Every June, Zwolle comes alive thanks to the PROTO festival. Students from creative vocational and higher professional education programs showcase their graduation projects in the Spoorzone and at various locations throughout downtown Zwolle. In collaboration with Museum de Fundatie, PROTO also invites two artists-in-residence each year to work with the students on an exhibition. Mutual inspiration and the blending of different styles, working methods, and materials form the basis of this collaboration. This year, Creative Chef Jasper Udink ten Cate and designer Jurgen Bey (Studio Makkink & Bey) are guests at PROTO.
The final exhibition, featuring works by Udink ten Cate and Bey as well as those by a number of students, is on view in the Garden Hall of Kasteel het Nijenhuis, the outdoor venue of Museum de Fundatie. The castle, one of the best-preserved manor houses in Overijssel, situated amidst farmland, is surrounded by a moat and a sculpture garden. In the past, a manor house formed an ecosystem in itself—the garden served not only as a park but also as a vegetable and flower garden. The people who lived there formed a micro-society, with the lord and lady of the castle at its head. Today, those old patterns have been broken. Yet Bey and Udink ten Cate want to explore precisely how you can use different ingredients to create a new, self-contained ecosystem, especially in such a historic location. Together with the students, they will consider what is needed to achieve this. The result can be seen in the Garden Hall and the castle grounds, as well as in Zwolle’s Spoorzone. Expect food, art, music, design, and nature—all in one big pressure cooker.
Jurgen Bey
Jurgen Bey (1965) can be considered one of the first conceptual designers in the Netherlands and was part of the generation that made Dutch Design famous in the 1990s. Under the banner of Droog Design, he made a name for himself internationally as a visionary designer. In 2002, Bey founded Studio Makkink & Bey together with architect Rianne Makkink. By zooming in on a product—such as a lamp or a piece of furniture—and then zooming back out to the level of architecture or urban planning, he demonstrates how these seemingly distinct fields influence one another and are inextricably linked.
Jasper Udink ten Cate
Jasper Udink ten Cate (1978) is an artist and creative chef. His studio is internationally recognized as the leading expert in multisensory storytelling and experience design. Drawing on a wide variety of elements—including nature, physics, coding, music, philosophy, product design, biodiversity, fashion, graphic design, painting, and other disciplines—Creative Chef Studio creates experiences.n.
There will be a PROTO Summer Dinner on Saturday, June 29, 2024.
