Press release: Rabiaâ Benlahbib new director of Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen
28.04.2022
On May 1st, Rabiaâ Benlahbib will become the director of Kunstfort Vijfhuizen in Haarlemmermeer. She succeeds Zippora Elders, who accepted a position at Gropius Bau in Berlin.
The Kunstfort board of directors and staff are pleased to welcome Rabiaâ Benlahbib to this vital and challenging position. Among other accomplishments, she has distinguished herself in The Hague and elsewhere, by setting up Creative Court, an initiative engaged in research-based art and arts-based research, with particular focus on world peace and global justice (www.creativecourt.org). Rabiaâ also teaches the MA Photography & Society at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. In addition, she has been active the past two years as co-director of Imagine IC, platform for heritage democracy in Amsterdam Southeast.
Her vision on the role of the arts is closely intertwined with the role she ascribes to the arts in imagining other ways of living, which in turn originates from underlying ideas of sustainability and equality.
Rabiaâ sees both opportunities and challenges in realizing this vision at the Kunstfort together with its team, artists, partners, subsidizers, such as the Municipality of Haarlemmermeer and the Mondriaan Fund, and other stakeholders. The unique location, part of the Defense Line of Amsterdam, offers many avenues for her to explore.
Rabiaâ Benlahbib: “Surrounded by a moat in the polder, a prewar fort, a beautifully renovated weapons depot… I am greatly looking forward to getting started at this meaningful site and generating enticing artistic suggestions for a more future-proof and harmonious world.”
The position will again be filled on a part-time basis, enabling Rabiaâ to continue her work in The Hague.
By accepting this role, Rabiaâ Benlahbib will build on the legacy of Zippora Elders, who has worked since 2016 to further develop the Kunstfort into a remarkable venue for the arts and artists.
For press or media inquiries and interview requests, please contact Dennis Elzinga via communicatie@kunstfort.nl or 023-5589013. Photos by Michel Marang in link.
