Who we are

OpenArtExchange is an independent international art gallery that aims to stimulate and connect promising contemporary visual artists from non-Western countries (particularly Africa, South America and Asia) with the western world of arts and culture. We do this through our online platform, participation in international art fairs and festivals, cooperation with partners and our exchange programs, exhibitions and other activities in our local art center at the museum quarter of Schiedam (Rotterdam region).

Meet our team

Left: Anne Ruth Schalk (Gallery manager). Right: Joke Bakker (Director)

Founder Joke Bakker-Jansen had a 25-year international business career in the financial sector, before turning her love for art into practice by starting a parttime master in Arts, Culture & Society and OpenArtExchange.

In 2018, Anne Ruth finished her master degree in Art, Culture and Society and worked for one year at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. After that, she joined Joke in establishing OAE as a solid international art gallery.

Visit the gallery

Hoogstraat 85, 3111 HC, Schiedam, The Netherlands

Monday: closed

Tuesday: closed

Wednesday: 10am-6pm

Thursday: 10am-6pm

Friday: 10am-6pm

Saturday: 10am-6pm

Sunday: closed

+31 10 737 0351

OpenArtExchange would like to showcase art forms, ideas and stories from promising non-Western artists in the Western art scene next to and in dialogue with Western artists. Although we focus on visual art, curious as we are, we do not shy away from cross-overs to other art disciplines like dance, music or poetry. Through our activities, we aim to let people experience, contemplate and appreciate a wide range of artistic expressions and new ideas about art, values and society in different communities. But above all, we aim to have people from different backgrounds share the joy and magic of art in all its rich diversity.

OpenArtExchange explicitly seeks to collaborate with others in various areas. If you are interested, please get in touch with us. We will respond to you as soon as possible.

Artists

OpenArtExchange constantly seeks collaboration with new professional non-western as well as local or European contemporary visual artists, to shape and grow its art exchange activities. If you are interested to work with us on a project, go to the artist page and contact us.

Companies and professional collectors

OpenArtExchange is open to explore collaboration with companies and art collectors who professionally manage and build art collections, as well as any companies that are interested in contributing to arts and culture, be it making their own building available for exhibiting art, sponsoring specific art events, or participating in workshops or events at our location. Please inquire with us to explore possibilities.

Cultural institutions

OpenArtExchange seeks to collaborate with art and cultural institutions, both in the Netherlands, and the countries of origin of our artists and wider Europe. This can vary from aligning artistic programming around themes, (joint) programming of expositions or other community events, or other ways to grow the institutional exposure of our artists and foster a more diverse and dynamic contemporary art supply to the public. Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Educational institutions

OpenArtExchange seeks to collaborate with local educational institutions, including schools, art colleges and universities, to support cultural awareness, cultural exchange, research and education activities in its local community. Please contact us for tailor made educational workshops, guided tours for groups or specific research projects.

Join our team

With its mode of operation, OpenArtExhange aims to strengthen the local community and, where suitable, deploy local interns and volunteers or offer opportunities to people with a disadvantage in the labour market. Check out our vacancies.

Leadership

Have a vision, be authentic, be socially involved, have courage, but also deliver quality, be the best, be professional, have a consistent track record.

Diversity

Live cultural exchange and collaboration between different cultures by actually doing, grant each other freedom, have mutual respect, be open minded, communicate, stack ideas, accept a certain friction and / or other opinions without necessarily losing your own vision or ending up in a tunnel vision.

Development

Be willing to learn and let others learn, be open-minded, give and receive feedback, research and develop vision, reflect on art, society and leadership.

Community

Be interested in the communities you are part of, know where you stand in the world and your local context, actively contribute to these communities, as artist-in-residence actively participate in the activities of the center, art develop (projects) that matter.

Commitment

Balance mutually commitment, whether long-term and more exclusively driven (affiliated artists) or project driven (up-and-coming talent), have an eye for and act in each other’s interests, act based on openness and trust, be positively driven , have ownership for the bigger picture, be loyal to each other and / or the project.

Reasonability

Base behaviour on fairness and reasonableness, apply common sense whilst considering the human dimension, clarify mutual expectations in advance, say what you do and do what you say, have a transparent and fair remuneration structure for artists, employees and OpenArt Exchange as a whole (including profit-sharing scheme).

Fun

Make it fun and inspiring to work for or with OpenArtExhange, be an active part of OpenArtExchange community, facilitate a free flow of minds, foster openness and safety to experiment, be stimulating, be innovative, let new things happen, create something out of nothing, push boundaries, realize development as an individual and together.

Who we are

Meet our team

Left: Anne Ruth Schalk (Gallery manager). Right: Joke Bakker (Director)

Visit the gallery

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