The HZ has two new research groups, made possible by the Delta Climate Center. At the helm are a familiar face and someone with vast experience in arts and education and research. Jean-Marie Buijs has been appointed lector of Governance of regional transitions, Godelieve Spaas is lector of Arts | Culture | Transitions.
Godelieve Spaas is ‘hugely looking forward’ to start working as lector Art | Culture | Transitions at HZ University of Applied Sciences. "It is a really great lectorate, quite daring even for a university of applied sciences that does not have an arts degree. It's really something new," she says. "In all the conversations I've had at HZ so far, I notice that everyone is open and curious. Some colleagues already have an image of the lectorate, others not at all yet."
New economy
Godelieve is originally from Avans. There, she had been a lector in Economy as a common good since 2018. In that role, she conducted research into what an economy looks like when it is not based on competition, profit, and growth, but on collectivity, shared values, and regeneration. "At Avans, I already worked a lot with artists. The big difference is that there, I had to start from the economy. Now I begin with art and work toward transitions. That makes it incredibly fun. I want to go far artistically. We can add an artist to a scientific research project, but we can also start with artists who follow their curiosity and thereby generate new insights. I want to move in both directions: from research toward art and from art toward research."
Future makers
She herself calls her lectorate an “artistic workshop for future makers”. She wants to work with art on sustainable system transitions of Zeeland and other delta regions. How? "By creating new stories through artistic research and practising tomorrow's skills together. In this way, we want to equip people and organisations to become forerunners and shapers of a fair, inclusive transition into the future."
Her research assignment has an initial duration of four years. "I want to do a lot, but I don't promise that a transition will have taken place by then," she says with a smile. "In four years, I at least want to know what an Arts | Culture | Transitions professorship looks like, what it does and can do and that it is well embedded in Zeeland. We should then know what a lectorate like this can mean for regional transitions."
'With the research group, we want to bring change. If you want to understand and change a system, you have to get out the door and rock the boat'
Bring change
She will go out a lot for that. "Colleagues are going to see me a lot. With the lectorate, we want to bring change. If you want to understand and change a system, you have to go out and shake the tree."
She says artists ask different questions from scientists. That helps to look at developments differently. "Artist can put dilemmas on the table and occasionally cause discomfort. That is also necessary, because transitions change all sorts of things and by no means everything is fun."
Art collection
She gives an example from her time working for the Rabo Art Lab. “About six years ago, the director of arts affairs asked me to help think about what the bank should do with its art collection. In the midst of budget cuts, there was major doubt about the value such a large art collection offered to the bank’s employees and clients. We explored two scenarios: either making a generous gesture by giving away the entire collection, or involving art in the transition of the bank and society. The board chose the latter.” An artist-in-residence program was launched. Lucas de Man was the first resident. He spoke with hundreds of employees and asked them whether there’s still a meaningful role for people in a bank that increasingly operates with AI, and if so, what that role might be. He turned those conversations into a theater production titled Sam. “It was really special to see the impact. Some bank employees were sitting in the audience with tears in their eyes. A beautiful, mutual conversation followed between staff and board members about the future and the role of employees in it. That’s when you realize how powerful art can be.”
Border of land and water
Something similar can be expected at HZ and the DCC. She is already working with her new fellow lecturer Jean-Marie Buijs on a S+T+ARTS4WATER project in collaboration with Waag Future Lab from Amsterdam. “The organization put out a call for an artistic research project exploring how humans and non-humans can live together in harmony at the intersection of land and water. We are linking the artist, the research, and its outcomes to the Flexible Deltas project, and we’ll be experimenting with how to share that with students, lecturers, and researchers, both from HZ and the DCC.” Together with Kees Jan Mulder from Peerfilm, Godelieve is also working on a film about alternative forms of land and real estate ownership. The province of Zeeland and the municipality of Terneuzen are closely involved in the project. “In the film, fiction and facts are interwoven. That allows us to have sharp, focused conversations about alternative models of land ownership that could contribute to solving social, ecological, and economic challenges in Zeeland. We want to see whether those conversations can actually lead to new ownership models. I’ll be researching that within HZ. This is also a way to bring art and science together.”
Delta Climate Center
The two new research groups within HZ are co-facilitated by the Delta Climate Center (DCC). In Zeeland's delta, researchers from a wide range of disciplines and students from intermediate vocational, higher vocational and academic institutions are developing innovative solutions for regional climate transitions. They do so together with companies, governments, civil society organisations and residents.
Go to the DCC website