28 april 2023, Manuela Klerkx
The gallery of… Linda Seine
The hands-on mentality, slight headstrongness and great enthusiasm of Linda Seine, founder of Studio Seine, are typical for a city like Rotterdam where her gallery is located. Linda is working on an original and topical art programme from a great social drive, both towards the artists she represents and the visitors alike. Read the adventurous story about the origins and development of her gallery and you can only conclude that a hard-working, enthusiastic lady is working here to achieve the highest possible for her artists, inside and outside Rotterdam. Don’t hesitate to pop in if you're in the area.
When did you first open your gallery and how did that go?
In the spring of 2010, my partner and I came across a DIY house project offered by the municipality of Rotterdam. On the Mathenesserdijk, former car garages with living spaces above were being offered as future living/working buildings, but you had to put in the hard work to make it liveable. We immediately saw the potential of the project and wanted to fulfil our shared dream here, namely to combine an independent exhibition space with a coffee roasting company and live above it.
Our first viewing of the DIY house project in 2010.
As always with such projects, everything took much longer than expected. In addition, we had not sufficiently taken into account setbacks during the renovation. Despite the fact that we did a lot of work ourselves, from demolishing and designing the building to building it up again, we moved in the winter of 2013/2014 into a construction site with no working facilities. We first made the living floor habitable and after that, it took some time before we could use the ground floor as a studio.
We transformed this former car garage into Studio Seine. Private photo, 2010.
After a long run-up, the first solo exhibition finally opened in October 2016. Since then, Studio Seine has presented about 39 different exhibitions in collaboration with about 60 different artists and/or guest curators.
At first, the combination of art and coffee worked very well, but in the long run, it started to get challenging. The space was too small for two growing companies and its appearance, with ever more coffee bags plus a larger coffee roaster, meant we had reached the limits of the space. My husband's company moved to a different location in the city last year and I've been taking advantage of all the new opportunities this has created in the studio ever since.
The solo exhibition Inner Thoughts by Lise Sore in 2022.
Since 2021, I have expanded my activities further and have also started representing artists in their career. You might call it a 'two-track policy' because it is separate from my role as curator for Studio Seine.
How would you define your gallery's profile?
I strive to provide a hospitable and accessible platform to anyone who is curious about contemporary art and its developments, and wants to interact with it in an accessible way. During a single season, I ideally show work by beginning and advanced artists and I may or may not collaborate with guest curators. Because I am also open to proposals from artists, the programming with alternating painting and drawing, photography, spatial and or digital work is diverse and topical.
De solotentoonstelling ‘Zoals het Klokje Tikt’ van Tahné Kleijn, 2022/2023.
I would describe the gallery’s profile as committed, independent and a bit wayward. I myself have a Rotterdam mentality and it is not without reason that Studio Seine started in Rotterdam west. I don't mean to deliberately attack sacred cows, but I do realise that I have an unusual formula. And, to be honest, I'm proud of that too. I trained as a visual artist and then as an art teacher, and that background is reflected in the gallery profile and in my working method. I am a true storyteller, have an investigative work attitude and enthuse from a committed and sociological approach.
I curate the various exhibitions from a thematic point of view and alternate them with solo and duo exhibitions of (young) artists that deserve an audience. The primary goal is to curate strong exhibitions that show the latest developments in art. As an independent exhibition space, I do not use subsidies or other forms of support. By combining my work for Studio Seine with a two-day job as an art teacher, I am self-sufficient, I am able to curate exhibitions in complete freedom that go against existing conventions. To me, it is of secondary importance whether the work I have curated is commercially viable, the content and the story told through the exhibition are paramount.
Tijdens de duotentoonstelling ‘YellOh’ van kunstenaarsduo Rotteveel Vermeer en Esmee Seebregts in 2022. Fotografie en styling door Thomas Vermeer.
Of course, I save all revenue from sales to achieve my long-term goals since after all, I want to guide the artists I represent to a larger stage. I want them to develop and reach their potential without any hindrances.
What do you think is most important about being a gallery owner?
To help the artists I work with. I think in terms of long development lines and derive great satisfaction from mapping out a path. To consider which route can best be followed to achieve set goals. I feel very strongly about having an equal, personal relationship and consider it my main task to go through the (development) process together with the artist as far as my possibilities stretch.
The world is becoming ever more virtual, we are travelling more and more consciously and the gap, financial and otherwise, between emerging and established artists is increasing. Against this background, how do you see the future of the art world in general and the gallery business in particular?
Undeniably, like me, the entire world experienced the pros and cons of the virtual world during the pandemic and lockdowns. As far as I am concerned, a negative consequence is that people visit cultural institutions less frequently, as it seems to no longer be part of their habits. Whereas art needs to be experienced physically. No matter how aesthetic a pictures or video is, it does not produce a complete experience or stimulation of all sensory perception.
Video still from a recording about the group exhibition Optimism with work by Anuli Croon, Bertjan Pot, Johannes Langkamp, Tonio de Roover and Touw van Eck. Video of Art Index Rotterdam from 2020/2021.
I am also concerned about social developments in the art world. Artist resources have dwindled even more since I graduated as a visual artist in 2001. Also, the ‘merit-good argument’ that art is good for people, but they are unable to properly see its value for their own well-being is increasingly pushed into the background in our polarised society.
Because of my personal ideals, I started an independent platform for contemporary art without commercial interests, which has a healthy future perspective. However, opportunities such as those I have had and have taken advantage of are, unfortunately, not available to everyone and I have a problem with the fact that political support is insufficient for the sector in general and for young artists in particular.
How and where do you select the artists you work with? What qualities do you look for?
When I started out, I literally pulled open a well-filled can of business cards and flyers of all the inspiring artworks and exhibitions I had seen over the years. This pre-selection process turned out to be an excellent starting point and from there I carefully outlined a programme for Studio Seine.
I have a keen eye for emerging talent and development opportunities and look for visual quality and expressiveness. The work must be convincing and speak for itself, but research must show that it has added value. I feel very strongly about equal cooperation and that energises me. When you meet with someone in person, you immediately learn whether there is a click and whether your goals are aligned.
I often discover the artists I work with during a visit to an exhibition, fair or museum. Though it also happens that artists write to me to see if I can meet with them elsewhere. I think it's important that I'm approachable and can offer starting artists a springboard and that I can offer advanced artists different possibilities than their representing gallery sometimes can or does.
During the duo exhibition 350 x 1018 by Hanna de Haan and Rik Buter, 2023.
If, in an ideal world, you could choose an artist to represent, who would it be?
In that case, I’m going to aim high and name just one name who is impossible for me. Of all living artists, I would like to represent the South African photographer Zanele Muholi. I really appreciate autobiographical work, even more in combination with visible references to art history. They do this with a subtle sense of humour. Also, I cannot ignore the Indian Nalini Malani. After seeing her solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 2017, I was touched by the layered total experience with depth and vulnerability. And finally, I appreciate Grayson Perry's personal handwriting, which is recognisable in any discipline or technique and is always razor-sharp in terms of content. And among non-living artists, Sigmar Polke embodies everything I find important about good art.
What is the last exhibition you saw that made a deep impression on you?
The discomfort I experienced when I saw the exhibition Two Tongues by Umar Rashid at the Dordrechts Museum last winter intrigued me. I was fascinated by his commentary on historical stories and imaginative visions. Shortly before that, I saw a documentary about the presentation of the Johannes Vermeer Prize to Natasja Kensmil, so seeing her Marriage portrait of Johan de Witt and Wendela Bicker during that same visit to the Dordrechts Museum also made a huge impression on me.
Finally, the 2019 solo exhibition Spirits of the Soil by Raquel van Haver at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam blew me away. I became completely absorbed in her monumental, theatrical and expressive works and at the time, didn't know that I would later show her work in Studio Seine.
The group exhibition Let's get political: The activist within by guest curator Joyce Overheul with work by Airco Caravan, AiRich, Raquel van Haver, Marin Hondebrink, Joyce Overheul and Fleur Ouwerkerk in 2021/2022.
Do you collect art personally? And if so, what?
I don't consider myself a collector, but I do buy art and I am privileged because I sometimes receive work as a gift. As soon as my husband and I both fall in love with a work of art, it gets a permanent place in our home. We have a modest collection of small works by Lise Sore, Jochem Rotteveel, Gam Bodenhausen, Marjolein Witte, Lisette Schumacher, Marissa Rappard, Touw van Eck, Frans van Lent and Jelte van Lente, among others. And we bought some larger works from Esmee Seebregts and Katerina Konarovska.
Do you have any tips for novice art buyers?
First of all, you want to determine whether you are going to collect or just want to enjoy. In the first case, I recommend that you become well informed, for example by becoming a member of The Young Collectors Circle. In the latter case, you can let your intuition and emotions decide. As soon as your heart jumps or you feel moved by a work of art, it is a sign that you have to do something about it.
During the solo exhibition On the Surface of Colour by Esmee Seebregts, 2019/2020. Video still from recording for Museum Night 2020, by Pia van den Beuken.
