Renée van Oploo

Research Group: Cultural and Creative Industries

‘Within my practice I create spaces for introspection while exploring ethical dilemmas. ’

In 2017, I graduated from St. Joost in Den Bosch, and I hold a Master’s in Applied Ethics from Utrecht University. Presently, I work as an artist, am an active member of the YAFF art collective, and concurrently serve as a lecturer.

Renée van Oploo graduated cum laude from the St. Joost School of Art and Design in Den Bosch in 2017 and subsequently obtained a Master’s degree in Applied Ethics from Utrecht University. In addition to her work at CARADT, she is active as an artist, a member of the art collective YAFF, and a lecturer in the Art & Research program (since 2021) and Photography, Film & the Digital (since 2023).

In her research at CARADT, she focuses on the role of art in public spaces, with a particular emphasis on placemaking and community building. In this context, she has collaborated with Urbanes.Land in Stuttgart. Her research currently centers on the following questions: How can artistic methods enrich and enhance forms of placemaking? Which artistic methods can be applied to critically examine the role art in public contexts?

As an artist, Renée explores both the visual and theoretical aspects of contemporary social and political issues. Her installations, which combine various disciplines such as sculpture, animation, soundscapes, and other media, investigate and depict the complexity of these issues. From November 2024 to January 2025, she will be in residence at EKWC in Oisterwijk. Additionally, in her collective practice with YAFF, she develops educational and artistic methods through performance, embodiment, and artistic research.

In her artistic endeavors, Renée create immersive spaces designed for introspection, providing an opportunity for contemplation, reflection, and responses to issues related to subjects such as the living environment and ethical dilemmas stemming from them. Simultaneously, she delves into the interactive elements of these spaces, emphasizing the crucial role of audience involvement, participation, and collaboration. Through shared experiences, she tries to uncover what symbolizes our time, examining how we perceive our surroundings amidst contemporary dilemmas.

Art Practices within Public Spaces

Exploring how artists contribute to democratizing public spaces, this project investigates the ethical and social dimensions of placemaking. By examining collaborations and innovative practices, it highlights art’s potential to foster inclusivity and community connection in urban environments.

Infinite Vacuum Hose (Collage for Murf/Murw Magazine #16 2024 by Renée van Oploo)

Artistic Practices in Shared Spaces (2023 – 2024)

This research critically explores “creative placemaking,” a practice that involves artists, designers, or cultural producers in urban development processes. However, the use of placemaking gives rise to various ethical implications, preventing dilemmas from being effectively addressed. This may potentially lead to additional issues such as phenomena like gentrification and socio-economic elitism.

Publications

Olma, S., Leijdekkers, R., van Oploo, R., & Henderson, J. (2024, December). Welcome to the Weird and the Dirty. Concluding session for ‘In(di)visible Infrastructures, Bridging Overseen Worlds’ at Club Solo, Breda. CARADT.

Olma, S., Leijdekkers, R., van Oploo, R. (2024, August) River Summer Camp, CARADT, in collaboration with Wüstenrot Foundation, urbanes.land gGmbH Stuttgart, and Belius GmbH Berlin

All publications

Research Group: Cultural and Creative Industries

The research group Cultural and Creative Industries investigates the role of artists and designers as creative innovators and drivers of social and economic change. Affiliated researchers analyse the cultural and creative industries from a critical point of view and examine the conditions under which timely forms of aesthetic expression and social connectedness can actually take place within the precarious reality of this field. What economic models are required by artists and designers to create a meaningful practice within the aesthetic, social, and economic intentions of the cultural and creative industries? What skills sets are required for those artists and designers who don’t just want to follow movements, but actually shape novel social and economic models of the future?

‘Our research group investigates the role artists, designers and cultural producers in general can play in developing the aesthetics and poetics of a desirable future.’

Sebastian Olma

‘‘How will our graduates make a living without selling their soul?’’

Sepp Eckenhaussen

‘In social and cultural research there is increasing importance in research methodologies and devices that cut across fields and disciplines, becoming transdisciplinary.’

Jess Henderson

‘As a result of my current research, I ask the students the questions “what is your work” and “what works for you.’

Rob Leijdekkers

‘How can we disrupt the notion of being human while staying true to being humane?’

Wander Eikelboom

‘How do we live together, how do we work together? How do we give shape and form to ‘being together’ in the broadest sense?’

bas van den hurk

‘Disrupting our contemporary society can be a serious design goal.’

Eke Rebergen

‘Interested in human behaviour as the basics underlying the way we design and innovate our society and economy.’

Marianne van Bommel

‘Well beyond their common characterisation as problem-solvers, designers have a role to play in materialising public engagement with collective concern’

Laurens Kolks

‘Performance is about engaging with versions of the self, stretching the gaze to see what others see when they look at you.’

Philippine Hoegen

‘Consumers are creatures of habit. If we want them to break routine and live sustainably, we have to do more than just offer sustainable alternatives. ’