Rijksstudio: get creative with the Rijksmuseum’s masterpieces

Paper
Peter Gorgels, The Netherlands

Published paper: Rijksstudio: Make Your Own Masterpiece!

In anticipation of its reopening on April 13, 2013, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam launched Rijksstudio, the new online presentation of 125,000 works in the collection. Rijksstudio invites members of the public to create their own masterpieces by downloading images of artworks or details of artworks in the collection and using them in a creative way. The ultra high-resolution images of works, both famous and less well-known, can be freely downloaded, zoomed in on, shared, added to personal ‘studios’, or manipulated copyright-free. Users can have prints made of entire works of art or details from them. Other suggestions for the use of images include creating material to upholster furniture or wallpaper, or to decorate a car or an iPad cover for example. To celebrate this digital milestone, the Rijksmuseum asked leading international artists, designers and architects to become pioneers of Rijksstudio by selecting one work from the collection and using it creatively to create a new artwork. The museum has launched a parallel campaign with a physical pop-up Rijksstudio. The campaign kicked off at the De Bijenkorf department store in major cities nationwide. A dedicated team assisted visitors in making creative products using online tools and on-site equipment such as textile printers and laser cutters.
Rijksstudio will help anchor the Rijksmuseum’s position in the new world of digital image culture and open design.