Research Fellowship project
The Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the Sandberg Instituut piloted the ‘Research Fellowship project’ in 2018. The Research Fellowship project is an annual event that supports staff, alumni and third parties in the development of their artistic practice by emphasising the field of Artistic Research. In the first iteration, each department at the Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut were asked to put forth candidates; to which many proposals poured in. Of the ten proposals that were honoured, the Research Fellowship project 2018 appointed three fellows from the Rietveld Academie: Riet Wijnen, Aliki van der Kruijs and Beny Wagner. The Sandberg Instituut appointed six fellows: Angie Keefer, the duo Eurico Sá Fernandes and Gamze Baray, Flavia Dzodan, NXS WORLD, Jules Sturm and Bitnik. The fellows received funding to develop their project two days a week for three months.
The Research Fellowship project was set up by the Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut because of its wish to further develop Artistic Research practices within the institution. Besides this, the motivation for the Research Fellowship project is threefold:
First, it aims to inspire their alumni and staff.
Secondly, the Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut hope that the fellows’ newfound knowledge, in turn, influences education.
Third, to actively support Artistic Research practices, as it offers visibility to students about different kinds of research attitudes (should they want to organise their practice in such a way.)
The Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut acknowledge that there is importance in establishing and nurturing a research environment. To conclude the first round of the Research Fellowship project and to showcase the fellow’s findings, the exhibition and symposium hybrid ‘What is research?’ took place on April 12th 2019, organised by curator and writer Angela Jerardi. This afternoon sought to accentuate the polyphonic nature of the fellows, and offered an afternoon of presentations, talks, performances and a small exhibition.
This text is part of a small publication made by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in March 2020. The publication features several interviews conducted with a selection of the 2018 fellows. The publication can be read and downloaded via the following link: Research Fellowship project publication