KUNST/WERK
During the renovation and renewal, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is working onthe museum of the future; both in terms of our building and as a museumorganization. As a learning organization, we would like to know from MBO studentswhat role stories, visual culture, and art play in their personal and professionaldevelopment. In collaboration with ROC Zadkine, we have set up the KUNST/WERKproject, a special vocational program.
Together with twelve vocational students studying Social Care and Social Work, artist and social worker Nilton Moreira da Silva reflects on how art can bring people together and on the importance of not losing sight of the individual. The result of these efforts is the exhibition Door het bos de bomen niet meer zien (Can't see the forest for the trees).
The aim of the KUNST/WERK project is to achieve a better connection between the cultural sector and vocational education. The exhibition was on display in April 2021 for all students at Zadkine's main location in the centre of Rotterdam. A special online exhibition could be viewed simultaneously via the Instagram page of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
Students
Twelve students from the Social Care and Social Work programmes were involved in this second edition of KUNST/WERK. Under the guidance of artists and museum professionals, they attended a series of masterclasses and workshops, including at the Boijmans Hillevliet listening post in Rotterdam South. During these sessions, they learned to think critically and creatively through engagement with art. They also explored how the work of museum staff relates to their own craftsmanship. The group investigated whether art can contribute to a sense of connectedness.
Together with Nilton Moreira da Silva, they worked towards a concrete vision on this subject. The students who participated in Door het bos de bomen niet meer zien (Through the forest, no longer seeing the trees) are: Cody, Abisai, Tyrell, Rick, Ismay, Ilker, Geraldina, Delyhlah, Sinem, Dariska, Ajai en Gino.
The artwork
The artwork is a forest that you can enter, with mirrors spinning in the middle. In the forest, you hear different voices. The title of the artwork, Door het bos de bomen niet meer zien (Through the forest, no longer seeing the trees), is a reversal of the expression door de bomen het bos niet meer zien (through the trees, no longer seeing the forest), which means that if you pay too much attention to details (the trees), you can no longer see the whole (the forest). This artwork is about not losing sight of the individual.
This project was made possible thanks to the “Art Education for MBO Students” programme of Fonds 21.