francine LeClercq: Rijksstudio Award 2017

The International RIJKSSTUDIO AWARD 2017 competition

Francine LeClercq and Ali Soltani win the 2017 RIJKSSTUDIO PUBLIC AWARD

Francine LeClercq and Ali Soltani, Rijksmuseum - photo@ Janick Dam

For the third time, the Dutch national art museum -The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam invited members of the public to draw inspiration from the Rijksmuseum collection and create their own artwork. Out of 2600 international submissions, our project "Eden's Mirror" got shortlisted and "Delft Blue Eyes" made it to the 10 finalists. On April 21st, the international jury composed of Taco Dibbits (RijksMuseum Director), Irma Boom (Director of Irma Boom Office), Tony Chambers (Editor-in-Chief at Wallpaper), Ingrid Chou (Associate Creative Director, The Museum of Modern Art), Ute Thon (Chief Copy Editor, art - Das Kunstmagazin) and Thomas Widdershoven ( director and designer at Thonik), presented the awards.

Delft Blue Eyes wins the Rijksstudio Public Award

Based on the design of XVII century plaques in the museum collection, our entry DELFT BLUE EYES consists of non- prescriptive contact lenses whose hydrogel surface has been printed with Delft Blue pattern. While drawing on a distinct cultural heritage of Dutch Delftware, the direct juxtaposition of a perceived work and its viewing subject is a nod to Marcel Duschamp’s critic on retinal art through the selective process of “Readymades”. Today, in an era enmeshed by trajectories of prying eyes, the perceiving subject itself is the tentative Readymade the moment it is caught viewing it’s prey, here the enameled tin-glaze of delft under a glassy gaze.

RIJKSSTUDIO AWARD 2017