Rijksstudio Awards invites artists to reinvent a masterpiece, with €10,000 prize

The Rijksstudio Awards have returned, inviting applicants to rifle through the Rijksmuseum archive and create new works based on the pieces. The winner will receive a €10,000 prize and the work will be exhibited at the museum in Amsterdam.

The competition that launched in 2014 encourages the public to draw inspiration from the museum’s mammoth collection. Images of the institution’s 250,000 works are available for download to be rediscovered, repurposed and reimagined.

The brief is as open as the applicant wishes it to be, with no boundaries set on a creative discipline – design, fine art, fashion and photography interpretations are all welcome. Previous winners include an original make-up line inspired by the colour palettes of female portraits by Asnate Bockis and Rogier Arents and a wallpaper collection by Ottoline de Vries. The competition’s legacy has placed the Rijksmuseum “firmly in a leading position in the world of digital image culture and open design”, encouraging a broad scope of creativity.

The works will be considered by a jury including Rijksmuseum director Taco Dibbits, designer Irma Bloom, editor in chief of Wallpaper* magazine Tony Chambers and associate creative director of MoMA New York, Ingrid Chou.

Entries for the Rijksstudio Awards are now open with a deadline of 15 January 2017.