[spectre] (fwd) New Director NIMk

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: "Nederlands Instituut voor Mediakunst" <nimk at mailinglijst.nl>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2011 07:58:11 +0200


Olof van Winden new Director NIMk

Olof van Winden has been appointed as General - artistic Director of 
the Netherlands Media Art Institute. He will take up his new position 
on 1 May, 2011.

Olof van Winden (b. 1976, Mukumu, Kenya) was trained at the Hotel 
School in The Hague. After working in this sector for some years Olof 
opted for a totally different career. His first step into the new 
field was in The Hague in 2002, with the Sound/Vision Festival on the 
Malieveld, and after that he was involved with Detroit's Electronic 
Music Festival. In 2004 he established The Generator Foundation, an 
organization of young creative spirits that grew into a professional 
festival and production platform, from which the adventurous annual 
<http://portal.todaysart.nl/>TodaysArt Festival in The Hague - among 
other activities - is organized.

In only a few short years Olof has built up a fascinating list of 
activities and has gained broad experience on the cutting edge of 
media art, the performing arts and visual arts. In addition to his 
work for TodaysArt he sits on committees for the Department of Art 
and Culture in Rotterdam and for the Mondriaan Foundation.

Max Meijer, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors for the Netherlands 
Media Art Institute, lets it be known that he is very pleased with 
the arrival of Olof van Winden, and believes that he will be the 
ideal successor to Heiner Holtappels: "young and unconventional, with 
the right mix of experience with cultural entrepreneurship and 
(media) art, and with a strong international network."

The Media Art Institute is very enthusiastic about Olof's coming to 
strengthen its team as of 1 May, 2011. With him we gain someone who 
can actively break new ground, and can raise the Institute to a new 
level, in a time that will be of crucial importance for the future of 
the Institute and for the field of media art.
After Heiner Holtappels' announcement in February 2011 that he would 
be stepping down as director after thirteen years, with Van Winden as 
the new team leader the Institute has now found a cultural 
entrepreneur with whom we can look forward to a productive future, in 
which Van Winden will surely play an inspirational and leading role.

Olof van Winden will continue to provide artistic guidance for 
TodaysArt, but will turn over a number of the business and 
operational tasks to his team in The Hague.
Olof: "I need this platform in The Hague to succeed at the Media Art 
Institute. TodaysArt has a lot of energy, current knowledge and a 
very relevant network that I can draw on productively at the 
Institute. Further, the day for individualism is past. Cooperation, 
alliances, partnerships and shared leadership have to help us through 
these shaky economic and political times. I believe in this sector 
and the potential of the artists and the partners when we all work 
together. I'm willing to make a tremendous effort to see that 
realized in the coming years!"