Taqwa Ali winner Henriette Hustinx Awards 2023
The Henriette Hustinx Award is an important incentive prize for art students and is awarded annually to three alumni who excel in their profession and who show promise for the future: one alumnus of the Theatre Academy, one of the Conservatorium and one alumnus of Maastricht Institute of Arts. The award consists of a cash prize of € 5,000 per winner.
'The Citizens of Maastricht'
Maastricht Institute of Arts presents the sculpture group 'The Citizens of Maastricht' on the Memorial Square in the framework of its 200th anniversary and in collaboration with Les Deux Garçons.
Atelier Les Deux Garçons has been formed since 2000 by Michel Vanderheijden van Tinteren (1965) and Roel Moonen (1966), both of whom studied at our institute.
Following the unveiling, visitors could visit the Les Deux Garçons pop-up expo at Maastricht Institute of Arts.
It all starts with … Returning to the essence: showing the infinite in the finite. In other words, the arts should offer alternative ways of looking at reality. It all starts with imagination.
During this annual graduation exhibition, the graduates of the Maastricht Institute of Arts show how they look at the outside world, react and position themselves with different eyes. They invite the visitor to engage in conversation. The nature of the exhibited works varies from performance, installation, graphic design, illustration, photo, film, sound art, products, materials, object to theoretical reflection.
These programmes are participating:
Bachelor programmes Fine Arts, Fine Art and Design in Education, Interdisciplinary Arts, Design | Architecture and Interior | Design | Visual Communication and Master programme Scientific Illustration.
'Tussen Kunst en Kopie' (between Art and Copy): an exhibition of the Maastricht Institute of Arts' plaster collection at the Bonnefantenmuseum.
"A cast is worth less than an original but a plaster is more than a copy."
(Humbert de Superville, first curator of a collection of plaster casts in Leiden)
These plaster casts are not original museum pieces but copies. The original sculptures come from ancient Greece, are ornaments from Dutch Gothic churches or they are 20th-century pieces of work by academy students. The collection was created with the establishment of the Maastricht art academy in 1823. The collection has developed over the past two centuries into a diverse and large collection.
You can visit the exhibition until 25 February 2024.
Friday 3 February 2023 marks the 200th anniversary of the founding of the first predecessor of Maastricht Institute of Arts. Time to celebrate, to look back and to look ahead.
Our 200th anniversary is a celebration for everyone: both for seasoned art lovers and new kids on the block! But why should we ‘celebrate’ in these uncertain times?
The arts, and the art education that underlies them, play an essential role in shaping developments in our society. Looking at society and the world holistically, the term ‘change’ may be the most evocative of the current status quo.
Each one of us is currently at an imaginary crossroads. Nature, scientists, politicians, and other specialists are telling us that our current way of life is no longer sustainable. But what should our lives be like and how should we live them?
This is an extremely urgent yet extremely interesting issue and is again dominated by the word ‘change’. Over the centuries, it has often been the creative minds among us who have been able to formulate new ways of thinking and look for different solutions.
The message running through our 200th anniversary celebrations initiates with a reflection on the past, reveals insights into today, and – more importantly – focuses on the future in relation to contemporary issues. What will the world look like in 200 years? Will art education exist in its current form?
How can contemporary and future creative producers contribute to these inevitable changes? How do our alumni interpret their lives and, more specifically, society at large? And how can we as an educational institution use our 200th anniversary to highlight current issues in society through art?
We aim to achieve this by creating an engaging annual programme of talks, interviews, debates, and exhibitions. We are also actively involving alumni in the organization of our 200th anniversary celebrations.
We hope to welcome you at one of our events soon!
“Because we are in the world, we are condemned to meaning, and we cannot do or say anything without its acquiring a name in history.”
― Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception.
The Braid 2022 by Saskia van Stein,
General and Artistic director of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR)
*3.557.245 refugees fleeing Ukraine (UNCHR data portal, 21 March 2022)
Almost 86.000.000 refugees are fleeing worldwide in many, many more countries than mentioned in the photos we posted.
#StandWithAllRefugees
Donations: www.unhcr.org.
Photo credits
1: Nikolay Doychinov / AFP @gettyimages
2: Vincent Tremeau / UNHCR
3: Pauline Omagwa / UNHCR
4: Patrick Brown / UNHCR
5: Houssam Hariri / UNHCR
6: Andrew McConnell / UNHCR
The One Minutes at Oberhausen
It's with great pleasure to announce The One Minutes Series 'Mind-body-problem' and 'Imagine The Earth Is Your Lover’ are selected for the 68th International Film Festival Oberhausen, one of the most important short film institutions anywhere in the world. The screening takes place Friday 6th May at 10:30 pm.
'Imagine The Earth Is Your Lover’ is also selected for La Fête du Slip taking place 19-22 May in Lausanne and is part of the exhibition COME ALIVE, opening 3 June in Het Nieuwe Muntgebouw in Utrecht (NL).
In collaboration with The One Minutes, the open calls ‘Imagine the Earth Is Your Lover’ and 'Mind-body-problem' were sent out by Maastricht Institute of Arts.
Imagine the Earth Is Your Lover
The work of Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens reflects two lines of force within radical feminist art. They are founders of the “ecosex movement” where they aim to make the environmental movement more sexy, fun and diverse through art projects.
Mind-body-problem
The mind-body-problem is a question one runs into almost inevitably when working with figurative sculpture. How can matter ever come to life? This call was curated by Sander Breure and Witte van Hulzen.
Updates on screenings and exhibitions:
Feminist Art Day
A Helmet Called Thimble is the deconstruction of the fabric of female heritage. The installation attempts to break open the closed doors behind which women carry out menial tasks and fight (silent) wars. Century old wisdom was passed down from great-grandmother to grandmother to granddaughter... from heavy helmets worn in WW2 to thimbles.
'A Helmet Called Thimble' was created by Interdisciplinary Arts student Helena Linner-Fuller as part of the Feminist Art Day exhibition.
Filmed by Leonard Peters.
The Now - by Anne Lindelauff
In Dutch, ‘het nu’. In these busy times, when we all care very much about what our future looks like – filled with success, happiness, and preferably with financial freedom, as well as both wanting to leave our past behind us and forgetting it – we all find it rather hard to live in the now. Being in the moment is more of a challenge than something that comes naturally to us.
In fact, we are constantly in the now. Always, every second, even if we are not aware of it. While we are endlessly scrolling on our smartphones, rushing from appointment to appointment, sitting in class or in an extremely engaging meeting, the now is rushing past us. The now is something intangible that happens continuously. Now, just a second ago, and in a moment. It is actually rather confusing. So the now exists in the past, in the now, but also in the future. But it exists only at the moment it takes place. Oh dear, that sounds like advanced mathematics And we have not even touched on the theory of the multiverse, with multiple universes existing simultaneously in which our existence and actions are slightly different from the universe in which we live now. Then consider that ad infinitum.
Wow, this is all rather tiring. Can we just make everything a little bit simpler?
In fact, we actually can. Namely, by living in the now.
How do you live in the now? Living in the now means seeing and feeling things that are happening now. Observing and registering things. This means that when it is raining, you both notice it and feel the rain. Feeling restless, and also knowing that you feel restless. I practice living in the now by meditating or going on a nice walk in silence and taking a moment to enjoy looking around. I also find that taking good care of myself by taking a hot shower or doing some stretching exercises help me to be in the now.
I notice that when I do not take these moments for myself, I quickly lose myself in the hectic pace of life. In other words, the things I have to do, the things I want, the expectations others have of me. This might also include the expectations I think others have of me, or the results I 'must' achieve that are in my (near) future. By focusing on the future, I become stressed and restless and lose my connection with the now and therefore the connection with myself. Sometimes I end up in a negative spiral of restlessness, without realizing it. Those are tough moments. The stupid thing is that the answer to these restless feelings is very close to home: briefly take a step back to the now. If only it were that easy.
The more I meditate, go for a walk, or take good care of myself by doing fun things and relaxing regularly, the faster I identify this spiral of restlessness. Recognizing and stating such moments removes a great deal of the restlessness. That gives a good feeling.
After, I find that taking a moment to be fully in the now brings calm and relaxation again. Everything seems a little less big and scary than I sometimes make it out to be in my head. Life exists in the here and now, and I am in the middle of it. Whether I am currently working on my deadlines or just sitting still and having some me time. No global catastrophe will be caused by me taking that time. On the contrary, it even gives me a reality check and realization of my place in this vast universe. A universe in which I exist an infinite number of times and in which another Anne is perhaps still stuck in her spiral of restlessness like a headless chicken.
12-12-2021 written by Anne Lindelauff
In search of the new normal – by Roland Nachtigäller
Roland Nachtigäller (* 1960 in Dortmund) is a German art historian and exhibition organizer. Since the beginning of 2009 he is artistic director of the Museum Marta Herford.