Welcome to the 2025 Open Studios!

Open Studios is that moment each year when the Rijksakademie opens its doors to share with the public the breadth of artistic practice being developed here. What is usually a quiet environment for open-ended artistic research and creation becomes a vibrant site to explore the work of 50 artists who have come here for two-year residencies from all over the world and the Netherlands. At the Rijks, they have the possibility to draw on a wide range of resources and have conversations with many different interlocutors, enabling them to explore, deepen, and develop new areas within their practices – and beyond.

Introduction

Art practice is ongoing, durational, relational, and iterative, and plays out at the Rijksakademie all year round, with many interconnecting threads. Words, sounds, sketches, movement practices, and various modes of sociality were present for us in the lead up to the Open Studios. Our approach is to bring into view the many aspects of artistic process and expanded practice – and, where possible, into contact. In many cases this already happens naturally within the community, and over the last year, this included gatherings around shared interests, such as sound, radio, reading, social practice, and research questions.

These tendencies led us to designate various spaces for collective interests to assemble, both continuing processes already in motion and building further lines of connection. This includes a resident-led radio station, a listening room, a dark space for film screenings and lectures, a publication of artist writing, engagements with the collection, an exhibition of sketches that were part of the art-making process, artist lullabies collected together by residents in the library, a bookshop that also functions as a reading room and space for conversations and encounters, and a presentation of experiments from the tech fellows of 2024 and 2025. A number of residents have individually and collectively sited their work in various locations, demonstrating an active engagement with the building and site. Furthermore, a presentation of research experiments in the paint workshop made palpable the processes of making.

The opening up of such exploration within the working environment extends our broader acknowledgement and encouragement of different artistic forms, lines of inquiry, methods of making, experimentation, modes of gathering and working together, both in the studio and beyond, which have been part of the Rijksakademie for many years. Residents and colleague advisors have been involved in shaping these frameworks, including Christodoulos Panayiotou on performance and sound, Helen Verhoeven on how drawings are part of artistic process, and Reza Afisina on social practice and radio. There is a programme of performances and talks extending from the practices of the current residents.

A number of collective initiatives for dialogues between people and practices were formed, present in and beyond the Open Studios. This includes a study group on art and labour developed in collaboration with Aria Spinelli and de Appel, a conversation on art and education, a weekly Feldenkrais session led by Yael Davids, and the DEWORK decolonial workshop, a tutorial for weaving decolonial academic and artistic research practices led by Rolando Vázquez (in partnership with the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis UvA, Jan van Eyck Academie, and the EYE Film Museum).

We are grateful for all the inspiring dialogues and collaborations that have fed into this year’s Open Studios, and that we are now excited to share with the wider public. Thank you for your visit, and please enjoy the richness of the many practices and ideas circulating within and beyond our community and building!

Yael Davids and Emily Pethick

Open Studios is coordinated by Emily Pethick (director) and Yael Davids (advisor), in collaboration with advisors Reza Afisina, Christodoulos Panayiotou and Helen Verhoeven. It is put together thanks to the dedication and hard work of our resident artists and our whole team.

BUY TICKETS

There will be no ticket sales at the door. Tickets can be only purchased online.

• Tickets: €12.50
• Discount tickets €6.25 *
• 4-day passe-partout €24
• Discount 4-day passe-partout €17.50 *
• Free entrance: children up to 12 years

* Please bring your discount card (Student-, CJP, Amsterdam City Card) with you to the entrance.

If you purchase a passe-partout, this gives you access to all days of Open Studios. Please bring your ticket to the entrance to collect your wristband. 

The Rijksakademie is located at Sarphatistraat 470 in the former Kavallerie-Kazerne, near the centre of Amsterdam. The building is situated next to the Muiderpoort, close to the Tropenmuseum and ARTIS and within easy reach of the NS stations.

The Weesperplein Metro station is a 7-minute walk from the Rijksakademie. Tram 7, 14 and 19 stop in front of the door (Alexanderplein stop). Do check gvb.nl for the most current updates in public transport.

Find more detailed directions at the bottom of our contact page.

Please note that there is no possibility to park your car or bike on our premises.

The building is wheelchair accessible. The accessible toilet is located on the second floor.

If you need assistance during your visit, you can reach out to us at openstudios@rijksakademie.nl. We will then contact you about the possibilities of providing you with the appropriate support.

There is no cloakroom at the Rijksakademie. Handbags are allowed if they are smaller than A4. Unfortunately, there is no room for backpacks. A limited number of lockers is available at the entrance.

It’s not allowed to bring food and drinks inside the building. There are different snacks and drinks available at the Rijksakademie courtyard, which you can enjoy there.

Dogs are not allowed, with the exception of service dogs.

Become our Friend and support promising artists.

Rijksakademie Friends ensure that today’s undiscovered talents are tomorrow’s great artists. When becoming a Friend, you will get access to the behind-the-scenes of the artistic practice and get to meet many artists during previews and special events. Or support an artist and contribute to the development of a successful artistic career.

Read more

A big thank you to our main partner Ammodo, Fonds 21, De Gijselaar-Hintzenfonds, Stichting Hendrik Muller’s Vaderlandsch Fonds, Stichting Hinderrust Fonds, Brouwerij ’t IJ, Chateau Amsterdam, Deciao Cocktail Seltzer and pit for making Open Studios 2025 possible.