27 June – 30 August 2020

On Saturday 27 June, the fifth edition of All you can Art will begin. By now, this in-depth collaboration between Kunsthal Rotterdam and the Instituto Buena Bista (IBB) from Curaçao has claimed a permanent place for itself in the cultural landscape of Rotterdam. All you can Art is an open studio, exhibition and Summer School all rolled into one, where everyone – and we literally mean everyone – has an opportunity to create art, learn and discover according to the master and apprentice principle. Under the inspired leadership of the artists David Bade and Tirzo Martha, All you can Art uses the Kunsthal as its point of departure for traveling deeper into the city. Last year, All you can Art took up residence in the South-Rotterdam Bloemhof, Hillesluis and Afrikaanderwijk neighbourhoods. This year, All you can Art will be proactively working on realising new insights and forging connections between people, art, and culture from its guest location Kunstruimte Crooswijk.

Necessity
Now more than ever, the All you can Art artists feel a necessity to start their work. All you can Art has ample experience in making connections between people from various different backgrounds, institutions, fields of expertise and communities. In particular with people for whom making that connection themself is not self-evident. All you can Art’s experimental and inclusive nature, and its philosophy that artists must take their responsibility towards their fellow human beings and society, make the project extremely suitable for exploring the possibilities within the restrictions of the current 1.5-meter society.

All you can Art celebrates the imagination, is easily accessible, never excludes anyone, and embraces initiatives by students, (care) partners and the audience, encouraging a wide variety of art forms and creativity in the process. What do these things mean in our new reality, in which keeping our distance from each other has, in fact, become synonymous with taking care of each other? What impact does social distancing have on making art and on collaborating in particular? How can the connecting power of art play a role in society, especially now?

David Bade: “One thing is certain: this will be a special edition for the artists, our partners, the Summer School students, and our audience during this time in which we are forced to rely even more on our talents to improvise and come up with flexible, creative solutions.”

Open studio
The two locations, Kunsthal and Kunstruimte Crooswijk, will function as open studios, places where people can come together to make art, inspire each other, have discussions with each other and make presentations. All you can Art will work with artists, art academy alumni, VMBO (preparatory secondary vocational education) and MBO (intermediate vocational education) students, Summer School students, clients of healthcare facilities, participants of social activation programmes for addicts and homeless people, refugee collectives, passers-by, local residents, and Kunsthal visitors: everyone is welcome. During the process, there will be a special focus on people who are never, or hardly ever, confronted with art in their daily lives.

Exhibition
Throughout the summer, a presentation featuring some special examples from five years of All you can Art is shown at the open studio in the Kunsthal Auditorium. Many inspiring projects and encounters will be highlighted during the run of this ever-evolving exhibition.

Summer School
This year, talent development will again be an important component of All you can Art. A group of creative talents – from all age groups, backgrounds, and educational levels – are given an opportunity to develop themselves artistically over a period of six weeks. By following workshops, clinics and working with the artists according to the master and apprentice principle, these participants are challenged to further discover their creativity and talents and, especially, learn how to work and think autonomously. Among other things, the Summer School students will learn different techniques, are encouraged to explore certain subjects in greater depth, and will work with Kunsthal visitors and partners on various projects. In addition, they will also have time to create their own work and receive feedback on that.
The Summer School will take place from Tuesday 14 July up to and including Sunday 23 August 2020.

Team and collaboration partners
This year, the team of artists consisting of Liesbeth Labeur, Elke Uitentuis, Rieneke de Vries, Elvis Chen, Roxette Capriles, Omar Kuwas, Dik Kreuk, Pris Roos, and Quinda Verheul will again work with numerous neighbourhood initiatives, Rotterdam artists and partners – including the guest location Kunstruimte Crooswijk as well as Stichting Laurens (geriatric care), Pluspunt Rotterdam (expertise centre for seniors and participation), Antes (addiction care), the refugee collective ‘We are Here’, and Nico Adriaans Stichting (homeless