What is “access” and why should we care about it? This conversation between Aimi Hamraie and Pernilla Phillip will highlight practical and political frameworks for thinking about access. Contrasting disability right and disability justice, the conversation will explore how ideas of care, justice, intersectionality, technological hacking, and critical design can transform how we think about access, beyond checklists and accommodations. Participants will have an opportunity to engage in a collaborative practice of care and access during the second half of the event.

Balancing studies and well-being isn’t always easy. That’s why Well-being Days, brought to you by Unsettling and the Student Counsellors, are here at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy—a dedicated space to pause, recharge, and explore supportive practices for a more balanced life.

Unsettling has invited poet CAConrad for an annual artist talk:

Collaboration Station is organized with Unsettling, Platform BK, De Appel & Lumbung Practice @ Sandberg Instituut.

Collective reading session #2 with Maartje Fliervoet, Arafeh Riahi, Martín La Roche Contreras

This project investigates the relationship between speech and action in relation to legal and/or cultural prohibitions on women, life and freedom in the public space. In collaboration with ten artists, a series of sound pieces are produced; a speculative narrative of a public art project, situated in/at specific sites in their respective cities —Tehran’s underground transport system and The Hague’s train/tram stations.

Screening of IMPASSE, a film by Rahmaneh Rabani & Bahman Kiarostami.

In the situation of political, social and economic crisis of post 2009 election in Iran, seven independent woman documentary film makers talk about their personal and professional lives, concerns and challenges in a seven-part autobiographic film.

23 APRIL 2024
17—18:00
location : de Ateliers, Stadhouderskade 86

Zoom lecture by Setareh Shohadaei:

18 April 2024
17:00-19:00
Unsettlingbar

Six sessions programmed by Arefeh Riahi. Open to the public.

This program is to raise greater critical awareness of the ongoing situation in Iran, and to provoke throughs on this great opportunity to imagine a society otherwise — not only in Iran by across the world. Furthermore, it is to support conversations and reflections on the role of imagination as resistance — imagination as a gesture that cannot be surveilled by state authorities.

In this artist talk/moving session we will examine what it truly means to be an artist. Today, we embark on a journey deep into the essence of artistic identity. Through a compelling talk and immersive physical exploration, we will navigate the complexities of what it means to truly embody the artist’s existence.

During this workshop, De Rouse will guide collective conversations around the thematic elements that occupy him in his artistic practice. With input from the participants, these conversations will organically unfold, leading to serendipitous territories of exploration. Collaboratively, the participant will document their reasoning, visually materialising the dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives as minds move through various spaces.

Dagmar Bosma is a trans* artis and writer who is active in the fight for Palestinian liberation. As part of the collective ‘Sit-in for Palestine NL’, they organize and ongoing series of protest sit-ins at railway stations in the Netherlands, inspired by the creative strategies of activist groups like ACT UP. Dagmar publicly stated that they will direct a significant amount of their time as an artist who is state-subsidised by the Mondrian Fund to organising actions for Palestine. He is currently based in Rotterdam, where he studied fine arts and the Piet Zwart Institute. Dagmar works as a freelance artist and art writer, and as an editor at literary magazine nY. Their writing on art has been published by platforms like Metropolis M, Mister Motley and Flash Art Magazine.

Mercedes formed Oo(y)ster Mums together with artists and curators Katia Krupennikova, Maya Watanabe and Sara Giannini. Oo(y)ster Mums is an informal mutual support group of art workers, friends and mothers based in Amsterdam Oost, Recently, Oo(y)ster Mums came together to organize public events around pedagogies of resistance as a reaction to the genocide unfolding in Gaza and urged by the complicity of Western governments, institutions and mainstream media.

Next to her artistic practice, Mercedes is the Head of Department of the TXT Department at Rietveld Academie.

...about (among other things) radical self-care, the ambiguous connection between roots, kin and self expression.

We are all of us givers and receivers of care, all throughout our lives. According to Lynn Berger, it is time for a revolution in the way we view, value and give care. Artists can play an important role in bringing about this change, next to activists, academics, policy-makers and politicians.
Without care, children don’t grow up, the sick don’t get better, and the elderly don’t grow old gracefully. Care is at the core of human civilisation, and it’s what makes society go around day in and day out. Care is what makes us human — and yet we rarely view it that way. Why is it so hard to see care for what it is, and what should be done to change that?

Stories to Sleep to is a performance series hosting storytellers whose practice resonates with the decolonial theory of slowing down by sharing bedtime stories. BIPOC artists are invited to lull you asleep as they weave together bedtime stories inspired by their cultures

In this 7th session we embrace a term coined by the French curator and Documentation X-organizer Cathérine David — retro-perspective — to allow us to look back at what we experienced and talked about the first six sessions, and to look forward with the knowledge we gained.

To organise a focused meeting, we invite you to reflect on the most intense moment during the past months. Was it the conference on Motherhood in the arts? Was it Natascha Hegenbeek’s three-journey or Delphine Bedel activist lecture on inequality in the arts? Or was it the being and talking together in a safe space? Which topics did you find stimulating and which not? And, not in the last place: how do you think we should proceed?

The Learning Palestine sessions are about sharing and disseminating the knowledge on the history of the ongoing oppression and resistance in Palestine, by telling personal stories and learning how history is told from the point of view of the zombies. They are in-person, intimate, 3-4 hours immersive sessions through which the story of Palestine is told through time and place, using the militant pedagogical techniques of drawing and writing, without showing images or pre-made visuals.

Join the workshop by dancer/choreographer/curatur Simomo Bouj:
FEB 22
14:00-17:00
@ the Gym

This session consists of a symposium, held by the Flemish Cultural space de Brakke Grond in Amsterdam, offering a program with Dutch and English lectures, panel discussions, workshops and art.

Workshop by Dutch artist Femmy Otten.

February 8
16:00-18:00
@ unsettlingbar (FedLev building)

Unsettling presents and inquisitive, intergenerational journey, during 3 months, starting from January 18th.

Stories to Sleep to is a performance series hosting storytellers whose practice resonates with the decolonial theory of slowing down by sharing bedtime stories. BIPOC artists are invited to lull you asleep as they weave together bedtime stories inspired by their cultures

Unsettling Rietveld Sandberg is welcoming artist Yazan Khalili. Yazan works in and out of Palestine, currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he is a PhD candidate at Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), University of Amsterdam.
Yazan is an architect, visual artist, and cultural producer. His works have been exhibited in several major exhibitions, including among others: Documenta fifteen 2022, KW, Berlin 2020, MoCA Toronto 2020, New Photography, MoMA 2018, Jerusalem Lives, Palestinian Museum, 2017. He is the co-founder of Radio Alhara in 2020, and The Question of Funding collective, 2022.

Stories to Sleep to is a performance series hosting storytellers whose practice resonates with the decolonial theory of slowing down by sharing bedtime stories. BIPOC artists are invited to lull you asleep as they weave together bedtime stories inspired by their cultures.

The Rietveld Sandberg Library and the Art & Spatial Praxis research group invite you to a morning of dialogue and learning on Wednesday 6th of December from 10:00 to 11.45 on the Theory Stairs with speakers Jeff Handmaker and Isabel Awad, moderated by Ali T. As’ad. They will explore narratives surrounding polarisation, media inclusion/exclusion, and apartheid regimes in the light of Israel and Palestine.

30 November @ unsettlingbar
17:00-19:00

This two-day experiential workshop by María Reyes and Mar Maiques is aimed at creatives / facilitators / trainers / activists / therapists and others who want to:

Gregory Robert better known as Gogo Lupin (artist name): A visual artist and dancer disturbed by the colour pink.

Since 2011, the one nicknamed Gogo, took his first steps in the fashion world. Spotted by the photographer Kira Bunse, Gogo quickly collaborated with brands such as Nike, Lacoste, Adidas, Evian, Burberry, Gucci, Hogan and Pigalle to name a few. Followed by publications in famous magazines including Vogue, I-D France, GQ, Numéro, Highsnobiety and more.

The program will happen twice a month and the time frame will be defined by the facilitator. On Wednesday, we start with the first event. More information about the whole program and how to participate or contribute will be announced at end of this week!

Artist Talk by Lemi Ghariokwu
2 NOV 2023 13—15:00
at Unsettling Bar

+

No Healing Without Repair
28 NOV 2023 13—15:00
at the Black Archives
(meet in front of the IJ / In front of the door on Saturday 13:00 The Black Archives, Zeeburgerdijk 21, 1093 SK, Amsterdam)

With ‘BLACK PRESENCE’ during the Dutch Slavery Memorial Year (1 July 2023 to 1 July 2024) unsettling is organizinga 3 month long weekly gatherings and conversations highlighting several black perspectives and perspectives of artists of color, showcasing art practices, workshops and going on walks visiting different organizations throughout Amsterdam amongst others Black Archives and Bijlmer Believers in Amsterdam and within the Netherlands and how this history still plays a role in the lives of many today.

We are pleased to announce this year new session of “If you could ask something to a lawyer for free what would it be?”, we have invited Jeremy Bierbach, an immigration lawyer, to join us for an enlightening conversation organized by Unsettling in collaboration with the nonEU support about working with a non-EU status, visa applications after graduation, and employment prospects.

You are invited to unsettlingbar Opening Party on 5th of July, Wednesday, starting from 18:00 at the Sandberg Building.

For over 300 years, adults and children from various parts of Africa, were abducted and shipped across the Atlantic in inhuman conditions, by mostly Dutch slave traders, to the former Dutch colonies of Suriname and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten. The indigenous peoples of the numerous Dutch colonies were not spared either. In Asia, enslaved people were traded to areas under the administration of the United East India Company (VOC). For generations, people were born into slavery. They were forced into space labour for their entire lives, serving the Dutch plantation owners.

Artistic vocal workshop with Naama Freedman.

Unsettling and Near East Union invite you to a performance evening by friends of Artists in Solidarity Netherlands, taking place at De Brakke Grond on 20 May!

2 SESSIONS to deconstruct the term ‘URGENCY’ with Siwar Krai(y)tem and Rasha Dakkak.

Series of lectures, discussions, talks and interactions inspired by folklore, archetypes, mythology and symbols. The concept of this series is based on the often-occurring theme in folk tales of the hero’s quest. As an artist Luba Matyunina is interested in how traditional mythology lives in our contemporary culture, adapts itself and is appropriated in different media. How mythologies of the past continue to affect our consiousness and self-perception.

A reading session and conversation on friendship and collaboration with Fiep van Bodegom, on the basis of Marc Fischer's text 'Against Competition'.

You are invited to the first workshop of TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH series of this year: REWORKING GOSSIP CULTURE
with Nisala Sathyajith Saheed

In this workshop, Ella will discuss their journey through the world of tattoos as a queer BPOC. The history of (queer) tattooing and its implications today will play a central role in this workshop.

unsettling presents the LGBTQIA+ month program: OUTTHERE

17:00-19:00

from 19:00 to 21:00 @ BC Building, Theory Room, 4th Floor

starts on 23rd of MARCH
19:00 — 21:00 @ Theory Stairs
6 WORKSHOPS
by AFIAH VIJLBRIEF & ELLA SMITH JR.
Dates TBA

Calling POC and/or queer students:

Time: 17:00 — 19:00
Location: 4th floor BC Building

for POC students only

13 - 20 - 27th of JANUARY
13:00 — 17:00
Theory Room 1 : BC Building
3 Thursday’s Workshop for POC Students & Unions & Public event
by DANNY SOEKARNSINGH

CA CONRAD @ Theory Room, 4th Floor, BC Building - 10:00-16:00 on 9TH + THURSDAY 10TH OF DECEMBER

SARA SANTANA & MARIA PARIS @ Theory Room, 4th Floor, BC Building - 17:00-19:00 on 18TH + 25TH OF NOVEMBER

LYNNÉE DENISE @ Theory Room, 4th Floor, BC Building - 17:00-19:00

On October 14, we invite you to learn more about the Palestinian resistance and resilience with a film screening of Beyond the Front Lines at 17:00 in the Sandberg Auditorium on the 3rd floor of the BC building. The following day, on October 15, there will be a talk on Zoom at 11:00 with the director of the film, Alexandra Dols, and Dr. Samah Jabr who is featured in the film; moderated by Saja Amro, a student from Disarming Design who also co-organized this event.

A workshop with Sage Crump from the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute

Unsettling and the Asian Union is collaborating on a series of events for the month of May to critically engage with issues around Asian stereotypes and identity and bring awareness to anti-Asian racism in Europe and beyond.

This February, unsettling presents two events in the programme "In Queerness, I Open Up"

This February, unsettling presents two events in the programme "In Queerness, I Open Up"

To close off this year where we have all been introduced to a new (and sometimes tedious) way of being together online. Unsettling invites you to a:

Time: 10:00 to 13:00 (ONLINE)

Wednesday, November 11
17:00 @ zoom

November 5th & 12th
Time: 10:00 to 13:00 (ONLINE)

17:00-19:00 (online)

15:00-17:00

We will start this 2hr relaxation session by laying on the floor as a supporting structure that caries our bodies into the state of resting.

15:00-17:00

15:00-17:00 on Zoom

15:00-17:00 on Zoom

15:00-17:00

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM. As part of out unsettling reading group series in these times we will have Olave Nduwanje, who invites you to a participatory session on the revolutionary power of rest. Olave is a non-binary trans femme, born in Burundi, raised in The Netherlands, working in Brussels, and loving on Mark Zuckerberg’s internet.

Two sessions with Camille Barton.

PERCUSSION WORKSHOP
At the Percussion Workshop you learn more than just beating on a drum. It's also about working together, listening to each other, stepping out of your comfort zone, daring to present and you can put your emotions into it.

BANNER WORKSHOP
At the banner workshop, you will make banners on textile or paper in preparation for International Women's day.

Date: Thursday, February 13
Time: 17.00 - 19.00
Location: Theory Room 1, BC Building

17:00 -19:00, The Sandberg Instituut Auditorium, 3rd floor, BC Building

This Thursday we will be screening the film 'Born in Flames', followed by an open discussion to explore the themes of sexism, racism, classism, and heterosexism that the film engages with.

Happy New Year and welcome Unsettlers to the new semester!

This semester, we will relaunch the Unsettling Reading Group, which will meet (almost) every Thursday to work more intensively through a collectively assembled constellation of questions, topics and texts. The idea of "reading" here is approached very broadly and the formats for the group's meetings can include walks, talks, screenings, cooking and more.

The Glass Pavillion, 10:30 - 16:00, December 12 & 14:00 - 19:00, December 13

10:30-16:00, Theory Room 1, BC Building, 4th Floor

5:00 PM - 7:00 PM, large project space, FedLev 101, Sandberg Instituut

Theory Room 1, BC Building, 4th Floor, 10-16h

We are pleased to welcome again Brazilian-born, Berlin-based multimedia artist Cibelle Cavalli Bastos

Time: from 10-12 and 14-17
Critical Studies Theory Room, FEDLEV Building, Sandberg Instituut

Critical Studies Theory Room, Fedlev Building 1st Floor, 17:00 - 19:00

Unsettling is hosting:

unsettling walk! with Tomislav Feller
@Jacuzzi
Warmoestraat 139 CBE (red door beside W139)
17 October, 2019, 10:45
We will meet outside Cafe Fonteyn at Nieuwmarkt 13- 15 at 10:45 and walk over to Jacuzzi. As we will be on location all day, bring lunch

17:00-19:00
The unsettling Roundtable meetings continue to craft a collective policy for diversity and inclusion at the Rietveld and Sandberg. Together with members from the Board, the MR, the Asian Union, the usb_blackstudentunion, Student U(o)nion, PUB, alumni, members of staff and more, the group have arrived at a number of policy headings touching on admissions, employment, curriculum, evaluation, community as well as a growing glossary of important terms and relevant references in collaborative policy making in other contexts. There will be two more sessions of the Roundtable this year as we move towards a first draft and unsettling welcomes more voices to the table.

11:30-16:30
unsettling Rietveld Sandberg is pleased to welcome Brazilian-born, Berlin-based multimedia artist Cibelle Cavalli Bastos who leads a two-day workshop "Ævtar/Deprogram: scanning for malware / “a”, not “I” #debinarize" which takes a metaphorical approach to looking at ideas of human perception and understandings of the Self. Applying this idea specifically to computational systems–of accessing inner technologies and kick-starting a deprogramming process–the event will look at inner movements and their external manifestations in people, through parallels with malware and trigger mechanisms, as well as language as an OS, and “intrapolitical” concepts. “a”, not ...

The workshop "Difference Engines", comprised of three sessions, will use performance (and its documentation), printed textile and composition to create a collective work. The "Difference Engine" is the name of the first computer, a calculating machine engineered by Charles Babbage and programmed by Ada Lovelace. Its development was directly connected to innovations in mechanical weaving. By weaving together fabric as a material, and its production as a metaphor, workshop participants are invited to work with and share experiences that touch on opacity, bodily autonomy, gaining or losing control, interdependence on machines, community through technology, representation and marginalisation.

An essential part of unsettling Rietveld Sandberg is the collective drafting of a policy for diversity and inclusivity tailored to the contexts of Rietveld and Sandberg. Policy-making is a challenging endeavour and to have many voices, stories and experiences represented within the crafting of this document, the unsettling roundtable meetings are one way of gathering stakeholders from different communities within the academy. These meetings will take place every six weeks in the second semester during which time one member of the CvB board (academy directors) will be present.

For the first session on 26 February the unsettling team have reached out to a number of those community stakeholders, but if you have not been approached and would like to contribute to this process, please email: unsettling@rietveldacademie.nl

unsettling roundtable
Date: Tuesday 26 February
Time: 17:00 - 19:00

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This is the space and time to vent! Created in response to important conversations with students and staff, the unsettling hangry hour invites you to bring your lunch and share concerns around issues of inclusivity or access in need of addressing. Hangry hours are conducted in a spirit of confidentiality and critical optimism in the sense that what is shared is kept anonymous unless otherwise agreed, and active steps are identified in response to what is shared.

Drop by and visit the unsettling team during the academy Open Days! On 7 February, we'll be on the 3rd floor of the BC Building where sharing fragments from the unsettling process thus far as well as a teaser of the new unsettling bibliography – a gathering of resources, books, films, sounds and texts recommended by advisors, guests and members of the unsettling reading group – which will be accessible for students and staff as tools for learning and teaching. Browse, chat, read, and share your experiences with potential future students and colleagues!

UNSETTLING VOICES
With Cleaver Cunningham, moderated by Tracian Meikle
Tuesday 11 December, 15:00-16:30
Location: Sandberg Instituut, Overschiestraat 188, Small Auditorium

Introduction to power, privilege and anti-racist practice
3 December 2018, 10-13.00/14.30-17.30 (students)
4 or 5 December 2018, 10-13.00 (staff)

10:00-17:00

“this is an artwork
this is for you
you are a community
you are my material
this is a prison
leave when you want”
- keyon gaskin, this is an artwork

After a dynamic first gathering last month – where the group identified shared interests and urgent topics to address in the coming months such as wildness, intersectionality and power structures (to name a few) – the next gathering will be moderated by guest collective Read-in who will share practices of reading between the (policy) lines.

“What does it feel like to be heard? To be listened to?”

This afternoon the Unsettling team has the privilege of hosting a conversation with Aminata Cairo following her talk - Singing the Blues and Coming up for Air - and The Act of Listening - a performance by Nagaré Willemsen and Rosanna Jonkhout. Hope to hear from you at 2pm in the Rietveld auditorium!

17:30-19:00. You are welcome to join us in the new Rietveld Auditorium for:

The Unsettling Reading Group will meet for the first monthly gathering on Wednesday 10 October from 17–19.00 in the wonderful Rietveld Bibliotheek (in the basement of the new building on campus). During this first session, we hope that the group can share ideas on texts, films, discussion points around language and other concerns, as well as questions which can shape the coming meetings. We will then confirm dates for the next sessions together. As it's our first gathering, the Unsettling team has a film which we'd like to share and look forward to the conversations it opens up!

10.30-13.00: Unsettling Walk With Tracian Meikle and Rosa Sijben (Route: Gerrit Rietveld Academie to ZuidAs/World Trade Center, Amsterdam)

15:00-17.00: Unsettling Info Day at the Glass Pavilion follows with Dj sets, snacks and information about the Unsettling process