Mission Nose Out

A voy­age of dis­cov­ery, an encounter, an art project

Research (as told by Dr. Thor­ni­croft) shows, that prej­u­dices are best con­test­ed through open encounter. Cer­tain­ly, celebri­ties can play a pio­neer­ing role here: Lady Gaga and Prince William speak in pub­lic about their men­tal health issues. Artists in their own right are the guardians of open and free think­ing: Art is above every opin­ion. Art rarely iden­ti­fies itself with a polit­i­cal point of view, but inves­ti­gates a sit­u­a­tion with an open and curi­ous attitude.

In this project, we want to bring togeth­er stu­dents from the Rietveld Acad­e­my and Sta­tus Hold­ers with an art back­ground, all from var­i­ous coun­tries and send them on a voy­age of dis­cov­ery, to places and expe­ri­ences they have nev­er been to before, in the Nether­lands. But these are no mere week­end trips: The stu­dents and artists form cou­ples and go out on their own, go on a jour­ney, meet oth­er peo­ple, dis­cov­er spe­cial places in Ams­ter­dam and beyond and work togeth­er on a new art project that orig­i­nates from these voy­ages of dis­cov­ery. The var­i­ous cul­tur­al back­grounds play a deci­sive role here. After all, the gaze of a new­com­er can be so enlight­en­ing! Both the Sta­tus Hold­ers and stu­dents of the Rietveld Acad­e­my come from coun­tries from all over the world.
Both groups will share their expe­ri­ences with each oth­er, exchange ideas and work equal­ly on their art­works that will be shown after com­ple­tion at House Beau­ti­ful Distress.

We are curi­ous about new per­spec­tives and insights, about the indi­vid­ual reac­tions of stu­dents and Sta­tus Hold­ers to each oth­er, and to the expect­ed wealth of dis­ci­plines. There are pho­tog­ra­phers, dancers and fash­ion design­ers, artists and prod­uct design­ers. Where the Rietveld Acad­e­my is seen as a free-spir­it­ed place with an empha­sis on the devel­op­ment of con­cep­tu­al-autonomous artistry, we expect a more clas­si­cal edu­ca­tion in art from the Sta­tus Hold­ers. But is that true, and how will this be expressed in the joint projects? Ams­ter­dam has devel­oped a unique approach to guide new­com­ers with the Entrée Team. Sta­tus Hold­ers are per­son­al­ly coached to help peo­ple on their way to work and an edu­ca­tion that suits them and that they like. Some­times it fits in with what they already did in the home coun­try, some­times a new step is tak­en. With this indi­vid­ual-ori­ent­ed approach, Ams­ter­dam is very suc­cess­ful, the results are very good; Sta­tus Hold­ers inte­grate much faster than in oth­er cities, they find their place and make a new start. Munic­i­pal­i­ties from all over Europe vis­it Ams­ter­dam to hear about this approach.

This project has equiv­a­lence and curios­i­ty as start­ing points.From dif­fer­ent back­grounds stu­dents and New Ams­ter­damers (all artists) are work­ing togeth­er in this project. Both the Sta­tus Hold­ers and the Rietveld stu­dents come from all parts of the world and are now tem­porar­i­ly or per­ma­nent­ly in the Nether­lands. All are young, and with an artis­tic background.

Art is the con­nect­ing factor.

Deel­ne­mende kun­ste­naars: Mazen Al Ashkar, Dora Lion­stone, Nazar Haji, Luca Pen­ning, Shreya Des­ouza, Yara Said, Alizé Esnault Wachthausen, Muhanad Rasheed, Roua, Aure­lie Sor­ri­aux , Mohammed Has­san, Ju An Hsieh, Mar­ta Capil­la, Sofie Bredholt