Professor Jeroen Lutters reflects on twelve years ArtEZ: “I always look for the radical otherness of a person”

Rather than speaking of retirement, he prefers to describe it as a ‘third phase of life’. “We have a phase of studying, a phase of working, and then something else follows,” says Jeroen Lutters. “For me, retirement is not about living off the equity in your house and travelling. It is about completing your humanity. Asking yourself: can the things you have gathered throughout your life mature in a new way?”

First, he plans to spend a year doing nothing. Walking, reading, writing and spending time with his grandchild. “On the advice of my son,” Lutters says. “I’m not taking on any assignments and I mainly want to enjoy the fact that, for a while, I have no obligations.”

Anyone wanting to understand his work must return to the encounters that profoundly shaped him. For Lutters, three stand out clearly. The first is his encounter with the people of the Bernard Lievegoed University — the Vrije Hogeschool where the ideas of educationalist and professor Bernard Lievegoed still resonate. It was there that an insight took hold that never left him: the idea that life itself is a work of art. “And not simply as something aesthetically pleasing,” Lutters explains. “But as something you practise. The art of living.” In this vision, education is not a fixed system, but a creative process that continually comes to life anew. 

Within institutions, his ideas regularly clash with systems focused on control and uniformity. “There are people with power, money and influence who strongly believe in those systems.” Smiling, he adds: “I have used my position to make life difficult for them.”

His encounter with cultural theorist Mieke Bal also changed him profoundly. As a young reviewer, he wrote an enthusiastic review of one of her books. To his surprise, she sent him a letter. For the first time, she felt that the Dutch press — unlike the international press — had truly done justice to her book on Rembrandt. The two met, and later Lutters completed his PhD under her supervision. She taught him what complete autonomy means.

“When I asked her how I should do something, she would say: ‘I’m not going to explain that. You decide.’” It is an attitude he later adopted himself. “I always look for the radical otherness of a person, and as an educator it is my task to remove everything standing in the way so that person can reveal it.” Lutters knows his ideas can be a source of friction. “Sometimes you hurt people; you cannot do right by everyone,” he says. “That is part of life, but at the same time I find it difficult to accept that I make mistakes.” He sets the bar high for himself, but believes that is justified. “I’m in a privileged position: I can write books and I work with interesting students and colleagues; that means I should also hold myself to high standards.”

The third encounter, with former ArtEZ board member Nishant Shah, opened up yet another perspective for him. “The thinking he set in motion for me was: what about the world today? And what is the place of the arts and the impact of the arts in the world today?” It led to an idea that gradually became central to his work: creativity as the foundational principle of everything. Lutters also explores this in his book Creative Theories of (Just About) Everything. 

At ArtEZ, Lutters tried to make that vision tangible. And that sometimes meant turning things upside down. “In education, people often think: education is the foundation and art is something we add. But I believe art should come first. That means a good artist educator should first and foremost behave as an artist: autonomous, inquisitive and unconventional.” 

Within the professorship Education in Arts, this led to concepts such as the artist educator and the learning method Art Based Learning, in which art is no longer simply a subject to talk about, but a source of knowledge in itself. “By truly looking at an artwork, you can gain insights into life, death and meaning.” That may sound abstract, but it can be applied very concretely. One example is the funded research project Art-Based Learning in Palliative Care, led by Lutters in collaboration with several educational institutions. In this project, art is used to initiate conversations that might otherwise be difficult to begin. 

Not everything succeeded during his time at ArtEZ. His ambition to use (No) University to break through the distinctions between secondary vocational education, higher professional education and university education encountered strong resistance. Lutters explains: “Children and young people with great creative talents are too often marginalised. As a result, they end up in forms of education that do not do justice to who they are and what they are capable of. That affects their self-confidence and self-worth, and limits their opportunities and income later in life. I find that unjust.” Although No University did not materialise, the idea itself remains alive. “Perhaps it is a matter of timing. You need to know when to jump.”

Lutters describes his way of working as essayistic: exploratory, open and never definitive. Essayist Michel de Montaigne is one of his examples. “I do not provide final answers,” he says. “Some people find that difficult. They want certainty.” It also explains his productivity. With around twenty books to his name, he does not see his work as separate titles, but as one continuous body of work. “After every book, I think: this is worthless. For me, that’s the reason to write the next one.” Pride is therefore not the word he would use. “It’s more a feeling of: I’ve done my best, and I feel blessed to be able to do this.”

His farewell to ArtEZ is drawing ever closer. What will he miss most? “The people,” Lutters says immediately. “Students, PhD candidates, but especially the people behind the scenes.” For example Veronique, his assistant, who helped him stay balanced so well. “In fact, all of my assistants at the different institutes — Machteld (Vrije Hogeschool), Welmoed (Windesheim) and Veronique (ArtEZ) — have been essential to what I’ve been able to do. It is (No) University in miniature.”
His retirement does not feel like an ending, but rather a shift. Less obligation, more space. Or, as he puts it himself: “Perhaps this creates an inner freedom to make truly beautiful things.”