HSE Design Students Shortlisted for Rijksmuseum Award

Students of the HSE School of Design have been shortlisted for the 2017 Rijkstudio Award, which is organised by Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. Works by third-year students Victoria Kasatova and Ekaterina Drugachenok were among the 75 works hand-selected by an expert jury out of 2,600 participants from around the world. According to the contest’s rules, anyone can submit an entry by downloading an art piece of their choosing from the museum’s website and creating their own work of art based on this image.

Victoria Kasatova (Supervisor: Alexander Lartsev, Communication Design Programme)

Project: Battery Indicator

Inspiration: Portrait of Gerard Andriesz Bicker, Bartholomeus van der Helst

‘The image of Gerard Bicker, Lord of Engelenburg, thinning down will help you determine which percentage your smartphone’s battery is at visually. The less charged the phone is, the thinner Gergard appears. When you plug your smartphone in, Gerard begins happily chewing on a piece of cheese. The less cheese you see, the fatter Bicker becomes and the more charged your phone is. When your phone is fully charged, you will see Gerard as depicted in Bartholomeus van der Helst’s portrait.’

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Project: Monopoly, a new version of the game Monopoly

Inspiration: Syndics of the Drapers' Guild, Rembrandt

‘While looking at Rembrandt’s masterpiece, I thought, ‘What if the syndics were playing Monopoly and not resolving important matters?’ This is how work began on the project. The idea behind the game’s design came from a piece of broadcloth sitting on the table. In the painting, it’s hard to make out a clear image of the material, which is why I looked up research on 17^th century cloth and discovered that during that time period, the colour red was prominent and floral decorations were popular. Paper money is the traditional currency in Monopoly, but I developed coins for my project that have portraits of the syndics on them, which is why the currency is called the syndic. For the Community Chest and Chance cards, a special list of actions was developed with things like, “Your broadcloth has won the Broadcloth of the Year Award,” “A new shop floor has opened,” “You get a discount,” “You were robbed,” “A moth ate your broadcloth,” “You need to buy thread for the broadcloth,” etc.’

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Ekaterina Drugachenok(Supervisor: Natalia Nemova, Environmental Design Programme)

 

Project: Sky Tile

Inspiration:  Two Horses in a Meadow near a Gate, Paulus Potter; Windmill of Wijk bij Duurstede, Jacob van Ruisdael; Landscape with Two Oaks, Jan van Goyen; and others

‘I looked at the museum’s entire collection and noticed that it includes a large number of wonderful landscapes. Many of them have a drab subject, but a one-of-a-kind sky. I wanted everyone to have the opportunity to see this sky every day at home, so I decided to make wall tiles. Among the paintings, I tried to find the most breath-taking and beautiful images of the sky and clouds at different time of day. I ultimately ended up with 20 different tiles. By bringing them together and combining them with white tiles, you can create a large number of different patterns and bring together whichever kind of sky you want.’

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The competition is taking place under the slogan, ‘Our art belongs to the world.’ The Rijksmuseum’s collection includes the works of Rubens, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and many other famous artists. The gallery has made it possible for anyone to view its 250,000 masterpieces online in high resolution, and anyone can use the artwork at their own discretion.