Plan and Play, Play and Plan Defining Your Art Practice

'Visual artist’ is a term with untold interpretations, nuances, variations and meanings. But how, as an artist (or designer, photographer, or other ‘independent creator’), do you become who you are and who you would like to be? What fundamental questions, characteristics, dilemmas, ambitions, restrictions and realities play a part?

How can you guide your artistic practice, the main criterion being to answer the question: "where do I stand and what do I stand for?" Plan and Play, Play and Plan invites the artist to reach considerations, often based on analytical models, that will help to determine his/her position. This book has been written by Janwillem Schrofer, director of the Rijksakademie (Amsterdam) from 1982 to 2010, an esteemed international institute, where artists with a number of years' professional experience are provided with their own studios for two years. Schrofer knows from practical experience the complexity of the artist's questions and dilemmas, the many areas in which the artist is involved and how important self-reflection and self-determination are. He has scrutinized his considerations and, assembled notes-based on many interviews with a wide variety of artists-assimilating them into an appealing book in which terminology, background and questions requiring reflection form a cohesive whole.

This log-cum-reflective book is intended for artists and those who wish to become artists, as well as anyone who works with artists. The book does not provide 'recipes' or simple solutions, but delves into the very fibre of the artist's profession, and invites the reader to explore a sustainable artistic practice.

Artists' contributions: Nardo Alvarado, Carlos Amorales, Tiong Ang, David Bade, Mark Boulos, Olga Chernysheva, Martha Colburn, Sean Dower, Driessens & Verstappen, Marlene Dumas, Claudia Fontes, Alicia Framis, Meschac Gaba, Ryan Gander, Dora Garcia Lopez, Antony Gormley, Hama Goro, Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Hans van Houwelingen, Joan Jonas, Paul Klemann, Jean Bernard Koeman, Meiro Koizumi, Cees Krijnen, Germaine Kruip, Alexandra Leykauf, Matt Mullican, Jacco Olivier, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Jan van der Ploeg, Esther Polak/Ivar van Bekkum, Michael Raedecker, Jannie Regnerus, Mathilde Rosier, Viviane Sassen, Praneet Soi, Mounira Al Solh, Berend Strik, Esther Tielemans, Helen Verhoeven, Roy Villevoye, Auke de Vries, Guido van der Werve, Kan Xuan, Sylvie Zijlmans

Design: Laura Pappa