RAAAF

{{Short description|Dutch multidisciplinary artist studio}}

RAAAF is an experimental studio operating at the crossroads of visual art, architecture, and academic philosophy. The studio is based in Amsterdam and was founded in 2006 by Prix de Rome (Netherlands) laureate Ronald Rietveld{{Cite web |last=Amsterdam |first=Universiteit van |date=2023-11-06 |title=2022-2023: Ronald Rietveld - Institute for Advanced Study IAS |url=https://ias.uva.nl/community/artists-in-residence/current-and-former-artists-in-residence/ronald-rietveld.html |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=UvA Institute for Advanced Studies - University of Amsterdam |language=en}} and philosopher Erik Rietveld.{{cite web|title=Professor Erik Rietveld at the Amsterdam UMC|url=https://www.amsterdamumc.org/en/research/researchers/erik-rietveld.htm}}

== Art practice ==

RAAAF creates artworks through research with visual artists, architects, academic researchers, and craftsmen.{{Cite journal |last1=Withagen |first1=Rob |last2=Caljouw |first2=Simone |date=December 17, 2015 |title='The End of Sitting': An Empirical Study on Working in an Office of the Future |journal=Sports Medicine |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=1019–1027 |doi=10.1007/s40279-015-0448-y |pmid=26681332 |pmc=4920847 }}{{Citation |last=RAAAF |title=RAAAF- The Making of Still Life V4 |date=2019-09-02 |url=https://vimeo.com/357374405 |access-date=2023-07-17}} Artworks by RAAAF often relate to practices and policies that are connected with contemporary working and living environments.{{cite magazine |last=Rhodes |first=Margaret |date=2014-12-08 |title=The Weirdest Proposal Yet for the 'Office of the Future' |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/12/weirdest-proposal-yet-office-future/ |magazine=Wired |language=en-US}}{{cite web |last=Burrichter |first=Felix |date=2010-09-08 |title=The Architecture Biennale {{!}} A Last Look |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/the-architecture-biennale-a-last-look/ |work=The New York Times Style Magazine |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |last=Heft |first=Harry |date=2022 |title=Disrupting the Flow of Perception-Action through Design |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1059712321989099 |journal=Adaptive Behavior |language=en |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=561–564 |doi=10.1177/1059712321989099 |s2cid=234162498 |issn=1059-7123 |via=Sagepub|url-access=subscription }} One example is the art installation Vacant NL that served as the Dutch contribution to the Venice Biennale in 2010.{{cite web |last=Jordana |first=Sebastian |date=2010-07-16 |title=Vacant NL, an exhibition during the Venice Biennale |url=https://www.archdaily.com/69189/vacant-nl-an-exhibition-during-the-venice-biennale |work=ArchDaily |language=en-US}} This work emphasized the possible uses of thousands of vacant buildings owned by the Dutch state.

Many projects by RAAAF include large spatial interventions at cultural heritage sites.{{Cite journal |last=Sutton |first=John |date=2022 |title=Preserving without conserving: Memoryscopes and historically burdened heritage. |url=https://philpapers.org/archive/SUTPWC.pdf |journal=Adaptive Behavior |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=555–559 |doi=10.1177/10597123211000833 |s2cid=233663687 |via=Sagepub}}{{Cite journal |last1=Feiten |first1=Tim Elmo |last2=Holland |first2=Kristopher |last3=Chemero |first3=Anthony |date=2022 |title=Doing philosophy with a water-lance: art and the future of embodied cognition |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1059712320983041 |journal=Adaptive Behavior |language=en |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=541–544 |doi=10.1177/1059712320983041 |s2cid=234176476 |issn=1059-7123 |via=Sagepub|url-access=subscription }} For example, one intervention was to cut through Bunker 599, a monumental military bunker that was once part of the New Dutch Waterline.{{cite magazine|date=2010-10-19|first=Duncan|language=en-US|last=Geere|title=Dutch Bunker Sliced in Half|url=http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-10/19/dutch-military-bunker-sliced-in-half/|magazine=Wired|access-date=2023-07-15|archive-date=2016-05-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160507210416/http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-10/19/dutch-military-bunker-sliced-in-half/|url-status=bot: unknown}} This intervention questioned Dutch and UNESCO policies on historical preservation, which the artists deemed too conservative. In 2021 the bunker that was now sliced in half became itself listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.{{Cite web |date=2021-11-03 |title=A sawed-through bunker that puts heritage in a new perspective {{!}} NWO |url=https://www.nwo.nl/en/cases/sawed-through-bunker-puts-heritage-new-perspective |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=www.nwo.nl |language=en}} Another example is the spatial intervention that in 2018 transformed a Delta Works test facility into the artwork Deltawerk //.{{cite web|date=2016-12-19|first=A. J. P.|language=en-US|last=Artemel|title="Hardcore Heritage": RAAAF's Latest Experiment in Historical Preservation|url=https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/hardcore-heritage-raaaf-reveals-its-latest-experiment-in-historical-preservation/|work=Metropolis}}{{Citation |last=RAAAF |title=Making of Deltawerk // (ENG) |date=2019-03-12 |url=https://vimeo.com/323186990 |access-date=2023-07-17}} This work has been received both as a tribute to the Dutch struggle against the water and as questioning the viability of creating an indestructible Netherlands.{{Cite web |title=Deltawerk// (2018) |url=https://www.landartflevoland.nl/en/land-art/raaaf-atelier-de-lyon-deltawerk/ |access-date=2023-07-17 |website=www.landartflevoland.nl}}