4–12 July 2015
Hofpoort
Hofplein 20
3032 AC Rotterdam
The Netherlands
Hours: 11am–5pm
Opening: 3 July 2015, 7–9pm
At the Piet Zwart Institute having space for self-reflection, experimentation, and testing ideas before a public is a subtle balancing act. Students are provided with space to speculate openly, think about what matters to them, and take directions in their work that might not be immediately self-evident or familiar. Our graduates have worked intensively and engaged in research, written reflections, and thematic seminars. Masters 2015 represents the results of these dynamic processes that have taken place over the past two years.
Master of Fine Art
High-Rise, guest curator Maaike Gouwenberg
Featuring: Sol Archer, Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Tiffin Breen, Susanna Browne, Hunter Longe, Alice Mendelowitz, Vasiliki Sifostratoudaki, and Sriwhana Spong
High-Rise takes place on the 18th floor of the Hofpoort building, a rough empty space surrounded by windows that offer a spectacular view out onto Rotterdam and beyond. The exhibition title is inspired by J.G. Ballard’s eponymous novel, in which characters band together and fight to establish a new hierarchy. With this fictional narrative lingering in mind, the arrangement of the artworks responds to the uncanny particularities of the host building and the “competition” from concurrent exhibitions happening on site. High-Rise is presented as a celebration of this group of artists as its own tribe, whose careers are on the rise.
Master Media Design and Communication
Tempted by Tomorrow, guest curators Alison Craighead & John Thomson and Willie Stehouwer
Featuring: Mihail Bakalov, Junyu Chen, Ana Luísa Moura, Henk-Jelle de Groot, Lucia Dossin, Max Dovey, Elleke Hageman, Artyom Kocharyan, Lídia Pereira, Nikos Vogiatzis, Joseph Knierzinger, and Mathijs van Oosterhoudt
In an era where the death of the Future—that brave utopian concept that motivated much cultural activity across different strata of culture throughout the 20th century and beyond—has been widely discussed, it is hard not to read the title ironically. But in the works in this show, that irony is tempered by a muted but definite optimism: a sense that it is still possible to make things better; however carefully the concepts “make”, “things” and above all “better” might need to be interrogated.
Master Interior Architecture and Retail Design
Other Spaces
Featuring designers: Marco Busani, Iulia Circei, Eglė Jacinavičiūtė, Bianca Yousef, Natalie Konopelski, Devika Mirawitani, and Sina Steiner
The graduation projects this year investigate fundamental rubrics of interior architecture as a discipline in its own right; they entice us to look at the construction and representation of space through a different lens. They question: what is it, actually, that I perceive when I enter a space? When all my senses tell me things that the space itself does not seem to contain, but conjures up in a way that escapes me, then I ask, what is this space constructed from? Perhaps things, memories, narratives, serendipitous incidents, technologies, relationships, and presences? It is all of that.
Master Education in Arts
Cartographies of Acting Pedagogically
The Master of Education in Arts connects theory and practice, focusing on contemporary issues that span different practices and discourses (education, pedagogy, art, design, cultural theory, digital didactics, education philosophy, museum education). This year’s graduation event, Cartographies of Acting Pedagogically, marks the closure of a series of lectures and seminars exploring the potential of “cartographies of acting pedagogically,” by investigating the role of art education in relation to societal change. Students were encouraged to draw their own “map,” ranging from the artistic, cultural, political and technological context of their practice to their individual commitment, choices and actions. The idea of “liquid logic”—that in complex situations a new form of logic is needed—serves as the starting point for a public debate about Art Education in Times of Change.
The Piet Zwart Institute houses the international master programmes of the Willem de Kooning Academy, Hogeschool Rotterdam. See:www.pzwart.nl
