Guided tour
'Prix de Rome' and 'Blikopeners' Stedelijk Museum 10 October 2012
For many years the building of 'De Rijksacademie' at the Sarphatistraat served as barracks for
the cavalry. The building was so enormous that on the ground floor alone
approximately 200 horses could be stabled. The building's facade hides a huge
block containing technical workshops, studios, artists' documentation, a library
and art collections. Since only very few people know about it 'De Rijksacademie'
opens its doors and organizes guided tours on special occasions.
On such a special occasion presented itself on 10
October 2012. On that day a press release was issued which announced that as of
1 January 2013 the organization of the Prix de Rome will be transferred to the
Mondriaan Fund. This concludes a long period of cooperation between 'De
Rijksacademie' and the Prix de Rome. Saying farewell to the long standing
accommodation of the price was a good opportunity for looking back on the
history of the Prix de Rome. For a week,
tours of the building of 'De
Rijksacademie' were held. One of those
tours was given to a group of young Blikopeners of the Stedelijk Museum.
The group was welcomed in the Rijksacademie's great
hall and A brief overview of the history of
the Prix de Rome was given. King Louis XIV instituted it in 1666. The recipient
of this award received a stipend which enabled the artist to work for four years at the 'Académie de France' in
Rome. In 1808, during the French occupation of the Netherlands King Louis
Napoleon introduced the Prix de Rome in the Netherlands.
Starting in
1870, the Prix de Rome was awarded by 'De Rijksacademie' and until
recently this was also the place where the participating artists could work for three months on their submission for
this art prize. Because 'De
Rijksacademie' possesses a large number
of technical workrooms it can offer the artists the opportunity to experiment
with every conceivable material and all possible techniques. During the tour
there was ample opportunity to have a good look at the workrooms.
The tour started in the collection depot. It was
explained that in earlier times the artists that were participating in the Prix
de Rome contest had to complete a prescribed commission within a week. The
classical education from that time can still be seen in the engravings and
drawings collection which is retained here. Gertjan Forrer of the graphics
department explained with great enthusiasm the graphic techniques that were
used and allowed the group members to
inspect the carvings with a magnifying glass.
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| The Blikopeners inspect the graph collection with a magnifying glass |
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Interest in the trial version of Ryan Gander's work of
art
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The next place that was visited was the wood shop
where the group was received with an enormous amount of noise. This noise was
caused by a great number of running
sawing and sanding machines and therefore it was not easy to follow the
explanation about the workshop. One of
the exhibits on display which drew much attention was the famous zebra wood
chess game of Ryan Gander. This was a good opportunity to explain the meaning
of Conceptual Art.
Next the tour visited the sculpture depot which houses
an extraordinary collection of sculptures of recipients of the Prix de Rome.
One of the works of art that could be viewed here was a plaster cast of a
creation of Wessel Couzijn. The original thereof brought him a gold medal as a reward in 1936.
Then followed a visit to the pottery workshop. Pieter
Kemink, who is the chief of this department, casually mentioned that there was
'something' of Ai Wei Wei in the oven. Of course that made quite an impression.
Also impressive was a scale model of Anouk Vogel and Johan Selbing that was
especially exhibited for the occasion. There were many trees in this model, all
of them made of ceramics. The 3D printer that was present in this workshop was
also viewed with great interest and deemed 'very cool'.
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| Arend Nijkamp explains about different kinds of paint |
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| Maquette Anouk Vogel and Johan Selbing |
The last visit concerned the paint laboratory where
Arend Nijkamp gave a very knowledgeable explanation about many different kinds
of paints and resins. He explained about some new environmentally friendly
methods to make resin from corn and potatoes.
Text: Anja Marbus
Photos: Jordi Huisman
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