Artists of the Artist-in-Residency at the KNIR

Mussolini in the Family    

In his project ‘Mussolini in the Family’, artist and propaganda researcher Jonas Staal asks the following question: What does it mean to find the seeds of fascism in one's own family, and what is the role of the family in the history and present-day manifestation of fascism/neo-fascism?  

An important factor in Staal’s research is the theory proposed by Slovenian sociologist and psychoanalyst Rastko Mocnik, who stated that the question is not so much whether a given situation in society is or is not fascist, but rather ‘how fascist?’. Staal explains: ‘In other words, the seeds of fascism are always present in a given community. So the question is: are we aware of its seductive authoritarianism?’   

Rome and fascism   

For Staal, the connection between his research at the KNIR and the city of Rome is self-evident. The grand opening of the KNIR building took place on 29 April 1933 in the presence of Benito Mussolini. Says Staal, ‘But what’s more pertinent is the original purpose of the KNIR, which was to study the Vatican archives – something that I see as symbolic, as a propaganda researcher. After all, the first formal office of propaganda, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, was founded by Pope Gregory XV in 1622.’  

Family history   

Staal’s research has a personal side to it as well. His Swiss great-grandmother was a nurse in the household of Dino Alfieri, Mussolini’s Minister of Propaganda. He is therefore exploring his own family history during his time in Rome.     

As Staal explains, ‘Telling the story of my family while also examining the historical reality and present-day manifestation of fascism/neo-fascism allows me to engage with a complex truth, which is this: that we are not witnessing the recurrence of fascism so much as its enduring presence.’  

Cross-fertilisation between arts and sciences  

One key aspect of this artist-in-residence fellowship is the cross-fertilisation between the arts and the sciences. Staal’s research combines a number of different disciplines and is therefore a good match for this residency. ‘In my research, I combine “embodied knowledge” [knowledge that is gained by and resides in the body], visual practice and historical research,’ says Staal.   

Spiritual and legal context of exhumed bones 

During her fellowship in Rome, visual artist Babs Bakels investigated the spiritual and legal context of exhumed human bones in archaeological repositories. 

Based on a reconstruction of the past, she worked on a poetic, contemporary funeral rite in the form of an audio installation. Bakels explains: ‘Exhumed bones that have research value eventually end up in the repositories of archaeological services. When they are moved from a grave to an archive box, their legal status also changes. A fascinating provision in Roman law stipulates that exhumed bones are no longer corpses but movable property that may be subject to rights under property law. During my fellowship in Rome, I studied whether this legal transfiguration could be reversed and how to reconcile the sacred and secular treatment of mortal remains.’ 

About Babs Bakels  

Babs Bakels studied visual art at the Breitner Academy and art history at VU University in Amsterdam. She was involved as a curator in setting up a funeral museum (Tot Zover) at De Nieuwe Ooster cemetery in Amsterdam. In her visual art, she considers how we deal with death. In 2021, for example, she joined Vibeke Mascini in creating the installation ‘The body that once was you’, which invited visitors to sit in a space surrounded by dust derived from human bone and visualise their own death. Bakels has also published regularly on topics at the interface of art and death. In 2021, she produced the podcast series ‘Kassiewijle’ (‘Kick the Bucket’) for Dutch public broadcaster VPRO. 

The KNIR welcomed the collective ‘De Onkruidenier’ in September 2022, allowing artists Rosanne van Wijk, Ronald Boer and Jonmar van Vlijmen the opportunity to study the dynamic between humans and a changing landscape in the nearby Pontine Marshes.  

In their research project ‘SWEET — SWEAT’, which commenced in 2015, these artists have been examining how human beings are adapting to a landscape affected by subsidence and rising water levels as a result of climate change. Previously, they did so in various places in the Netherlands, in particular areas that once formed the Zuiderzee. The collective’s residency in Rome gives them the opportunity to add a new international chapter to their research, entitled ‘Cultural Sedimentation, Resilient Adaptation and Aquatic Speculation’. 

Located southeast of Rome, the Pontine Marshes are a dynamic landscape that has been subject to many centuries of fluctuating groundwater levels, artificial drainage, and changes in biodiversity, cultural perceptions and economics. The question posed by De Onkruidenier is: ‘Can humans adapt to a changing landscape rather than attempt to control it?’. They use this question as their point of departure for interviews, field research and interventions in the landscape and actively seek to cooperate with local residents, farmers and researchers in that context. 

Nile Blue A 

During her residency at the KNIR, visual artist Marianna Maruyama worked on a short film and a publication associated with her ‘Nile Blue A’ project. Nile Blue A refers to one of two dyes used to mark termites during an experiment conducted in the 1990s. Termites are often seen as pests, but Maruyama disagrees: ‘I hope I can portray termites as intelligent creatures and show that we humans live in a world filled with intelligent creatures.’  

Maruyama's focus 

Maruyama will use the three months she spends in Rome to conduct research for her project. She also plans to create visual material, including in the Capitoline Archives, which in the 1990s was the site of a colony of termites. Maruyama's focus in her project is on creating an open debate in which scholarly essays, images, and works of poetry and fiction all play a role.  

Marianna Maruyama has taught at the Dutch Art Institute, guest lectured at The Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, and is an invited artist-researcher at the Sedje Hémon Foundation in The Hague. Her work has been performed and exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Centraal Museum in Utrecht (Netherlands), in Documenta14's public programme ‘The Parliament of Bodies’ in Kassel (Germany), and at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius (Lithuania). She has also authored various publications. Fellows Artist in Residence in Rome. 

Michelangelo’s ‘Pietà’ 

During a stay in New York in 1992, artist Rini Hurkmans came across a press photograph taken immediately after the attack in 1972 on Michelangelo's ‘Pietà’ (1499), a religious image showing the Virgin Mary holding the lifeless body of Christ on her lap. In the attack, the Virgin’s left arm and hand were destroyed, and with them her gesture offering and presenting the dead body of her son. The original gesture inviting the public to engage with the theme of the Pietà was annihilated. Hurkmans argues that, in the photograph taken right after the attack, both the attacker Lazlo Toth and the statue can be interpreted as a victims. The duality depicted by this photograph has since inspired all of her work, which focuses primarily on understanding loss and absence as they relate to ethics and politics. It is important to Hurkmans that her work engages with how society, politics and art interact.  

Research   

After visiting Rome with an art historian, Hurkmans felt impelled to investigate the press photograph in more detail. During her residency, she produced a series of works that offered differing interpretations of the event. She was systematic in her approach and constructed a theoretical and visual framework for the series. Part of this examination naturally involved viewing the ‘Pietà’ with her own eyes, but also visiting various restoration studios and the marble quarries in Carrara, where Michelangelo sourced his marble for the work. During these visits, she focused on the diverging meanings of the attack, the question of authenticity that accompanies a restoration, and other aspects.  

Throughout her residency, Hurkmans benefited greatly from her interchanges with academics. To begin with, she collaborated with the KNIR’s librarian to collect the material she needed for her research. She also had enormous help in translating works from Italian. She spoke regularly to both young and more experienced researchers, who shared their views on the attack on the ‘Pietà’ from the perspective of their own research discipline. These conversations and more personal encounters created a valuable context for exchanges.  

Imagery in academic research 

Hurkmans also hopes that her work will help integrate the use of imagery into academic research. In our interview, she explained that researchers sometimes neglect to make use of images when presenting their research, even though visual material can be a tremendous source of information. Young researchers today should consider the importance of visuals as an enhancement of their work. During her residency, Hurkmans attempted to make academics more aware of this, for example by giving a PowerPoint presentation on her research consisting only of visual material. She hopes to continue raising this awareness going forward and has proposed several ideas in that regard, such as a workshop on imagery and research and an exhibition. Given how recently the Artist-in-Residence Fellowship was established, it would be useful to incorporate more opportunities for cross-fertilisation between the arts and the sciences into the programme as it moves forward.  

During her stay in Rome, Hurkmans made use of film, photography, text and sculpture. She regards her period in Rome as extremely valuable and was able to devote herself entirely to her research, inspired by the new insights she gained in her cooperation with academics. 

The conventions of book design 

Graphic designer Irma Boom used her fellowship in Rome to study the conventions of book design in the Vatican Library and other historic libraries. Her research was part of her ‘Book on Books’ project. By studying the books of the past, she hopes to find inspiration for books of the future and ensure that books retain their vitality.  

Historic libraries on Rome  

Bookmaking today is often a conservative affair, Boom believes. But in the past, there were no bookmaking conventions. For example, there were no rules surrounding manuscripts, i.e. a book written by hand. Boom is able to study the materiality of old books in Rome’s historic libraries, including in Vatican City. To further her work, she can collaborate with the scholars who are residing and working temporarily at the KNIR. Boom will be publishing the results of her research in Book on Books.  

Irma Boom is an Amsterdam-based graphic designer specialised in making books, for example in collaboration with Rem Koolhaas and the landmark SHV thinkbook (1996). She also developed the Rijksmuseum’s new logo and house style. She furthermore designed the tableau of Delft Blue tiles that covers one wall of the cycling and pedestrian tunnel at Amsterdam Central Station.  

Radio 1 interview

Listen to Boom’s findings in the Vatican: Interview on NPO Radio 1 programme ‘Nooit Meer Slapen’  

Film loops, photography and sculpture 

Marijke van Warmerdam is known for her short film loops, photography and works of sculpture, which she has exhibited at such major international exhibitions as the Venice Biennial (1995) and Documenta X in Kassel (1997). Her short film Douche (Shower) was projected at Schiphol train station for many years. In 2011, the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam organised a major retrospective of Van Warmerdam's work, which then travelled to the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto (2012) and Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2014). Her work can be found in the collections of such museums as Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, MuHKA in Antwerp and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.  

The dynamism of life on the streets of Rome 

Against an urban backdrop of squares, rooftop gardens, spires and fountains, Van Warmerdam will conduct an artistic investigation into the dynamism of life on the streets of Rome. She also intends to link her project to the dynamic aspects of Baroque architecture and painting. Input from KNIR scholars about the city and its history will make a valuable contribution to her research. Inspired by her residency in Rome, Van Warmerdam will elaborate on a recurring theme in her films, that of repetitive movement. 

Sytske Kok was Artist in Residence at the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome from 1 September to 1 December 2016, together with Stefano Odoardi. 

Dark Matter

Sytske Kok (1970) is a writer and film director. She is currently working with Stefano Odoardi on two feature film projects. One of these, Dark Matter, will be developed during their stay at the KNIR. Dark Matter tells the story of Antonio, a scientist researching dark matter, whose life is turned upside down when he is forced to go in search of his son, who has disappeared mysteriously after the sudden death of Antonio’s father. The film is meant to inspire viewers to reflect on the mysteries of our universe and how we deal with the unknown.  

Sytske Kok graduated from the Netherlands Film Academy and the Binger Filmlab. She directed the internationally acclaimed short film The Chinese Wall and the TV film Impasse, for which she also authored the script. Her focus in recent years has been on script-writing. She wrote the script for the TV film Tunnel Vision, directed by Stefano Odoardi, which was selected for screening and received awards at various international film festivals. In addition to her own writing, Sytske teaches script-writing at the Schrijversvakschool, the Amsterdam Film School and the St. Joost Art Academy in Breda.  

For a full filmography and up-to-date information on Sytske’s work, visit www.sytskekok.nl. 

Observation and visual understanding 

Maaike Schoorel is an internationally acclaimed artist interested in the mind’s capacity for observation and visual understanding. She has reflected long and hard on the mechanisms of the mind’s eye: how an object stimulates the senses and how what we see takes shape and triggers certain associations, visual and otherwise. Her paintings thus require very close inspection, a process of give-and-take, and a gradual unravelling of visual clues.  

While they are grounded in rigorous intellectual analysis, her paintings are lush and painterly. From a distance they appear monochromatic, but upon closer inspection they reveal their internal fireworks: smouldering phosphorescent images that slowly merge, depending on how you view them, and then fade way.