Stroom Invest Week 2017

Location: Stroom Den Haag, Hogewal 1-9, Den Haag
Date: 12 - 15 September 2017 

The PRO Stroom Invest program supports young artists in their development and is aimed at retaining recent graduates in the city. To give young artists an additional boost, the annual Stroom Invest program is organized.

Dutch and international curators visit the studios of artists based in The Hague. Members of the PRO advisory committee also conduct studio visits as part of this program. Stroom later uses these connections to further promote the visibility of The Hague-based artists through exhibitions, presentations, and exchanges.

Participating artists
Gino Anthonisse, Kevin Bauer, Channa Boon, Marie Civikov, Maurice van Es, Evelien Gransjean, Jip Hilhorst, Bram De Jonghe, Yun Ingrid Lee, Christa van der Meer, Marit Mihklepp, Jorrit Paaijmans, Jeannette Slütter.

Visiting curators & artists
Valentin Diaconov, Lennard Dost, Edward Gillman, Geir Haraldseth, Alejandra Labastida, Carol Yinghua Lu, Azar Mahmoudian, Thiago de Paula Souza, Maarten Spruyt.

Valentin Diaconov
Curator at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow, Russia.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Lennard Dost
Freelance curator, art critic, director Nieuwe Vide in Haarlem.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Edward Gillman
Artist and curator Auto Italia South East in London.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Geir Haraldseth
Artist and director Rogaland Kunstsenter, Stavanger, Norway.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Alejandra Labastida
Associate Curator at MUAC (University Museum of Contemporary Art), Mexico City.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Carol Yinghua Lu
Curator, director of Beijing Inside-out Art Museum, Beijing, China and contributing editor at Frieze, member advisory board of The Exhibitionist and PhD candidate in art history at the University of Melbourne.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Azar Mahmoudian
Independent curator and researcher based in Tehran. Assistant curator of the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016) and a lecturer on critics at Tehran Art University.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Thiago de Paula Souza
Curator and member of the 10th Berlin Biennale curatorial team based in São Paulo, Brazil.
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens

Maarten Spruyt
Stylist and designer (including exhibition design).
>> Read interview on Jegens & Tevens


Reactions from participating curators and artists in 2017
"I wanted to say another enormous thank you. It was really fascinating learning more about the art scene in The Hague, as well as both connecting with new artists and curators from the Netherlands and further afield. I wanted to make a particular thank you for the generosity of the whole Stroom team - you really made us feel at home so thank you so much for all your time and energy. I had a brilliant time."

"That has been quite a week! Thank you so much for organizing this, I've never felt as much cared for than during this trip, and I mean it."

"An extremely interesting and useful program, for a genuine, embedded investment in a local art scene. The intensity is also fruitful, I believe both for curators and artists, as they need to be fully attentive and focused communicating about certain artworks, in a short period of time. It is definitely different to usual studio visits, as the curators also exchange their various methodologies of critics on same cases, and in an intimate setting. I also found the streamlining session with Celine Condorelli, very interesting."

"Ik ben van mening dat de investweek een cruciaal onderdeel is van de Invest en Premium subsidies. De gesprekken met de curatoren zijn ontzettend uiteenlopend en uitermate leerzaam. De week vergt - mede door de avondprogrammering - veel energie en dat is soms moeilijk omdat je je ook wilt voorbereiden op de gesprekken van de komende dag. Maar het is voor mij persoonlijk wel goed gegaan zo. Daarnaast vond ik het tof om niet alleen de curatoren te ontmoeten maar ook medewerkers van Stroom en de kunstenaars zelf (nog beter) te leren kennen."

The Invest Week 2017 in numbers
9 Invest artists; 4 Premium artists; 9 curators (8 travelled to The Hague from abroad); 4 Pro Advisory Board members and 4 members of the Stroom team (for studio visits); 4 days of studio visits; 157 studio visits in total; 157 hrs of feedback and reflection; visits to 11 locations in The Hague (suggested by the artists themselves); visits to 7 places for visual art in The Hague; 3 communal dinners; 1 collaboration between Stroom School and Invest Week; 1 public talk 'What does it mean to make art public?'; 9 interviews with curators on Jegens & Tevens.