Tenant of Culture is the name of Hendrickje Schimmel’s latest artistic project. Hendrickje uses this name to refer to her position as a cultural post-producer, rather than an autonomous creator. She recently graduated from the textiles MA at the Royal College of Art in London, United Kingdom. Her background in women’s wear largely determines her subjects of interest, as well as her choice of materials.

The central object in her practise is the garment – be it found, made, wearable or sculptural. In her work, she examines the notion of the institutional archive, as well as its functions and themes, such as preservation, decay, storage, display and cultural hierarchy. The question that fuels her research is how we determine what should be saved, stored, preserved or protected. Using the phenomenon of fashion as an allegory for the transient, she explores the contradictory relationships between archives and trends. Or, in other words, the fleeting and contingent versus the durable and preserved. Her work has been exhibited in various places, including the ICA (London, UK) and the Central Museum (Utrecht, the Netherlands). She is currently an artist-in-residence at Sarabande, The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation (London, UK) and participant of The Camden Arts Centre Peer Forum (London, UK).