Troubling Pigments (after Polke)

The Rijksakademie and Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou (curator, lecturer and researcher, art history & environmental humanities, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) are pleased to announce the open call for Rijksakademie alumni to participate in the artistic research project 'Troubling Pigments (after Polke)', which is part of the Sigmar Polke: Athanor NOW international project of the Anna Polke Foundation.

The research period runs from February to May and will be concluded with a public presentation in June.

In 1986, Sigmar Polke exhibited his work 'Athanor' in the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale. In addition to a wall painting, a scroll of silk, a meteorite and the artist’s signature raster paintings, it included a series of four large-scale monochromes on canvas made from pure organic pigments, titled 'Farbtafeln'. Today, a second set of eight 'Farbtafeln' (1986-1987, 1992) are part of the permanent collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.

The eight pigments used in the eight monochrome canvases – orpiment, malachite, copper oxide, realgar, red lead, azurite, cinnabar, and lapis lazuli – are extremely precious and rare. A lot of them were introduced in Europe, and subsequently in European painting, via colonial trading routes.

Others are notoriously toxic, like orpiment, and their synthetic replacements are not without their own problems; for instance, recent environmental studies have drawn attention to the detrimental effects of synthetic dye manufacturing. Polke was deeply attracted by the properties and histories of these pigments, and the works in the pavilion revealed a layered understanding of colour at the intersection of labour, science and material histories.

'Troubling Pigments (after Polke)' uses the Farbtafeln as a kernel to explore pigments as part of larger stories of trade, illness, colonialism, and environmental violence through artistic research. Merging environmental and materials histories with creative practice, a team of Rijksakademie alumni, in collaboration with Mavrokordopoulou, will study the transnational ecologies that allowed the arrival of these pigments in Europe. Building on and extending Polke’s complex grasp of pigment history, the project aims to create the conditions for a collective study of the cultural and eco-material preconditions of art making.

The research will unfold in collaboration with the paint workshop of the Rijksakademie. It includes readings, a lecture/screening, hands-on analysis of the paintings by a Stedelijk Museum conservator, and a museum excursion to the Old Holland paint factory, which holds one of the richest pigment and painting tools collections in the world.

There is no predetermined outcome. The project seeks to foster discussions on the entangled histories of the materiality of colour, colonial economies and environmental destruction. The formats are open but should be public-facing; e.g. artwork, workshop, publication. Participants are invited to use this frame to deepen ongoing research interests. A collective presentation of the research process is planned for June 2026. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• the colonial origins of pigments
• the impact aesthetic uses of colour have had on conceptions of race and gender
• the environmental impact of the colour industry (e.g. synthetic dye manufacturing) and sustainable alternatives
• historical and contemporary connections between pigments’ toxicity and occupational health

Candidates are expected to participate in 3 in-person meetings and 2 group museum visits that will take place from February to May (precise dates tbc). A public presentation of the outcome is scheduled for June 2026. Individual research time should be planned in anticipation of the presentation in June. The possibility for a second presentation is being discussed for the autumn of 2026 in the frame of De Pont Museum’s exhibition on Sigmar Polke and colour.

The project is addressed to alumni who are based in the Netherlands. Meetings will be held at the Rijksakademie. Next to a production budget, a fee of € 1000 will be offered to a maximum of three candidates.

Please submit the following to Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou and Sandra Felten:

• a motivation of no more than 500 words, detailing your interest in the project, current research and relevance to your own practice
• a short bio of 200 words

The application deadline is 28 November.
Selected candidates will be informed by 12 December 2025.

The selection committee is composed of Dr. Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou (postdoctoral researcher and lecturer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Dr. Kathrin Barutzki (Project Manager, Public programmes and curatorial projects, Anna Polke Stiftung), Nasam Abboud (artistic coordinator Rijksakademie), Sandra Felten (bureau alumni Rijksakademie) and Arend Nijkamp (technical specialist paint workshop Rijksakademie).

For any questions regarding the call, please send an email to Kyveli Mavrokordopoulou.