The Academy of Arts gets five new members: Alida Dors, Hella Jongerius, Erik van Lieshout, Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer and Manon Uphoff. Members of the Academy of Arts are artists from across the arts. The new members will be installed on 28 March 2024.
Members of the Academy of Arts have proven themselves in their profession and want to contribute to the Academy's ambitions. With their membership, they represent the broad field of artists, offer new perspectives and interpret the voice of the arts towards politicians, media and civil society organisations.
The new members are:
Alida Dors
Alida Dors (b. 1977) is a choreographer, interdisciplinary maker, sociologist and artistic director. After studying Fiscal Economics, she switched to the breakdance scene as a dancer. Dors danced in the underground as well as the commercial circuit and joined several companies. In 2004, she co-founded dance school Solid Ground Movement. She developed as a choreographer and started her own dance company, BackBone, in 2011. In the same year, she graduated as a sociologist (UvA). Her work is characterised by a strong commitment to social issues in which she explores themes such as race and bicultural identity. Her creations can be seen as interdisciplinary dance chronicles intertwining hip-hop and modern dance, characterised by their social and political engagement. Her dance production Or Die Trying (2019) was nominated for the Zwaan, the most important dance award in the Netherlands. Since 2020, Alida Dors has been artistic director of Theatre Rotterdam.
Hella Jongerius
Hella Jongerius (1963) is an industrial designer. She graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 1993. She founded studio Jongeriuslab in the same year. Her iconic designs include the Polder Sofa and the East River Chair for Vitra. She also designed interiors for KLM's Boeings and the United Nations headquarters in New York, among others. In her multicoloured designs, she works with different materials and her research into those elements - colours, materials and textures - constantly renews itself. Jongerius has initiated diverse projects, with exhibitions at the Design Museum London (2017), Die Neue Sammlung at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (2017), the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm (2018), Lafayette Anticipations in Paris (2019) and Gropius Bau in Berlin (2021). Jongerius' work can be found in the permanent collections of MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Die Neue Sammlung and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, among others.
Erik van Lieshout
Erik van Lieshout (born 1968) is a visual artist. He studied at the Academy of Art and Design in Den Bosch, but left it after three years to study at Ateliers '63. His work is multifaceted and includes painting, video, collages, drawings or installations that bring it all together. His style is direct and uses humour. His work focuses on contemporary issues and social questions. He does not shy away from reactions or controversy, challenging his own position, and questioning major themes such as the political landscape, death and love, or the position of minorities in society. His work has been exhibited all over the world and is in collections of MoMA New York, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, MMK Frankfurt and Centre Pompidou Paris, among others. Erik van Lieshout's wins include the Heineken Prize for Art (2018), Tiger Short Award for his short film Janus (2013) and was nominated for the Prix de Rome in 1999.
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer
Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (born 1968) is a classicist, writer and poet. After studying Classical Literature, he received his PhD from Leiden University in 1996 for a thesis on the archaic Greek poet Pindarus. In 1998, he made his debut with the poetry collection From the square man and in 2002 he published his first novel Rupert, a confession. The novel Grand Hotel Europa (2018) brought him his international breakthrough. He also developed as a playwright for the likes of Het Nationale Toneel and Toneelgroep Maastricht. His work is characterised by major themes such as love, migration, mass tourism and the workings of democracy. His work has been awarded several times. Among others, Pfeijffer won the Libris Literature Prize (2014), the Anton Wachter Prize (1999), C. Buddingh' Prize (2002), the VSB Poetry Prize (2016) and was nominated several times for the AKO Literature Prize.
Manon Uphoff
Manon Uphoff (born 1962) is a writer, screenwriter and visual artist. She made her debut in 1995 with the short story collection Desire and has since had over 25 titles to her name. Her debut was immediately nominated for the AKO Literature Prize and the Anton Wachter Prize. Her most recent novel Falling is like flying (2019) was shortlisted for the 2019 Bookspot Literature Prize and shortlisted for the 2020 Libris Literature Prize, and has been translated into English, Spanish and Hungarian. Her literary work often includes references to Greek mythology and visual art, but her personal life and experiences are also important themes. In her visual art, she works with photography, paper, drawing, painting and video. She is also a member of writers' collective Fixdit, a collective that fights against gender inequality and advocates for more diversity in the literary canon and literary world. Her oeuvre was awarded the triennial Charlotte Köhler Prize in 2020.
About the Academy of Arts
Founded in 2014, the Academy of Arts ensures a strong position of the arts in society. The Academy promotes interaction between the arts themselves, between art and society and between science and art.
Members of the Academy of Arts have proven themselves in their profession and want to contribute to the Academy's ambitions. The main criterion for choosing members is their artistic achievement. The selection committee, consisting of members of the Academy of Arts, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and The Young Academy, further takes into account spread across disciplines, diversity, social interest and interest in collaborating with scientists.
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