How are our identities defined by the eye of the stranger? How do inconspicuous reality-producing entities and forms shape the way we see and are seen in our world?

Studium Witte de With's Class of ’17 invites you to The Mindless Identity of Eye. Reading the Body, the first in our two part program that expands upon our shared physical readings of Judy Radul’s current exhibition; the king, the door, the thief, the window, the stranger, the camera.

In her exhibition, Judy Radul creates an “image space” where doors, windows, shutters, books, screens and other foldable elements are brought to the fore as reality-producing entities that link humans, things, and media: the cultural techniques that shape our world. This event unfolds and repackages the frameworks we use for looking, dually shedding light on external forces at play in the production of (gender) identity.

The Mindless Identity of the Eye. Reading the Body presents a talk between Judy Radul and Witte de With Curator Samuel Saelemakers, focusing on the use of operative tools that link and define us, such as doorways, book pages and camera lenses by Judy Radul.

Following this you are invited for a lecture by Dr. Jules Sturm, researcher of critical theories of the body in Cultural Analysis and Literary Studies at Amsterdam University. Through her lecture, Sturm will complicate the visions of our bodies that cultural techniques create. By exposing the handicaps of normative vision we will be guided towards a multitude of corporeal existences and practices outside the norm.

We continue with an exhibition reading by Domitilla Olivieri, researcher and teacher at the department of Gender Studies at Utrecht University, where she aims to explore the crossroads between feminist studies, visual studies and contemporary art. Olivieri will respond to the exhibition from the perspective of her own research within the field of gender theory, focusing on the act of framing and how this will shape our bodies and identities and the way we perceive them.

About Witte de With Class of ‘17

Studium Witte de With Class of ‘17 is a peer-led education initiative by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. Each year a select group of students from partner institutions collaboratively explore art and art education on the intersection of the professional field and higher education curriculums. The participants form a co-programming team by and for students, to explore and map the cultural and political ecology of our time.

Class of ’17: Holly Benfield (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Victoria Douka-Doukopoulou (ArtScience Interfaculty The Hague), Jim van Geel (Reinwardt Academy), Aleid de Jong (Leiden University), Nia Konstantinova (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Amy Pickles (Piet Zwart Institute), Joyce Poot (Leiden University) and Martina Tosi (Willem de Kooning Academy).

About Studium Witte de With

Class of ‘17 is part of Studium Witte de With, the higher education platform for art and theory by Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. Studium Witte de With is intended to serve as a catalyst bridging various fields of knowledge across higher education. It presents lectures, debates, workshops, and other programming in collaboration with partner institutes, to root firmly the programme in the curriculums of Academies and Universities.