The annual Network Week of the KABK
The main goal of the Network Week is for students to experience the vibrant and active Photography work field by visiting studios, galleries, and agencies and gain insights into the working processes of professional photographers.
Network Week theme 2019: IMPACT
The program of this year’s Network Week is organised around the theme of IMPACT, reflecting on the ways in which the digital realm is transforming Photography in relation to capturing, creating, curating and perceiving photographic images. The week-long program kicks off with two lectures and workshops at the KABK, followed by the Network Week studio visits and concluding with the Portfolio Reviews.
The organisation of the Network Week is in the hands of 2nd year Photography students, supervised by BA Photography alumni Co Knol and Vika Chaushyan together with Donald Weber, tutor at the bachelor and master photography programmes at the KABK.
Lectures and workshops
The introductory lectures are provided by visual artist Michael Takeo Magruder and by independent curator Iris Sikking, who is also supervising a workshop around curating.
Michael Takeo Magruder is a visual artist and researcher who works with digital and new media including real-time data, digital archives, immersive environments, mobile devices and virtual worlds. His practice explores concepts ranging from media criticism and aesthetic journalism to digital formalism and computational aesthetics, deploying Information Age technologies and systems to examine our networked, media-rich world.
Iris Sikking, an independent curator, educated as a film editor and a photo historian. As a curator, she positions herself in the overlapping fields of photography and video art. Since 2006, she has been responsible for several exhibitions initiated in close collaboration with others or on assignment for organizations in the Netherlands and abroad. Her research and curation focus on new strategies for documentary photography, utilizing digital media and multiplatform practices. She has a particular interest in cinematic approaches, and has an eye for narrative structures.
A tailor-made program is offered to our 3rd-year bachelor Photography students, who participate in several workshops provided by Marcella Ponsen (Program Leader for the Executive Program Leadership in Culture), Young Collectors Circle, Arnold van Bruggen and Eefje Blankevoort (Co-founders of Prospektor) and Lua Vollaard at Stroom Den Haag. These workshops are meant to prepare students for their internship during the second half of the 3rd year of their studies and to provide inspiration for their upcoming “intervention” in January 2020.
Network Week studio visits
The Network Week studio visits are an excellent opportunity for students to assess the study programme at the KABK by reflecting on the current developments in the professional field, get inspired and gain insights into the work of professional photographers. For the past years, Scheltens & Abbenes, Sjoerd Knibbeler, De Correspondent, Isabella Rozendaal, Anne Geene, Omar Imam, Witman & Kleipool, and many more have been welcoming KABK students in their studios.
Portfolio Reviews
For the Portfolio Reviews, more than 30 professionals are invited to the KABK to meet with our bachelor and master Photography students and provide them with one-to-one feedback on their work. Among the list of the reviewers, are Amelie Schuele (Curator Unseen Amsterdam), Casco Art Institute Utrecht, Femke Rotteveel (Artistic Director of Fotodok Utrecht), Jim Casper (Founder of LensCulture), Showroom Mama, Veronica Daltri (Project Leader of Futures Photography), Hripsimé Visser (Curator Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Mirjam Kooiman (Curator of FOAM Amsterdam), and many more.
