It is our pleasure to announce that Maxine Kopsa has been appointed as the new director of De Ateliers. She will be responsible for both artistic policies and business management and will start her new job on June 1st, 2022. De Ateliers collaborated with Maxine Kopsa previously, when she was working as a guest tutor at our artists institute and curator of the exhibition ‘Offspring 2007’. Currently, she is Head of the Master Fine Arts studies at Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam.
Maxine Kopsa was born in Toronto, Canada, where she did Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto. She came to the Netherlands in 1993, where she obtained her Master’s in Art History & Theory at the University of Amsterdam. She wrote essays for exhibition catalogues and art magazines such as Archis, Metropolis M, and Frieze, she was initiator and curator of the ‘Playstation’-program at Galerie Fons Welters (1999-2003) and co-founder and director of Kunstverein Amsterdam (2009-2019). She was Tutor Art Theory at the Werkplaats Typografie in Arnhem (2003-2022), guest tutor at Frank Mohr Instituut, Groningen, and did many talks and lectures at various art institutes. As a guest curator she organised exhibitions at Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Galerie Juliètte Jongma, De Ateliers, Kunstfort Vijfhuizen and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Maxine Kopsa takes over from Martijn Hendriks, who acted as interim director of De Ateliers during the past fourteen months. The Supervisory Board is grateful to Martijn Hendriks for his loyal commitment. He played a pivotal role in creating cohesion during challenging times, haunted by a pandemic, lockdowns, and travel restrictions. Martijn Hendriks continues as a regular tutor and a member of the Artistic Advisory Board of De Ateliers.
After a thorough selection procedure, we have found in Maxine Kopsa a director who is familiar with the aspirations of younger generations of artists and who is experienced in the mentoring of emerging talent. The Supervisory Board is convinced that, with the appointment of Maxine Kopsa, De Ateliers is better prepared for future challenges. Chairman Rijkman Groenink: ‘We are confident that Maxine Kopsa is the right person to maintain the high level of talent development at De Ateliers and that she will bring new input, in close collaboration with the international team of tutor artists.’
Maxine Kopsa: ‘De Ateliers is a trendsetting institute in Amsterdam that has proven time and again to be a springboard for exceptional talent. We live in a world of many challenges that make these times complex but also interesting. I look forward to bringing De Ateliers into the next phase, in close collaboration with the team.’
Supervisory Board of De Ateliers,
Rijkman Groenink (chair)
Eefje van Bommel
Sanne ten Brink
Olivier Gorter
Natasja Kensmil