online event organized by Formerly known as Witte de With/MELLY with Maria Thereza Alves in collaboration with SPIN

Poster I made together with Juliette for the open call for Spin Magazine

1. comments from CA2: in collaborations, I am actively helping in the development of the project/creation of the work. I have different kinds of collaborations: with client and peers, I could look into the similarities between these different kinds of collaborations.

2. actions/experiences/insights:
The fist collaboration after CA2 was for the practice branding during the beginning of corona. Here we were only able to meet online, which we were still getting used to, so it wasn’t easy. Our tactic was to meet online, divide the work and then do the task we got ourselves and after we met up again to put everything together. We were working in a group and got the work done, everyone could do what he/she could do best. Someone from audio-visual edited a small video, people from graphic focused on the branding Manuel, someone from product design made some mockups of merchandise and I designed some posters in which I was able to realize my own artistic vision. But in the end it still felt like I just working alone, in which corona thus played a big role.

However, later this year I joined both SPIN (the wdka student climate action group) and the team for the Red Floor Gallery. For both we worked with a hybrid form, we both had meetings online and we had some possibilities to meet in person. As these are also student initiatives outside our assignment, they are more organized as well. We have weekly meetings, and clearly divide tasks, or work with a few people on something.

For the RFG I joined Katta and Jeffrey who were already part of the team. They already knew more about the organization of the gallery, so they took more charge, and guided me through the process. Jeffrey came up with the theme of ‘life’ for our last exhibition. Then we each looked individually for works by students we wanted to include in relation to this theme. Together we created the final selection and created a design for how the exhibition space would look like. We each came up with good ideas and were always free to respond to each other’s suggestions to create the best possible exhibition. This was a different kind of collaboration as I myself was not creating a new work, but focused more on organization instead.

Last year I also described a collaboration with a client. We were working on a children’s book together, for which I made the illustrations. The book is now finished and printed. We were not able to find a publisher and so published it ourselves with Brave New Books, and are now looking for ways to sell it, by for example contacting my primary school, going to children’s book shops etc.

In relation to the feedback from CA2, a similarity between these different collaborations is that in the end is all really a collaboration. Even when working for a client you have to communicate clearly about what the expectations are and what ideas I might have to together come to the best solution for the final work you want to create. This idea is already more obvious in collaborations we do at school. And everyone has their own strong points, so you have to trust what they can do best and then you can do what you do best.

The final version of the book 'Peter Klip' I made together with a client

Poster for the announcement of our last exhibition at the Red Floor Gallery

poster i made for branding