Best City For Artists
Magnus came here from Sweden with the naïve intention of studying art for a year. A dozen years on he's still here, and considers the Amsterdam art world his home away from home. In his own work he deals with how memory affects our perception of the world. He gets inspiration from cats, Indians and riding trains. Magnus is our guide to this city’s multi-faceted array of visual culture.
Art and the city
With a rich history of artists, a society and infrastructure that genuinely supports the arts, and a good quality of life, Amsterdam offers a great place for artists to live, learn and work. The Amsterdam metropolitan area is fairly small but is matched by the feel of a much bigger town. Everything from top quality galleries to art supply shops are all within close proximity.
Schools of art
A determining factor to Amsterdam’s vibrant artist community is the international aspect of the city itself. Roughly 40% of Amsterdam’s inhabitants are foreigners, a number that is reflected in the art-scene. Reasons for this could be that it’s relatively cheap to live here and it’s fairly easy to find studios to work at.
But, in my opinion, it’s really down to the educational institutions of Amsterdam; they attract artists from all over the world to come here. Many international artists have fallen in love with the city and ended up staying long after their graduation.
Gerrit Rietveld Academy
In 1997 I came to Amsterdam in order to enroll at the renowned Gerrit Rietveld Academy.
Just like the Stedelijk Museum at that time, the school was temporarily resting on its laurels following great achievements in previous decades. Luckily for the city’s cultural climate, both institutions have since decided to start moving with the times.
Rietveld Academy’s “basic year” allows beginner students to test the waters and get a taste of the school’s many different departments. After the introductory year you choose a direction and go on for three more years to graduate with a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts (BFA).
Master your skill
Many follow up a BFA with a masters programme (MFA) at the Sandberg Institute. The Sandberg Institute is affiliated with the Rietveld Academy and is the only institution in Amsterdam to offer master programmes in Fine Arts, Applied Arts and Design.
An atelier of your own
Contrary to the extrovert profile of the Sandberg Institute, the artist initiative-turned-institution Atelier was once a very closed environment. Students were encouraged to not show their work outside the school walls while enlisted. This has fortunately changed over the last years, and a very important aspect of your development as an artist is to exhibit publicly.
Not starving
Last but not least; the Rijksacademie. Don’t be fooled by it’s name, this is not a school but a post-graduate residency program. As such it is one of the most prestigious in the world. Word is: its alumni boast the highest percentage of museum, gallery and institutional shows compared to any other post-grad programme.These four institutions all provide very different approaches to artistic enterprise and by doing so they help create the diversity of Amsterdam’s art scene.
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