The Drempelprijs has been awarded annually since 1962 by the Municipality of Rotterdam (Gemeente Rotterdam) to one or more graduates of the Willem de Kooning Academy. Originally, the prize was awarded only to fine art graduates; since 1968 applied arts graduates have also been eligible. The prize is an incentive award, with a nice sum of money: € 5,000. In the WdKA’s curriculum, the traditional distinction between fine art and applied work is no longer considered relevant. Since 2014, the Drempelprijs is awarded to students within the three graduation profiles: Autonomous, Social and Commercial Practices.
On Wednesday December 9th, the Drempelprijs Award ceremony took place during the online event Reach Out Zoom In | Graduation Chain of Events.
And the Drempelprijs 2020 winners are:
Autonomous Practices:
Younes Laaguidi, Audiovisual Design
Minor Critical Studies
Project: ‘Grapefruit for Breakfast’
Read the full jury report here.
Jury Autonomous Practices:
Simone da Silva: director of gallery and centre for culture heritage DIG IT UP, and an expert in the field of film and journalism.
Alireza Abbasy: curator, writer; co-founder and editor of Sarmad Platform.
Angelica Falkeling: visual artist, seamstress, costume designer; runs Emotional Channel webshop, and is a co-founder of the queer art and community space Tender Center Rotterdam.
Commercial Practices
Jesse van Maanen, Advertising & Beyond
Minor New Frontiers
Project: ‘Gekkenhuis’
Read the full jury report here.
Jury Commercial Practices: Rachid Naas (Creative and Executive Director, RCHD), Anne van der Zwaag (Director & owner, BIG ART and Object), Mark Kuijpers (copywriter, photographer, business coach) and Cora Santjer (Willem de Kooning Academy) who acted as nonvoting secretary, responsible for the jury report.
Social Practices
Following an extensive in-depth discussion, the jury unanimously designated two joint first-place winners:
Sarafina van Ast, Fine Art
minor RASL
Project: [24:30]
and
Jasmijn Simons, Fine Art & Design Teacher Training part-time
Project: Rotterdamse verbinders
Read the full jury report here.
Jury Social Practices: Jeanne van Heeswijk is an artist who facilitates the creation of dynamic and diversified spaces in order to “radicalise the local”. Her long-scale community-embedded projects question art’s autonomy by combining performative actions, discussions, and other forms of organising and pedagogy in order to assist communities in taking control of their own futures.
Alexandre Furtado Melville is a writer, researcher, entrepreneur, photographer, and managing director at Concrete Blossom.
Emiliano Gandolfi is an architect and independent curator, co-founder of Cohabitation Strategies, and director emeritus of the Curry Stone Design Prize.
Karlijn Souren, non-voting secretary, tutor of Social Practices and Product Design at the WdKA.
