelligible mutterings, Byarspressed on tirelessly for many hours: ‘Can you pose a question thatcontributes to your own evolving sense of knowledge?’; ‘Would youmind telling me a question that you are asking yourself currently?’; I am looking for questions that are very important to individuals withregard to their own evolution, mentally – can you provide me withone?’

This performance resulted in a collection of answers it was impossi-ble to make head or tail of. Each answer, and each question, offeredanother perspective on current ways of thinking, and engagementwith topical issues. What was striking was that Byars had absolutelyno qualms about placing his faith in a personal idea of knowledge –usable knowledge. Worse still, he was convinced that a synthesis ofall thought could only consist of individual contributions, and that atruly important thought – about the future – must take the form of aquestion. The centuries-old strategy of questioning is thus trans-formed playfully into an artistic practice. With this fascinating per-formance, Byars not only put the content of knowledge up for discuss-ion but also the manner in which new knowledge in the arts – and byextension, new art – can be produced.

This is a perfect departure point for the interfaculty research groupArt Practice and Development, following in the footsteps of artistsexploring the boundaries of their knowledge and subsequently aban-doning themselves to the treacherous territory of what they do notknow – what is still to come.

Marijke HoogenboomExtract from ‘Lectoraat kunstpraktijk en artistieke ontwikkeling’ in Theater Topics II, De theatermaker als onderzoeker (in Theatre Topics II, The theatremaker as researcher), 2006

A ‘forum for artistic dialogue’?

Artists in Residence

Artists in Residence /

2006, 2007, 2008 ... /

The faculty’s Artist in Residence isa guest professor with a germane,prominent position in the contem-

porary art practice of the disciplineconcerned: someone who can intro-

duce best practices by acting as asource of inspiration, innovationand contemplation, and actuate

artistic and educational processesand artistic research.’ >>

Extract from ‘Application for the research group Art Practice andDevelopment, Amsterdam School of the Arts’, November 2002

Should we offer to house a roving, mobile artist?

Artists in Residence

28Maaike Bleeker /Limits to representation? / TheatreSchool (2005–2006)Maaike Bleeker is a scientist of theatre

and dance studies and a dramaturg

operating at the frontier between

theatre and theory. Her research focus-

es, broadly speaking, on two questions:

is theatre a form of thought, and how

can theatre be deployed to take a

critical standpoint with regard to con-

temporary visual culture?

As AIR at the Theatre School she uses

the connecting theme Limits to represen-

tation? to explore issues such as

whether the Prophet Muhammad may be

depicted; whether it is possible to make

theatre about the Holocaust; in what

ways the events in Srebrenica have been

taken up in theatre and film; how implicit

and explicit forms of propaganda func-

tion; and whether there should be legal

restrictions on what can be portrayed –

and, if so, who should impose them.

Makers, thinkers and the Theatre

School’s artistic leaders will form a

workgroup and participate in this

investigation.

John Clayton / Exploring the black

roots of jazz (in collaboration with Ray Briggs) / Amsterdam Conservatory(2005–2006)Although jazz education has become

commonplace at many music institu-

tions throughout the world, few pro-

grammes have placed an emphasis on

connecting jazz to its African American

roots in practical and meaningful ways –

beyond historical footnotes.

Students are rarely equipped with the

tools to approach music from a black

cultural perspective or incorporate

essential qualities key to the black

musical aesthetic. The central goal of

the residency is to assist participants in

defining, identifying and performing

musical elements in jazz that emanate

from African-American roots.

As an intensive ‘music-centred’ project,

Exploring the black roots of jazz fuses

performances, lectures, and discussions

to explore the multi-faceted nature of

jazz in particular, and ultimately black

music in general.

www.johnclaytonjazz.com

Krisztina de Châtel / Body/Space / Academy of Architecture(2006–2007)Krisztina de Châtel’s choreographies

always explore the body in relation to

its surroundings. She is fascinated by

everyday surroundings and their

dynamics: the built space, the street,

the landscape we move in.

This project explores the relationships

between architecture, space, body and

choreography. Body/Space forces archi-

tects to stop drawing and to experience

space, to define it by using their bodies

and the bodies of dancers. It requires

them to reflect on the archetypes of

choreography and architecture: the

ritual, the masses, the individual,

movement, power, beauty, decay...

It questions the ordinary, the habitual,

the safe haven. But in the end, choreo-

graphers, dancers and architects will

meet in space.

www.dechatel.nl

Horst Rickels /The dialectic of the moving image,

sound and music / Netherlands Film andTelevision Academy (2006–2007)Horst Rickels’ research focuses on the

hierarchical relationship between music,

sound and film. In the context of film-

making, music and sound are generally

considered ‘added value’ rather than

being fully integrated in the artistic

concept on equal terms.

‘In the interaction between film, sound

and music a speechless zone seems to

manifest itself: a black hole that sucks

up all the energy and is a source of

frustration for filmmakers – especially

during production. On the other hand,

this zone is also where there is space

for the imagination to operate –

especially because it is not occupied by

set notions and rigid formalism.’

The goal of this investigation is to

stimulate and develop a language that

enables communication between the

medium and its makers. Selected

students and tutors from the various

disciplines will carry out and record a

structured investigation into this

language-development process.

Artists in Residence

29 Paul Shepheard / How to like everything / Academy ofArchitecture (2005–2006)‘Trying to make sense of the confusion

caused by such plenty as this could stop

anyone getting old. But still, I don’t just

want to make sense of it, I want to like it

all, to overcome the nightmare world of

perpetual judgement. I want to like Mark

Quinn’s bloody head just because it

does challenge its valuation with its

vulnerability. I want to like Carl Andre’s

bricks for being the everyday conclusive

bits of stuff that the words in his

concrete poetry can’t be. I want to like

Tracy Emin’s bed for howling at the

moon. But it has also occurred to me

that these things may not be pieces of

art at all, but pieces of criticism. They

may be criticism because the stories are

bigger than the work.’

The residency includes a public lecture

series, a drawing class, the winter-term

workshop, a seminar as well as research

and writing for Paul’s upcoming book.

www.paulshepheard.comIs the AIR an insider or an outsider?

30The AIR programme at the Amsterdam School of the

Arts is an initiative of the research group Art Practice

and Development in collaboration with the Academy

of Architecture, the Netherlands Film and Television

Academy, the Amsterdam Conservatory and the

Theatre School.

editors

Marijke Hoogenboom

Pol Eggermont

Nienke Rooijakkers

translation and English copy-editing

Steve Green

graphic design

Esther Noyons

printing

SSP Amsterdam

publisher

Amsterdam School of the Arts, Art Practice

and Development

PO Box 15079

1001 MB Amsterdam

The Netherlands

+31(0)20 5277804

www.ahk.nl

with thanks to

The Artists in Residence, Board of Governors,

faculty boards, directors of studies, tutors,

guest tutors, students and to Jennifer Kanary

and everyone else who helped set up this

programme

Colophon

ahk/L

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Let's suppose theAcademy is a placefor artists... / 03Coproductions, special activities,guest professor / 11Associateresearchers / 14Arts faculty needsemancipation / 18Artistic agenda / 22Artists in Residence2006, 2007, 2008 ... / 27

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Parasite or Consultant?