A Festival of Choices Master of Fine Arts Graduation 2012 Sandberg Instituut Amsterdam

TAMARA VAN DER LEEK P/////AKT Zeeburgerpad 53 23–26 August 2012 In her work, Tamara van der Leek uses her personal frustrations and experiences to find ways to address themes that emphasize upon folk and popular culture, in which subjects such as tradition, habit and sexuality are explored. She approaches such topics from a feminine point of view, by using imagery and symbols that capture the essence of these frustrations. Most of her tongue-in-cheek installations consist of drawings, collages, sculptures and performances.

RIET WIJNEN Kunstverein Gerard Doustraat 132 11–15 July 2012 Riet Wijnen’s work is concerned with questions and models of thinking regarding perception and how this constructs our reality. More specifically, she’s interested in the influence and autonomy of communi­cation and order. The elements from which the installations are built up come forth from the reproduction of the existing in the form of research and work. These two elements are related to one another; the work leads to research and vice versa, a mental and physical exchange of thoughts. The trails of this process include large drawings, three-dimensional work, photocopies and recently a fictive conversation.

INA MARIE SCHMIDT SMBA Rozenstraat 59 11–15 July 2012 Ina Marie Schmidt’s work consists of installations that make heavy use of photo­graphy, audio and video recordings, often historical in context. Within her practice she researches the way we use our personal and cultural archives for remembering and creating our lives. Most her work often deals with family history and how such information is transmitted.

JING JIN de Appel Arts Centre Prins Hendrikkade 142 11–15 July 2012 Jing Jin's practice focuses on the psychological suggestions that fluctuate inside and beyond external physical appearances. As visual and textual tentacles of her own brain concoctions and self-acclaimed logic of contrast, Jin's videos, photography, objects and text cover a wide range of different and sometimes complementary ideas. The classic visual exploration of light/darkness makes a recurrent theme for the artist, but is undermined as a singular leitmotif by the many additional contra­dictions that Jin also explores in her work, such as the contrasting ideas and images of the poetic and the rational; the wistful and the efficient; the playful and the utterly serious.

SIL KROL deSERVICEGARAGE Cruquiusweg 79 11–15 July 2012 Sil Krol’s work questions the relationship between power and civilisation by conduct­ing temporary interventions in public space. In recent work he has been invest­ig­ating how conventional forms of activism and free speech (protests, public speaking/discussions/assemblies, marches, gatherings for parallel institutions etc) can be merged with the open structures of new media formats used for activism (sharing information, internet activism, anonymous comments, etc).

MAKI UMEHARA Galerie Juliètte Jongma Gerard Doustraat 128a 11–15 July 2012 Maki Umehara’s work investigates the way daily media generates all manners of fiction, therefore shaping our reality. She’s interested in encountering the shifts in the meaning of things in psychological or physical dislocation, or communication that arises as a result of working processes. To perceive these processes instinctively, she uses her five senses to record what remains necessary to her.

JOUKE ANEMA P/////AKT Zeeburgerpad 53 23–26 August 2012 Jouke Anema sees himself as a painter, merely because he uses and explores the medium of paint. In most of Anema’s work, the paint becomes the performer that generates the image. His performative installations create a mise-en-scène, in which the paint causes the images to become surreal and mystical, therefore shifting away from its origin and functionality.

SANDER VAN WETTUM P/////AKT Zeeburgerpad 53 11–15 July 2012 Sander van Wettum's practice focuses on the absurdity of the everyday, which he tries to explore and capture through the usage of photography. He is interested in how the ordinary can be broken into fragments, in which mundane and ordinary situations can become alienating and ambiguous. With photographs taken all over the world, ranging from staged tableaux to documentary photography, an ever growing archive is formed. This archive does not have a fixed shape but is always in motion, constantly taking on new forms of categorization varying from disposable newspapers to spatial installations, video and performance collaborations.

‘A Festival of Choices’ emphasizes upon the relationships and choices made between the graduating student and the diverse range of institutions and organizations offered within the cultural landscape of Amsterdam.

STYRMIR ÖRN GUÐMUNDSSON W139 Warmoesstraat 139 11–15 July 2012 Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson is a conjurer of fantastic scenes. Working mostly with the medium of drawing, performance and the written language he typically starts with a broad subject and narrows it down towards a specific route. But the way it narrows itself down and what kind of result is gained is determined on the process. Sometimes the work progresses by a long meditative procedure – other times it shifts shape and character by the motivation of an object or a person – fiction or autobiography.

JOLIEN VAN HASSEL Arti-galerie, Arti et Amicitiae Rokin 114 11–15 July 2012 The works of Jolien van Hassel start from the personal. They are juxtaposed, potentially striking matter of her own close surroundings. By exploring, for example, hair or elastic bands with drawings, scans or photography, she creates sensitive imagery, which explores the essence of pictorial creation. Paper is the prominent carrier and the works balance between abstraction and figuration, which questions these everyday byproducts by revealing their hidden beauty and meaning.

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JANINA SCHIPPER Het Glazen Huis Amstelpark 11–15 July 2012 Janina Schipper’s main concern lies within the relationship between human beings, objects and the spaces they inhabit. The starting point of every work is derived from an existing space, in which she investigates its architecture; the scale, the construction and the atmosphere. These findings are developed into an idea for a work, which are often site specific. Through the usage of abstract language, she tries to focus on the experience of the viewer.

SAMANTHA THOLE Ruysdaelkade 213 11–15 July 2012 The work of Samantha Thole (Utrecht, 1982) has vibrancy to it. Where earlier works sought to validate or denounce the legitimacy of art production through labour intense but ephemeral projects; Today, the artist seems to have embraced the tangibility of the object as a commonplace for exchange. Witty and playful observations are strewn together with philosophical and literary constructs to conjure up an opulent body of work.

ARNAR ÁSGEIRSSON Rongwrong i.c.w. Galerie Fons Welters Binnenbantammerstraat 2 11–15 July 2012 Arnar Ásgeirsson practice involves video works, animations, drawings, installations and sculptures with performative aspects deal with the queston of creative ownership, originality, the relation between high- and low art, reproduction and the differences between creating and copying. Inserting objects as characters into new scenarios, creating the possibility of narratives to emerge. Believing that appropriated objects and re-produced items become works of art and shed light on their own history and their prior, current and future surroundings.