ArtEZ students visualize mental processes in traveling containers

Within this interdisciplinary project, each container represents a different phase in mental processes: from rock bottom to the search for stability. Visitors are invited to experience these emotions and perspectives up close.The exhibition will launch on June 4, 2026, during the 'Week van de Mentale Gezondheid' at the Grote Markt in Groningen. Imko and Lieze, students at ArtEZ Academy of Art & Design Arnhem, contributed to the project.

Understanding what you do not experience yourself

For Imko, a student of Fine Art & Design in Education, the project started from a personal motivation. He wanted to better understand what people around him go through when dealing with mental health challenges. Through conversations with people with lived experience and by creating his own installation, he gained more insight into something that had previously felt impossible to grasp. “I wanted to place myself within that world, because I was looking at it as an outsider.”

Mental health is not a straight line

Lieze, a student of BEAR Fine Art, initially had doubts about the theme. “Sometimes it can feel a bit too explicit.” During the process, however, she developed a different perspective on how mental processes work. While the organization approached the subject through clearly defined phases, from crisis to recovery, she experiences it more as something cyclical that keeps repeating and cannot simply be solved. “To me, it feels more like a kind of hell you are trapped in.”

Material as experience

The different approaches of Imko and Lieze are reflected in their work. Imko translated conversations with people with lived experience into an installation made of metal and spiked forms. The piece refers to the feeling of a mental “wall” that both protects and pushes others away. “It felt very harsh and cold.” He deliberately chose untreated metal so that the work will change over time and begin to rust. As part of the project, he also took a welding workshop at ArtEZ University of the Arts. “With every project, I always look for opportunities to learn new skills.”

The art of imperfection

Lieze worked from an intuitive approach. Her work developed directly within the space itself, outside the walls of the studio. “For example, I had written a text and asked, ‘Could you correct the spelling mistakes?’ But my tutor didn’t want to — she actually liked that it wasn’t perfect, because it felt human and honest.” Working inside the container, sometimes under challenging conditions, made the process feel more directly connected to its surroundings. “What really appealed to me was creating something outside the walls of a studio.”

Different worlds, one exhibition

Although ART Made OPEN is a collaboration between multiple programs and academies, the students largely worked independently from one another. Even within ArtEZ University of the Arts, the working methods of Fine Art & Design in Education and BEAR Fine Art differed significantly. It is precisely this contrast that brings together a wide range of perspectives within the exhibition.

After its launch in Groningen, ART Made OPEN will travel throughout the Netherlands, visiting places including Gouda, Goes, Capelle aan den IJssel, and the SOLAR Weekend festival. The containers will appear in public spaces where visitors unexpectedly encounter both art and conversations around mental health. Lieze and Imko are curious to see how visitors will move through the spaces and respond to the work: “People simply come across it, instead of consciously deciding to visit an exhibition.”

From student to maker

What both students emphasize is the impact of working with external organizations. The project not only offered a new context in which to work, but also a different position as makers. “Suddenly, they see you as an artist.” For them, that shift, from student to maker, makes the project not only meaningful in terms of content, but also professionally significant.