Website
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Experimental Jetset
Website
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Will Holder
Wikipedia
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Linda van Deursen
Wikipedia
Website
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Frans Oosterhof
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Jop van Bennekom
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Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey
Website (servinglibrary.org)
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Thomas Vinterberg
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Dogme 95
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Kees Maas
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What were your days like there? What lessons or educational theories impressed you the most?At that time, there was no class system, which meant that you jumped from one course to another. Interestingly, we also had classes with artists or theorists, that is, with teachers from disciplines outside the subject, such as fashion. I remember Joke Robaard, Experimental Jetset, Will Holder, Linda van Deursen, Frans Oosterhof, Jop van Bennekom and Stuart Bailey of Dexter Sinister. Students came from all over the world— I think at that time about 20% came from the Netherlands. The language of instruction was what we jokingly called “Central European” English at that time. In most cases, we approached projects through free themes or developed our own projects. Starting points could be Nouvelle Vague films or the Dogma 95 Manifesto by Thomas Vinterberg. Here, for example, it was a matter of transferring the filmmakers’ methods to our discipline and defining our own rules. Themes like “nothingness” or “rockstar” were to be interpreted freely. In terms of media, we were able to move away from the subject, and in some cases this was even desired. There was also the possibility to work for clients, for example with a neighboring law firm. Here, of course, we took advantage of our freedoms as students at an art school. At that time, working with theory may have been somewhat neglected. In the years that followed, this area was developed further and further at the Rietveld. For us, dealing with theory was limited to attending weekly lectures: “Thursdays, in theory”. At the end of the year there was an interim presentation and evaluation, i.e. all teachers looked at our work and could decide if we could continue in the next semester. This, of course, increased the pressure. From German universities, I knew a much more restrained handling of criticism and evaluation. In Germany, art colleges have the idea that every student is responsible for himself. Today, I think that the Dutch system really made sense.
The library of the university was one of my favorite rooms at that time, and was also a beautiful space to work in. The screen printer Kees Maas was already a legend at the college at that time and accompanied us on printing projects in the well-equipped workshops. Later, an offset printing press was purchased for the college. The building felt like an open space, and was also planned with this in mind by architect Gerrit Rietveld in the 1960s: modular walls, changeable room sizes, lots of light through large windows, and enough space to work and interact. Apart from the air-conditioning technology, it is still a fantastic building today.
Gerrit Rietveld Academie
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