The House is on Fire

Call to Rijksakademie community

December 2024

This is a critical time for the Rijksakademie:

12 staff members, including those in long-standing appointments and key administrative positions, have stepped down in the last 18 months;

3 members of the supervisory board quit consecutively last year;

only 1 member of the supervisory board is an alum, with the majority represent finance, real estate, or management sectors; and

there will be no director as of this coming summer (2025).

All of this when there is a

250,000 euros deficit in the institutional budget for 2025-2028 given the lack of renewal of subsidies from the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (AFK)

and

350 million euros will be slashed from the Dutch culture sector budget by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), affecting the whole ecosystem of art institutions in The Netherlands, including the Rijksakademie.

Residents, alumni, and art professionals: this is the time to step forward. Start asking questions. The Rijksakademie needs you as much as a new director and supervisory board. Let this new leadership emerge from the global alumni network that the Rijksakademie has built over the past 35 years. There are few art institutions worldwide with such a diverse and extensive group of artists and art professionals from which to draw experience, knowledge and vision for dynamic and decisive leadership. Demand that the Rijksakademie grants alumni a high degree of co-determination, as well as to its advisors and staff—with whom we stand in solidarity as our close creative collaborators. Do not detach yourself: instead, help bring the institution forward, drawing inspiration from generations of previous residents that have raised their voice in the past during difficult times.

The Rijksakademie needs good governance, yet it also requires a vision that emerges from a community of shared interests: more majelis (in the spirit of ruangrupa) and less market-driven managerialism that does not represent the history of this institution. The first sentence of the Rijksakademie’s 2023 annual report says it all: “Artists have a transformative power in the world.” Let artistic competence and organizational integrity anchor decision-making to guide the Rijksakademie during this crisis. Let us have a new leadership and supervisory board appointed by broad recommendation and with transparency, involving artists and advisors from all continents, and thus pave the way to transform the Rijksakademie into a true artist institution.

Co-sign the Letter to the supervisory board

Letter to the supervisory board

December 2024

To the Rijksakademie Supervisory Board,

We as current residents, alumni, advisors, and art professionals with a personal and professional connection to the Rijksakademie, are alarmed about the rapid changes in the reorganisation and leadership positions of this most special institution. It is our opinion that opaque decision-making on your part are distorting the institutional memory of the Rijkskademie and raise serious ethical and governance questions that need an urgent response.

During the course of the last 18 months, we have observed multiple staff departures, including those of Martijntje Hallman and Susan Gloudemans – two veteran staff members of the Rijksakademie – as well as the three representatives that have stepped down from your Supervisory Board. Less than six months after Hallman and Gloudemans, the announcement of Emily Pethick’s departure only further deepened our worries. All of this comes at a time when the cultural sector in The Netherlands will face severe governmental budget cuts. Likewise, substantial funding from the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, a key partner to the Rijksakademie, has not been renewed. Given this financial instability, we question the rushed vacancy calls for a Senior Development Officer and Support employee that were posted on December 16th and 19th with a January 9th deadline – a mere fifteen business days for receiving applications, all during the end of year holidays. We are concerned this may indicate there are pre-selected candidates for these positions, only further reinforcing a current lack of transparency at the Rijksakademie.

We fear that all of the above reveals a lack of structural balance and an acute crisis in leadership around organisational matters. Even worse, we are concerned that decisions regarding staff and governance are being made without the best interests of the organization in mind and favoring private appeals of your representatives, with wide-reaching effects both within the Rijksakademie and far beyond in its global community. This endangers the Rijksakademie’s path forward towards a sustainable future.

Given all the above, we ask the Supervisory Board at the Rijkskademie to uphold to the principles outlined in the Cultural Governance Code, and respond to our questions in person with a public conversation that offers transparent accountability. These are some of our main requests:

Why has the Rijksakademie announced the departure of its entire directorial team – Martijntje Hallman, Susan Gloudemans, and Emily Pethick – within just six months?
What is the state of the search for a new director and head of residency?
Why did three members of the Supervisory Board – Bregtje van der Haak, Defne Ayas, and Prof. dr. Vinod Subramaniam – step down almost simultaneously last year without any replacement?
Why is over half of the current Supervisory Board comprised of private sector figures in finance, real estate, and banking, with little or no artistic expertise?
How will the Rijksakademie maintain its institutional memory in this new phase, given that the majority of staff with original or historic ties are no longer present?

Last but not least, we would like to carry out a community audit to independently assess the Rijksakademie’s financial movements over the last few years. In other words, we ask you to “open the books” of the Rijksakademie to understand decisions made on behalf of the Supervisory board. We specifically wish to elucidate any potential conflicts of interests between standing members of the Supervisory Board members, specific philanthropic sources, and allocations of funds.

We would like to have a public meeting with you, simultaneously in-person and online, about these and other concerns we will share on Friday, January 17, 2025 at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten—the date known internationally as Art’s birthday.

As members of the Rijksakademie community, some of whom far supersede your tenure in the Supervisory Board, we urge you to respond with the fullest transparency of the situation. We remind you that any disregard to us as an artistic community strongly runs counter to the Rijksakademie’s longstanding history and reputation, which we strongly feel has veered course in the last few years. Please respond to this communication at the earliest opportunity.

Signatories

(scroll down in this yellow area for full list)

Anonymous, Alumni, 1990 - 1992

Anonymous, Alumni, 2005 - 2006

Anonymous, Alumni, 2011 - 2012

Anonymous, Alumni, 2013 - 2014

Anonymous, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Anonymous, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Anonymous, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Anonymous, Current resident, 2024 - 2026

Anonymous, Staff, 20** - 2024

Anonymous, Staff, 20** - present

Anonymous, Curator

Anonymous, Artist in solidarity

Anonymous, Friend, 2021 - present

Noor Abed, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Daniel Aguilar Ruvalcaba, Alumni, 2020 - 2022

Carlos Amorales, Advisor 2009 - 2019, Alumni 1996 - 1997

Karel Appel, Student, 1942 - 1944

Yu Araki, Alumni, 2008

Johann Arens, Alumni, 2014 - 2015

Chupan Mehraneh Atashi, Alumni, 2013 - 2014

Özgür Atlagan, Alumni, 2019 - 2021

Nathan Azhderian, Alumni, 2013 - 2014

Mercedes Azpilicueta, Alumni, 2015 - 2016

Su Jin Bae, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Lise Haller Baggesen, Alumni, 1996 - 1997

Paulien Barbas, Alumni, 2013 - 2014

Maria Barnas, Advisor 2010 - 2025, Alumni 1999 - 2001

Marcel van den Berg, Alumni, 2013 - 2014

Ansuya Blom, Advisor, 1996 - present

Michael Blum, Alumni, 2000 - 2001

Milena Bonilla, Alumni, 2009 - 2010

Tonny Bos, Concerned member of the public

Matthijs de Bruijne, Alumni 1999 - 2000

Kévin Bray, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Deniz Buga, Alumni, 2011 - 2012

Ruta Butkute, Alumni, 2014 - 2015

Stéphane Calais, Advisor, 2008 - present

Tomas Celizna, Graphic designer, 2019 - present

Banu Cennetoğlu, Advisor 2021 - present, Almuni 2002 - 2004

Michiel Ceulers, Alumni, 2010 - 2012

Binna Choi, Curator, 2004 - present

Gaelle Choisne, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Omar Chowdhury, Alumni 2018 - 2019

Peter Cleutjens, Alumni, 1993 - 1994

Jacky Connolly, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Isabelle Cornaro, Advisor, 2014 - present

Irene de Craen, Alumni, 2020 - 2021

Sara Culmann, Alumni, 2019 - 2021

Dina Danish, Alumni, 2009 - 2010

Ade Darwaman, Alumni, Advisor 2020 - 2022, Alumni 1998 - 1999

Anna Dasovich, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Jeannoux van Deijck, Alumni 2012 - 2013

Timo Demollin, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Bert Derkx, Advisor, 2019 - present

Sebastian Diaz Morales, Alumni, 2000 - 2001

Vince Donders, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Elisa –––, Concerned member of the public

Nare Eloyan, Current resident, 2024 - 2026

Tanja Engelberts, Alumni, 2019 - 2021

Cevdet Erek, Alumni, 2005 - 2006

Deniz Eroglu, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Ali Eslami, Alumni, 2022 - 2023

Alex Farrar, Alumni, 2015 - 2016

Maarten Festen, Partner of former director, 2010 - 2018

Nike Festen, Concerned member of the public, 1990 - 2024

Zachary Formwalt, Alumni, 2008 - 2009

Alicia Framis, Alumni 1995 - 1996, Advisor 2010-

Mandy Franca, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Dora Garcia, Alumni, 1989 - 1992

Juan Arturo García, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Jim van Geel, Staff, 2021 - 2023

Robert Glas, Alumni, 2020 - 2022

Ana María Gómez López, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Catalina González, Alumni, 2019 - 2021

Jacqueline Grandjean, Colleague, 2012 - 2021

Rubén Grilo, Alumni, 2011 - 2012

Rumiko Hagiwara, Alumni, 2008 - 2009

Winifred Herbstein, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Femke Herregraven, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Roderick Hietbrink, Alumni, 2011 - 2012

Abul Hisham, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Megan Houtger, Researcher | Community

Hans van Houwelingen, Alumni, 1985 - 1988

Omar Imam, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Jaki Irvine, Alumni, 2010 - present

Patrick Janssens, Concerned member of the public

Katarina Jazbec, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Kahee Jeong, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Florence Jung, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Donghwan Kam, Alumni, 2019 - 2021

Annelies Kamen, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Polina Kanis, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Zeynep Kayan, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Sonia Kacem, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Sam Keogh, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Yazan Khalili, Alumni, 2020 - 2022

Arnout Killian, Alumni, 1996 - 1997

Maria Kley, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Aukje Koks, Alumni, 2007 - 2009

Svebor Kranjc, Alumni, 1989 - 1991

Karel van Laere, Alumni, 2023 - 2024

Reyhan Lal, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Sarah van Lamsweerde, Fellow artist

Patricio Larrambebere, Alumni, 1999 - 2000

Jonathan Lemke, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Gabriel Lester, Alumni, 1999 - 2000

Mauricio Limon, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Lucas Lugarinho, Current resident, 2024 - 2026

Fiona Lutjenhuis, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Tala Madani, Advisor 2011 - 2015, Alumni 2007 - 2009

Basir Mahmood, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Vibeke Mascini, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Bea McMahon, Alumni, 2012 - 2013

Maryanto, Alumni, 2012 - 2013

Inge Meijer, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Nathaniel Mellors, Alumni, Advisor, 2007 - 2019

Mónica de Miguel de Rubio, Alumni, 1996 - 1997

Aernout Mik, Advisor, 2000 - present

Mihnea Mircan, Advisor, 2016 - present

Ceel Mogami de Haas, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Christine Moldrickx, Alumni, 2015 - 2016

Jota Mombaça, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Kianoosh Motallebi, Alumni, 2010 - 2011

Melvin Moti, Advisor, 2014 - present

Tero Nauha, Alumni, 1999 - 2000

Mike Nelson, Advisor, 2008 - present

Chathuri Nissansala, Current resident, 2024 - 2026

Astrid Nobel, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Katja Novitskova, Alumni, 2013 - 2014

Ahmet Öğüt, Alumni, 2007 - 2008

Min Oh, Alumni, 2011 - 2012

Serge Onnen, Alumni, 1989 - 1992

Thierry Oussou, Alumni, 2015 - 2016

Ai Ozaki, Alumni 2022 - 2024

Ian Page, Alumni, 2019 - 2021

Jesús Palomino, Alumni, 2001 - 2002

Molly Palmer, 2019 - 2021

Christodoulos Panayiotou, Advisor, 2016 - present

Zuqiang Peng, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Josje Peters, Alumni, 2010 - 2011

Apoline de Pont, Concerned visitor

Giulia Principe, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Josse Pyl, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Aldo Ramos, Alumni, 2019 - 2021

Monica Ragazzini, Tech fellow, 2023

Yashaswini Raghunandan, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Rachel Rakes, Curator

Belit Sağ, Alumni 2013 - 2014

Hend Samir, Alumni, 2020 - 2022

Irem Sezer Kalyoncu, Concerned art professional

Bert Scholten, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Floris Schönfeld, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Silke Schönfeld, Alumni, 2020 - 2022

Gabriëlle Schleijpen, Friend, artistic director / head of program DAI

Martijntje van Schooten, Staff, 2008 - 2016

Caterina Silva, Alumni, 2014 - 2015

Gregg Smith, Alumni, 2001 - 2002

Mikołaj Sobczak, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Praneet Soi, Alumni, 2002 - 2003

Sarah van Sonsbeeck, Alumni 2008 - 2009

Natasha Soobramanien, Advisor, 2021 - present

Dieuwke Spaans, Alumni, 2001 - 2003

Eva Spierenburg, Alumni, 2015 - 2016

Joscha Steffens, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Zamir Suleymanov, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Takanori Suzuki, Alumni, 2020 - 2022

Danae Tapia, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Roy Taylor, Staff, 1986 - 2016

Miloš Trakilović, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Leonid Tsvetkov, Alumni, 2008 - 2009

Ádám Ulbert, Alumni, 2016 - 2017

Kubilay Mert Ural, Alumni, 2017 - 2018

Benny Vandendriessche, Concerned friend

Corien Van Eyck van Heslinga, Curator

Daniel Vorthuys, Alumni, 2022 - 2024

Dan Walwin, Alumni, 2012 - 2013

Bo Wang, Alumni, 2018

Guido van der Werve, Alumni, 2006 - 2007

Marit Westerhuis, Alumni, 2018 - 2020

Martine Willekens, Concerned Friend

Mattie van der Worm, 1985 - 1988

Shen Xin, Alumni, 2018 - 2019

Müge Yilmaz, Alumni, 2013 - 2014

Peng Zhang, Alumni, 2021 - 2023

Sylvie Zijlmans, Alumni, 1987 - 1989

Tirdad Zolghadr, Advisor, 2008 - present

Current Rijksakademie supervisory board and board of directors

Marian Scheele

supervisory board, co-chair

(since June 2023)

Marian Scheele is Senior Counsel in the Financial Markets Group and specialises in the financial regulatory and legal aspects of financial institutions, with a focus on Fintechs (incl. banks, payment service providers, crypto and blockchain companies) and asset managers (incl. fund managers and funds). She leads the Fintech Team and co-leads the Funds Team of Clifford Chance Amsterdam, and led The Clifford Chance team which advised the major shareholder of IMC (Hartwig) in relation to the update of IMC’s corporate holding structure.

Link: Clifford Chance
Link: Tech Group in Amsterdam

Karl Guha

supervisory board, member

(since May 2021)

Karl Guha has more than 30 years of experience in international banking. He started his career in 1989 at ABN Amro, where he held various positions until 2008. From 2008 to 2013 he served as Group Chief Risk Officer at Unicredit. From 2013 to 2021, he was Chairman of the Managing Board and CEO at Van Lanschot Kempen. He is currently the Supervisory Board chairman of ING, a non-executive director at SHV Holdings and a senior advisor at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey.

Link: ING - Karl Guha as Supervisory Board chairman
Link: NRC - De nieuwe president-commissaris van ING heeft in ieder geval ervaring met bonusrellen

Otobong Nkanga

supervisory board, co-chair

(since May 2021)

Otobong Nkanga is an artist that lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium. She studied at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife-Ife, Nigeria; the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and did her masters in the Performing Arts at DasArts, Advanced Research in Theatre and Dance studies in Amsterdam. Nkanga has been an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam in 2002-04, DAAD Berlin programme in 2013-14 and at the Martin Gropius-Bau in 2019.

Link: Otobong Nkanga

Constantijn van Oranje-Nassau

supervisory board, member

(since September 2019)

As Special Envoy Constantijn is on a mission to turn the Netherlands into a unicorn nation. He and his team connect the Dutch Tech-ecosystem to help ambitious and promising Dutch Tech companies grow fast internationally by improving their access to capital, market, talent and technologies. Constantijn co-founded StartupFest Europe, the biggest start-up event ever organized in The Netherlands. He used to be Chief of Staff of VP Neelie Kroes at the European Commission in charge of the Digital Agenda and lead the Brussels office of the RAND Corporation. He is currently also Director Digital Technology & Macro Strategy at Macro Advisory Partners in London and New York and Edge Fellow at Deloitte Centre for the Edge.

Link: Constantijn van Oranje
Link: The Netherlands: The Stables for Raising Unicorns

Emily Pethick

general director

(since 2018, steps down May ‘25)

Emily Pethick has been the director of the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam since 2018. She was previously the director of The Showroom, London (2008–2018), the director of Casco, Office for Art, Design and Theory, in Utrecht (2005-2008) and curator at Cubitt, London (2003-2004). She has contributed to numerous publications and co-edited books, including mongraphs by Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Ricardo Basbaum, Dave Hullfish Bailey and The Otolith Group, and readers Artistic Ecologies: New Compasses and Tools (2022), Cluster: Dialectionary (2014), Circular Facts (2011), Casco Issues X and X (all Sternberg Press). She has participated in numerous juries for artist awards, including the 2017 Turner Prize.

Link: DAI - Emily Pethick

Patricia de Weichs de Wenne

interim director Internal Affairs

(since July ‘24)

interim manager

(August ‘23 – June ‘24)

Patricia de Weichs de Wenne's expertise lies in (Interim) director/manager, manager, strategic advisor and supervisor. She is a current member of the supervisory board of the Amsterdam Museum. She is active as an interim manager, organizational advisor, coach and confidant, from her own agency De Weichs Advies. She worked for more than ten years as business director of the Dordrechts Museum organization and eight years as supervisor (vice-chairman) of the Wereldmuseum. She also worked as director of the Real Estate Company of the municipality of Dordrecht.

Link: Linked-In Patricia de Weichs de Wenne

Loïc Aballéa

business manager

(since September 2023)

Before becoming business manager at the Rijksakademie, Loïc Aballéa has been a finance manager at Amerpodia (2015-2023), Felix Meritis (2015-2023), and De Nieuwe Liefde (2015-2023).

Link: Linked-In Loïc Aballéa

Contact

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