Ruta Butkute’s art practice combines sculpture, choreography and installation. Guiding through ideas of performativity and function of the sculpture, artist reassess the origins and functions of materials and forms by investigating and emphasizing their possibilities regarding movement.

“The Brutality of Spring is a collaborative project in which Anna Luczak will work with artist Sophie Schmidt to create a new installation and performance exploring the tropes of vanitas and the symbolism of spring to reflect on the brutality and pressure to perform against all odds.”

“Jiajia Qi is a Chinese artist based in the Netherlands. She describes her work as dust in the room, which has no recognisable outline and is thought to be in the wrong place. For her project My Body Just a Little Bigger Than the Whole Universe, she creates site-specific installations that incorporate interactive settings, spatial structures, and sculptural elements.”

“The subject matter of Elena Giolo’s work comes from investigations into myths, science and anthropology. The artist looks at the aesthetics of archaeological excavations and the memories these objects carry. She’s interested in the idea of digging objects from the past to explore fictional scenarios.”

“Koštana Banović is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Utrecht. She works with various media including drawing, performance, (video-)installation, and film. Her cinematic practise addresses the interaction between experimental and cinéma vérité documentary styles, and includes a reflexivity belonging to the category of essay-film. With Amarte’s contribution, Koštana will experiment with simultaneity of disciplines in a multimedia installation, creating an immersive space. Koštana refers to a form of ‘expanded cinema,’ a term that speaks to practices that take the cinematic experience beyond conventions of passive viewing.”

“Articulating the Intimate specifically addresses and critically engages with the custom pornography industry, analysing and looking at how to incorporate its production structures into the realm of video art and repurpose its acting into narratives that re-articulate the feminine.”

“Witte Goud is a project by Jun Zhang based on research about the salt mining heritages in the Netherlands.

With the exhibition Zhang researches the transformation of identity in the history of the salt shaker from sacred object to functional vessel. This transformation process critically reflect on a series of global ecological and climate crises caused by the de-enchantment process after scientific revolution in which feeling and imaginal was denigrated

Witte Goud tries to combine the craft of salt shaker in West with the salt god belief in East, and re-sanctifies the salt shaker through a series of installations and rituals, thus exploring the salt pot as a sacred object to establish a connection between human and God (nature). In this process of reconstructing the sanctity, Witte Goud seeks to go beyond the anthropocentric view of seeing natural as inert matter awaiting human exploitation and appropriation, instead it tries to see natural material as a medium that participates in the communication between man and God (nature)

Jun Zhang is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher, currently based in Amsterdam. His practice focuses on topics such as ecology future, de-anthropocentrism, indigenous sciences, alternative medicine, future archaeology, etc.

Jun has previously studied at Gerrit Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut. He has participated in various artist-in-residency programs, festivals and workshops. His work has previously been exhibited at Het Hem, Reneenee, Stedlijk museum. He has also finished series of site-specific works in the public spaces of different cities like Shanghai, Greece, Berlin and Amsterdam.”

Jonas Wijtenburg received a development grant for his project Sculpture and Fermentation. In 2021, Jonas came into contact with a natural vintner from France named Laurent Saillard. This encounter marked the beginning of an extraordinary new chapter in his art practice. During a visit, a ceramic amphora with an experimental wine caught his eye and he discovered that there are many similarities in the creation of sculpture and natural wine. He became intrigued by the combination of ceramics and wine fermentation and the way they work together and got the idea to create, in collaboration with Laurent, a series of sculptural ceramic wine vessels. One of the starting points of the project was to see if sculptural forms could influence the creation and taste of wine. At the same time, Jonas was looking for his own way of including the fermentation process in the development of his sculptures.

In dit project zal Esther van der Heijden kostuums en zachte sculpturen creëren, geïnspireerd door aquatische locaties en ecosystemen. Hierbij verdiept zij zich in de vraag hoe kostuums de interactie met onze omgeving kunnen beïnvloeden en hoe ze onze blik op hetgeen dat zij representeren kunnen verruimen.

Is het mogelijk om levenloze objecten te benaderen als clusters van frustratie, belofte en verlangens? Dit onderzoekt Jakob van Klinken in de cardboard-installatie “Signs we’ll eventually leave” Misschien worden ruimtes met deze geanimeerde objecten een ghost-world van zichzelf.

bird, plane, butterfly is een nieuwe publicatie van Antoinette Nausikaä over verstilling, verwondering en de verbinding tussen mens en natuur te midden van onze alledaagse chaotische omgeving van de stad. De foto’s, tekeningen en teksten kwamen tot stand in verschillende metropolen over de wereld.

For Welcome Stranger, Minne Kersten installed an air conditioning unit on the facade of her house in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. The object is blowing smoke rings into the outdoor air. These are visible as circular puffs and seen traveling up to the sky, to eventually evaporate into thin air.⁠
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The smoke rings are only briefly visible as they emerge out of the machine, before they evaporate and vanish. There might be an attempt to communicate, but it also talks about a kind of fleeting nature of an image. In order to slow down the viewer, the work hovers on the verge of ephemerality, disappearance or absence.⁠

Portrait photo: Nichi Baratto

Documentation photo: Fabian Landewee

bird, plane , butterfly is een nieuwe publicatie van Antoinette Nausikaä over verstilling, verwondering en de verbinding tussen mens en natuur te midden van onze alledaagse chaotische omgeving van de stad. De foto’s, tekeningen en teksten kwamen tot stand in verschillende metropolen over de wereld.

Jaehyun Kim evokes the color and texture of the natural world under the theme of the speed of things. The process of creation is one of breaking open to see what is inside; taking fragments and memories and transforming them into meaningful gestures.

Anouk Asselineau krijgt een ontwikkelbijdrage voor een nieuwe serie werken waarin ze kleding en versiering onderzoekt door middel van schrijven en beeldhouwen.

Rubén Patiño is an artist based in Amsterdam who incorporates club culture and contemporary art in electronic music. The communicative and emotional medium of sound assists in his challenging of the standardised formats of concert, public event and installation.

At the very end of 2014 I fell ill. To heal myself and the rest of the world I decided to start the healing cult Blue Creates the Open Space (Blue). When I healed myself I decided I should stay guru. As a guru my main healing power is humour, the blue heptagon is the healing image.

Anouk van Zwieten krijgt een ontwikkelbijdrage voor haar project PART TWO.

De ontwikkelingsbijdrage stelt mij in staat mijn onderzoek verder uit te werken en mij te blijven ontwikkelen als beeldend kunstenaar. Juist dit ‘vrije spel’ vereist echter een context, waarin de omstandigheden ideaal zijn en het proces ongestoord kan plaatsvinden.

Emilio Timp is een evenwichtskunstenaar. Hij zet spanning om in serene rust. Hij wil de chaos en de onrust beteugelen met eenvoud en esthetiek. Hij dwingt het niet af, maar gaat in een flow met de materie mee. De sculptuur zal waarschijnlijk nooit volmaakt zijn, maar moet wel altijd in balans zijn.

Daya Cahen ontvangt een ontwikkelbijdrage voor ‘Project Beauty’.

‘Project Beauty’ is een multimedia installatie waarin door middel van interviews en verzamelde beelden uit allerlei verschillende bronnen een beeld geschetst wordt van de schrijnende situatie van de Oeigoeren in China, maar ook van de manier waarop de informatie daarover online wordt gemanipuleerd.

Thijs Jaeger krijgt een ontwikkelbijdrage voor Mimisbrunnr.

Mimisbrunnr, is een sculptuur/installatie gemaakt uit keramiek en diverse elektronica gebaseerd op het Noorse mythologische verhaal van Mimir. In de boomstam bevindt zich een wezen dat ons aankijkt en zijn geheimen vertelt, maar wat is nog waarheid en wat is fictie in deze tijd?

Frank Koolen krijgt een ontwikkelbijdrage van Amarte voor zijn experimenten met polyester.

Frank Koolen: “Ik wil me gaan verdiepen in nieuwe sculptuur experimenten met polyester. Nadat ik de afgelopen jaren een aantal beelden in de buitenruimte heb gerealiseerd wil ik het materiaal op een kleiner schaal opnieuw leren kennen om het letterlijk en figuurlijk meer naar mijn eigen hand te kunnen zetten.”

Mathieu Schellekens krijgt een ontwikkelbijdrage van Amarte!

Met zijn grootste ets ooit, neemt Mathieu Schellekens deel aan een kunstproject waarin hij met surrealistische, hedendaagse interpretatie van Jeroen Bosch’ Tuin der Lusten, zijn liefde voor grafiek een nieuw leven probeert in te blazen en tegelijk een ode aan de nacht brengt met het project ‘Nachtkracht’.

Samen met spoken-word artiest Justin Samgar (@justinsamgar) en producer Halrin Meijers (@snippers_van_hal) realiseren zij een multidisciplinair kunstobject, waarbij de aanschouwer de ets bekijkt, en ondertussen via een koptelefoon, verbonden met de lijst waarin de ets zit, kan luisteren naar de audiotrack, geproduceerd door Halrin waarover Justins gedicht te horen is.

Schets: Mathieu Schellekens

Bob Waardenburg receives a development grant from Amarte for his installation Ruimtelijke Balans.

This installation is a meditation on daily life where, time and again, rest has to be consciously broken by action. Without taking a position, this installation will reflect on the daily balance that must be found between rest and movement, between taking time and giving time.

‘Our Silver Lining’ is an ever-growing collection of everyday moments. The videos and photos are not staged. They were shot with an iPhone 8 between the summer of 2018 and now, in various locations around the world. Now they are brought together for the first time in a publication.

Roman Nieuweboer received a development grant for ‘Zwever’.

“With this construction I will literally walk over the audience. Driven by my urge to escape the ground, I become dependent on the people between my feet and the floor.”

Ekaterina Volkova and Iskra Vukšić received a development grant from Amarte.

Vukšić & Volkova spent summer 2021 at Kamen artist residency in Bosnia and Herzegovina where they explored stories of the production of moonshine alcohol. Javna Tajna (public secret) is a performance-installation derived from interviews and observations — set in a vineyard without grapes. It unravels the connection between intergenerational knowledge and shrinking rural communities, emigration, laws, conflict and care through rakija: the spirit of the Balkans.

Vukšić & Volkova is an artistic partnership between Ekaterina Volkova and Iskra Vukšić.

Julien Thomas received a development grant for his project Co-Incidence of Light.

‘Co-Incidence of Light is an exhibition that uses installation, performance, and spoken word to probe relations between light, movement, and time.’

This project is co-developed with dancer/choreographer Marjolein Vogels, and writer Ogutu Muraya.

Paula Montecinos and Pedro Matias received a development grant for their project N/pantla.

N/pantla is a performative installation that merges live sound and resonant materialities, in co-existing imaginaries of subversion, remembrance and premonition. Through a corporeal debordering of fractured mixes and remixes, half-spoken words, half-screamed vocals, frequencies, whispers, thoughts, laughter and cries, invites to assemblage a listening through one another’s skin.

A (postnatural) sonic environment that echoes multiple voices, addressing how intimately tied, gendered and racialized capitalism are to our communal sense of self-preservation and self-perceptive processes.

N/pantla host the guest-voices of Johan Mijail, Angelo Custodio & Raoni Saleh

N/pantla is developed by visual artist Pedro Matias and sound artist Paula Montecinos. In a transdisciplinary approach they research attempts to involve the audience’s body into a dynamic ecosystem of sounds and extended sense of listening. N/pantla is a first attunement of a longer collaboration towards creating a porous living environment, from which the body echoes the broader socio-political and natural context.

Martina Dal Brollo received a development grant for her project Mobile Projections.

What stories can be gathered from the waterways, on the edge of the city? What imaginary futures can arise from urban waste? With this artistic project, I want to rethink the use of materials defined as useless and obsolete, giving them a new identity. An archive of traces and waste will be collected along the canals of Groningen and translated into a performative action projected in an urban environment during a public event in the city centre.

Karel van Laere receives a development grant from Amarte for his project Reach!

“For the Reach project, I fantasize about an arrangement in which several laparoscopic arms attack a classical still life, or, on the contrary, manage to bring a small fragile object to life. I see possibilities for a video work and/or live performance with this spectacle in the leading role.”

Anaïs Lopez received a development grant for her project Verloren Oma.

“My project is about my grandmother, who in 1946 left home, hearth and two small children to go to South America with her Nazi sweetheart. At least that’s the story within the family. While looking for my grandmother to see what has become of her and to trying to understand her choices, I discovered that there is a whole lot more to it.”

Sander Hagelaar received a development grant from Amarte for his research ‘Fluid Current’.

Water and electricity, two things that don’t go together according to our learned perception. The tension and the research is in the contrasting materials.

Artist Carmen Schabracq received a grant from Amarte.

Carmen: “During the winter months I kept a studio in an empty factory on the Hembrug site to be able to make large paintings, to further develop and investigate the theatrical aspect in my paintings and to experiment with ways of presenting in this special space named ‘De Dood’. The largest work I made is a painting of a dead horse in a bathroom after a true story by Pieke Werner. I could use the studio space via DOOR Creative Studio.”

Photo: Saskia Hardus

Artist Sjoerd Westbroek received a development grant from Amarte.

Under the title ‘Something from the middle’, he uses relief printing techniques to research the imaginative possibilities of text in graphic arts workshops. ‘Iets uit het midden’ is a position definition that represents a shift, which is at the same time concrete and fluid, and which rather explores possibilities than draw conclusions. He works with material from his own sketchbooks and texts provided by others, in exchange for a print.

Lucia Luptáková has received a development grant for the  project In Seclusion. Contemporary hide-outs.

Lucia investigates and maps a phenomenon of the corona era. Her project provides a glimpse into the private domain, in which admiration for the human ability to creatively deal with limited space is central. She is fascinated by the improvised hideaways that people have arranged in lockdown homes out of the need for a place of their own. Due to the shared vulnerability and the similarities in everyone’s search for comfort and security, the project appeals to a sense of togetherness and bridges the current forced distance.

Jaap Scheeren werkt aan een fotoroman en film met als titel Flipping The Bird. Dit verhaal speelt zich af in de duingebieden en gaat over een persoon die graag opnieuw contact wil maken met de natuur. Tijdens zijn vele wandelingen wordt hij langzaam verliefd op het landschap en de flora en fauna en ontvouwt zich een dilemma.

Een project van Bram Kuypers en Lennart de Neef.

De UFM120 is een trein die controles aan de spoorwegen uitvoert en daarbij gebruik maakt van een verticale blauwe laser. Dit voorbij razende blauwe licht is ‘s nachts een spectaculaire verschijning en bron voor geruchten over UFO’s en bovennatuurlijk fenomenen. Bram en Lennart maken een film over deze markante trein.

Amarte ondersteunt het project Future Prospects III van Patrícia Pinheiro de Sousa.

“Future prospects is een collageproject dat een simulatie, een toekomstvisie op gefragmenteerde landschappen door mijnbouwactiviteiten en verstoorde economieën nabootst. Het brengt het idee van een prospectie – als een blik in de toekomst terwijl men zich door miljoenen jaren van minerale afzettingen heen graaft – samen met de volatiliteit van de presentatie van de gegevens zelf, en hoe
deze verkeerd kunnen worden gelezen, verkeerd geïnterpreteerd, omgedraaid.”

Met Vessels (run by me, made by me) gaat Lucas Lenglet een samenwerking aan met Angelique Homberg voor het realiseren van een serie handgedraaide keramische objecten. Vessels is onderdeel van een tentoonstelling in oktober 2020 bij Stigter van Doesburg en vertrekt vanuit het idee van Prepping of het voorbereiden op een ramp.

Foto expositie: Peter Tijhuis

“Doina Daantje Donna is a transmedia and transdisciplinary narrative art project. It is a story told across mediums about a woman, Donna-Daantje-Doina, who personifies the transformations of a historical space in Amsterdam. This space, what is now called the Huygens Institute of Dutch History, was formerly the Spinhuis, one of the first female prisons in the world, Amsterdam Police Headquarters and St. Ursula’s convent. Amarte funds the weaving of the narrative tapestry that Juliacks is making that will hang in the Huygens Institute indefinitely and can be visited by the public. The tapestry dyptych, for Juliacks, is like a giant comic. It’s sequence explores the narrative through character, symbols, abstraction and thread. Here are some of the drawings Juliacks made that were adapted into the design for the tapestry.”

Beeldend kunstenaar Anouk van Zwieten ging de afgelopen maanden op zoek naar nieuwe manifestaties in grote, volledige schilderijen. “Ik zocht kleine elementen en details die ik een eigen ‘podium’ wilde geven. Deze vormen ben ik gaan vergroten en herhalen op doeken van verschillende formaten. Mijn recente werk is het resultaat van het proces waarin ik het ‘detail’ als een op zichzelf staand beeld gebruik.”