theme: failure

Every season, at the end of the course block, we organise a photo exhibition as a finale to our photography courses.
The theme the teachers have decided on this season is: failure

Jury selection

From all the submissions a jury will choose 10 works to be exhibited in the CREA hall for an entire course block. From this selection, a jury and public favourite will also be chosen, which will be exhibited for longer in large format. The photographers of the favourite works will also receive a CREA day course (in block 3 of season 2024-2025 or block 1 of season 2025-2026) of their choice!

​Voting

There are two ways in which you can cast your vote for the public favourite:

• Use the poll: below you can find the selected pictures. Use the poll widget to cast your vote for your favourite photograph.
• Instagram stories: pick your favourite in our Insta-stories  (will be posted on Wednesday 26 March 15:00 hrs)​.

Voting ended on Thursday 27 March 15:00.

> Jury
> Jury selection
> All submissions

Audience favourite

At Loss

by Raluca Samsonov

Jury favourite

Experimenting

by Kathrin Köferl

Jury report:

An exceptionally intriguing photograph that stands out due to its powerful composition and the presence of diverse elements which, despite their differences, come together as a harmonious whole. Within the image, abstraction and realism form a poetic interplay, evoking a multitude of thought-provoking questions that lead our minds on a playful search for meaning—meanings that seem to simultaneously elude us.

Are we looking at a man seated within a museum installation? Or perhaps an artist immersed in his process, seeking connection among large black shapes on canvas? Could it be a visual representation of a high-rise building, with a figure perched on the edge of the roof, contemplating life or death? Or is it in fact a space filled with deep black voids through which we must navigate—much like life itself?

Was the photograph intentionally taken out of focus, or are we witnessing a stroke of serendipity—a happy failure? The x-ray-like quality of the background contrasted with the sharper black forms in the foreground introduces a pleasing visual tension.

From a compositional perspective, the image is a fine example of the photographic “Rule of Thirds”: the placement of the man between diagonal light lines at two-thirds along the horizontal axis, and the division of the image where the bottom occupies two-thirds of the frame compared to the top.

All in all, a fascinating and stimulating favourite of the jury.

Jury

Our jury made a selection of 10 pictures from all the submissions from this course block, from which they themselves chose a jury favourite and from which the audience may choose an public favourite.

We hereby introduce our panel:

Jenneke Boeijink

filmmaker/photographer

Jenneke Boeijink (1977) is a Dutch filmmaker and photographer. She studied Neuro and Rehabilitation Psychology and Clinical Psychology at Radboud University Nijmegen, where her interest in human behaviour and the complexity of emotions was shaped. After graduating, she decided to further develop her passion for storytelling and attended the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam, where she graduated in scenario and direction. Her dual background in psychology and film is characteristic of her work and gives both her films and her photography a special depth.

In her work, Boeijink is inspired by themes of identity, family ties and mental health. Her films are intimate and confrontational, not shying away from putting vulnerability and human shortcomings at the centre. She is appreciated for her authentic style and the way she manages to convey complex emotions with subtle visual details and strong acting. Films such as ‘Porcelein’ (2019), ‘Proces’ (2010), ‘Terug’ (2012) and the short film ‘Kamer 330’ (2019) were praised by critics and won several awards internationally.

Boeijink also works part-time at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), where she teaches within the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. Here, she runs the honours module My Imaginary Self, in which students reflect on the world and themselves through photography and film. In this module, students are challenged to explore and develop their artistic and creative abilities.

Dennis van Galen

CREA director

Dennis has been the director of CREA since the end of 2019. He was previously head of artistic affairs at Adelheid Roosen’s dynamic theatre organisation and before that, he was director of Youth Theatre Hofplein in Rotterdam and even managed to get a youth performance to Lowlands.

Art education is a connecting factor in his career. For instance, he was artistic director of the Theatre teacher programme at the Amsterdam Academy of Theatre and Dance. Dennis was a (guest) teacher at various conservatoires, theatre schools in the Netherlands and abroad, the Dutch Film Academy, and worked as an art consultant for a contemporary art gallery in Sydney, Australia. 

​

Jury selection

-click to enlarge-

1. Chapeau! by Alice Dunglas
2. Poor lil’ Madge by Elif Kilik
3. Midair Between Success and Failure by Jonas Schlicht
4. Experimenting by Kathrin Köferl
5. AI by Luca Arfini
6. Pousse, pousse, panne by Mark de Boorder
7. I Can’t Go On by Masaki Iwami
8. Faces by Nuno Bastos
9. At Loss by Raluca Samsonov
10. You’re Killing Me! by Sophie Mostert

All submissions

-click to enlarge-

1. Alexander Smith – Failures Deserve Medals Too
2. Berat Kuzey Mungan – OOPS!
3. Bloem van t Hoff – Amsterdam
4. Danai Polychronopoulou – Spring Cleaning
5. Danielle Graman – Shortsighted
6. Dimitri Supusepa – Werken met de flits!
7. Emiel Dijkman – Red Team Loses
8. Janna Holthuizen – Dare to Miss
9. João Timm – Berlin, 35×35
10. Marleen ter Linden – Overexposed
11. Miluska van Rompu – Diepwatervrees
12. Rosa Looze – Failed Journey
13. Zeynep Gunce Gunduz – Stuck in Silence
14. Jonas Schlicht – Midair Between Success and Failure
15. Elif Kilik – Poor lil’ Madge
16. Alice Dunglas – Chapeau!
17. Sophie Mostert – You’re Killing Me!
18. Raluca Samsonov – At Loss
19. Nuno Bastos – Faces
20. Masaki Iwami – I Can’t Go On
21. Mark de Boorder – Pousse, pousse, panne
22. Luca Arfini – AI
23. Kathrin Köferl – Experimenting