Stichting Ammodo, For arts, architecture and science

Tazuko van Berkel researches self-image, humanity, and worldview in classical Greek society and in particular how the advent of the money economy affected the Greek idea of friendship.

She is currently focusing her research on how the economic domain was defined in antiquity, not only by scholars, but also in the everyday views of citizens.

Van Berkel’s research invites critical reflection on economic thinking in our own time.

ammodo-science-award.org

Merel Keijzer researches how learning a new language contributes to healthy ageing. To do so, she uses innovative and multidisciplinary research methods and works closely with neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists.

Keijzer has shown that people who are multilingual, and who still actively used their languages, generally showed better cognitive functioning. In particular, frequent switching between different languages seems to be able to compensate for ageing processes in the brain, such as mild memory loss.

ammodo-science-award.org

Daniël Lakens studies how scientists conduct research, with the aim of increasing the reliability and efficiency of social science research.

He played an important role in investigating the global ‘replication crisis’ in psychology, and thanks to his empirical and theoretical analyses, scientific awareness of ‘publication bias’ and ‘p-hacking’ has grown considerably in recent years.

Over the past decade, Lakens has become one of the leading scientists in meta-science in the Netherlands and abroad.

ammodo-science-award.org

Centraal Museum organises the first museological solo exhibition of the French artist Pauline Curnier Jardin in The Netherlands. The museum invited her to produce new work. Her new installation, called Adoration, will be presented alongside four existing works in a solo exhibition of the same name.

centraalmuseum.nl

Pictured: Adoration, Pauline Curnier Jardin, 2022

Brideshead Revisited is a theatre production written by Florian Myjer and directed by Ward Weemhoff. It is based on Evelyn Waugh’s 1945 novel of the same name, in which a middleclass man tries to assimilate to the upper class.

The play investigates identity as it relates to class. Is it possible to climb the social ladder? Does class affect the way you experience sexuality?

dewarmewinkel.nl

Pictured: Brideshead Revisited, De Warme Winkel, 2023

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten gives talented artists from around the world the opportunity to develop their art under optimal conditions during a two-year artist residency.

Ammodo supports the expansion of the Rijksakademie’s public talks programme. By organising talks and debates, the Rijksakademie creates a platform for reflection about contemporary art.

rijksakademie.nl

Pictured: Mamali Shafahi & Ali Eslami, Open Studios 2022 (photo: Sander van Wettum)

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten gives talented artists from around the world the opportunity to develop their art under optimal conditions during a two-year artist residency.

Ammodo supports raising the residents’ personal work budget as well as the financing of costlier and more complex projects through a budget application system.

rijksakademie.nl

Pictured: Wouter van der Laan, Open Studios 2022 (photo: Sander van Wettum)

Tatiana Filatova researches the complex dynamics between socio-economic systems and climate change, seeking, among other things, to predict societies’ responses to different climate scenarios.

A distinctive feature of her research is the use of existing knowledge from the social sciences to enrich traditional climate models. For example, using computer simulations Filatova has shown that gradual poverty traps and ghettos may arise in climate-sensitive areas, including in rich countries.

ammodo-science-award.org

Jingyuan Fu studies the gut microbiome in relation to disease and health, focusing in particular on complex diseases such as obesity and cardiovascular disease.

She impressively demonstrated, for example, that the gut microbiome can be manipulated by both dietary interventions and certain drugs. This makes the microbiome an important starting point for disease prevention and treatment.

ammodo-science-award.org

Anja Spang studies the special role that various micro-organisms such as archaea have played in major evolutionary changes, including the origin of eukaryotes to which humans belong. She has discovered an impressive number of new archaea variants in recent years and has found revolutionary evidence in support of the hypothesis that eukaryotic organisms (such as humans) once evolved from a symbiosis between archaea and bacteria.

What makes Spang’s research especially relevant at present is that archaea also influence the climate. Exactly what their role there is is a question that Spang plans to focus on in the near future.

ammodo-science-award.org

Since 2015, the Eye Art & Film Prize is awarded annually to an artist working on the border between art and film. The winner receives a monetary prize to create new work and will be part of an exhibition at Eye.

Previous winners were Hito Steyerl (2015), Ben Rivers (2016), Wang Bing (2017), Francis Alÿs (2018), Meriem Bennani (2019), Kahlil Joseph (2020), Karrabing Film Collective (2021) and Saodat Ismailova (2022).

eyefilm.nl

Pictured: Bibi Seshanbe, Saodat Ismailova (winnaar Eye Art & Film Prize 2022), installation at Documenta 15, 2022

Freaky Friday Face/Off is a new theatre production written by Florian Myjer and directed by Ward Weemhoff.

The play investigates the politically sensitive subject of representation. Can a man play a woman? Can a white person play a black person? Can a heterosexual person play a queer person?

dewarmewinkel.nl

Pictured: Een oprechte ode aan de Ironie, De Warme Winkel, 2022

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten gives talented artists from around the world the opportunity to develop their art under optimal conditions during a two-year artist residency.

Ammodo supports the alumni network of the artist residency. By keeping former artists in residence involved with public programmes and by providing technical facilities and studio space, the Rijksakademie creates a valuable and lasting community of artists.

rijksakademie.nl

Pictured: Saemundur Thor Helgason, Open Studios 2022 (photo: Sander van Wettum)

Het Achtste Leven (Voor Brilka) is a large-scale theatre production directed by Daria Bukvić, based on Nino Haratischwili’s novel of the same name, a monumental family epic spanning six generations.

The story takes place in twentieth-century Georgia, against the backdrop of the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. Live music – from folk to pop – plays an important role in the play.

oostpool.nl

Stan Brouns is engaged in fundamental research into the age-old battle between microbes and viruses. In particular, he studies the so-called CRISPR-Cas defence mechanisms that bacteria deploy to arm themselves against viruses.

Thanks to Brouns’ research we now know that bacteria possess a smart, adaptive immune system that can remember and render invaders harmless.

In addition, Brouns is leading an innovative study of bacteriophages, the natural enemies of bacteria, as a possible alternative to antibiotics.

ammodo-science-award.org

Hugo Snippert uses microscopy and molecular genetics to unravel how it is that there is a huge diversity of tumour cells and what the consequences of this are.

He was one of the first researchers to apply microscopy to organoids – mini-organs grown in the lab – enabling biological processes in living cells to be studied in detail.

He recently succeeded in using organoid technology to track how a colon tumour responds to combined drug treatment. This knowledge helps towards the tailoring of individual cancer therapies.

ammodo-science-award.org

SPRING Performing Arts Festival in Utrecht presents contemporary international performances at the crossroads of dance and theatre. Every year, the festival also produces new work by young and more established creators from over the globe.

Ammodo supports the production of new performances for editions 2024-2026.

springutrecht.nl

Pictured: Narcosexuals, Dries Verhoeven, SPRING 2022

Angela (A Strange Loop) is an interdisciplinary theatre project by Susanne Kennedy about the human relation to illness and death.

The piece combines high tech, philosophy, pop culture and literature as it follows a woman named Angela from birth until death and beyond.

Pictured: Three Sisters, Susanne Kennedy, 2020

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten gives talented artists from around the world the opportunity to develop their art under optimal conditions during a two-year artist residency.

Ammodo supports the Rijksakademie Open Studios, an annual exhibition where artists present their art to a wider audience. This much-anticipated event gives art professionals and art lovers alike a unique overview of the leading talents in contemporary art.

rijksakademie.nl

Pictured: Hend Samir, Open Studios 2022 (photo: Sander van Wettum)

Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten gives talented artists from around the world the opportunity to develop their art under optimal conditions during a two-year artist residency.

Ammodo supports the artists’ supervision by external advisors. By attracting advisors and guest advisors from various disciplines the Rijksakademie offers a wide range of input to their artists in residence.

rijksakademie.nl

Pictured: Takanori Suzuki, Open Studios 2022 (photo: Sander van Wettum)

Garden of Scars is the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by Ghanese artist Ibrahim Mahama. For Amsterdam’s Oude Kerk, he creates an installation of around 800 memorial stones, consisting of casts of the church’s tombstones as well as pieces of floor from Fort Elmina in Ghana, a hub of trans-Atlantic slave trade.

In doing so, he connects the family histories of merchants, captains and mayors buried in the Oude Kerk to those of enslaved Africans.

oudekerk.nl

Depicted: Garden of Scars in the Oude Kerk, Mike Bink