#WhoseFuture Curator Interview: Rosa ter Kuile
Rosa ter Kuile
The #WhoseFuture campaign that launched today was managed and curated by our very own, totally brilliant Rosa ter Kuile.
We asked her about how she found the challenge of realising a city-wide campaign in just over 2 weeks.
You can also check out her work as RTiiiKA
Who are you, what do you do and what is your role in the Rising team?
I’m a 27 year old Dutch/English artist who has landed in the Rising team! My work at Rising HQ involves telling the stories of our creative community, promoting events and how we campaign for social change - so it’s a combination of designing, writing newsletters, producing social media content - and as of recently, campaign managing!
I came to Rising as an artist myself, working under the name RTiiiKA. I illustrate and paint murals, and love to draw genderless humans with expressive bums. I’m also the founder of the Bristol Womxn Mural Collective, an inclusive group that provides support, advice and visibility for womxn working in street art.
And...lastly, I’m low-key into riding my bike long distances, and making up sport events for myself. I recently finished a solo half marathon in first, second and third place. Go me!
Can you tell us a little bit about the #WhoseFuture campaign? What is it? How was it initiated? and what is the campaign's aims?
#WhoseFuture is about young people taking over the city and getting their voices heard.
My hope is that the message we are shouting lands to the people that need to hear it most. Yes: Black Lives Matter, access is a right not a privilege, don’t f*ck up our planet and just look after and love each other. It’s simple, really.
I also see it as a wake up call to how capitalism infiltrates parts of our city more than others. Why are there no billboard sites up in Clifton? Why has it taken COVID-19, BLM and an economic melt-down to replace ad space with art?
If there's one thing that you want people to take from this campaign, what would it be?
I’d say it’s the simple message of listening. Listen to what young people have to say - there’s so much to reflect, learn and celebrate in this campaign.
What has the process of curating this campaign been like for you?
Curating #WhoseFuture is my first experience of putting something together on this scale. So it’s been a deep dive in planning, designing, artist liaise-ing, and Zoom hosting.
It’s also been eye-opening to be in the role of “curator” vs that of “artist” - and to see the different message each artist brings to campaign.
I’ve always been interested in reclaiming ad-space with art, and the veil has definitely been lifted on how something like this is achieved. Turns out, it’s a ton of emails, spreadsheets and design files called WF_ARTWORK_333_FINAL.pdf. So really not that sexy at all. But seeing the work jump from screen to billboard is just so massively rewarding.
The campaign is a powerful provocation to the city about the importance of action, what can people who want to do more, do next?
If you’re a young artist wanting to get involved and shake things up, we’ve got a ton of stuff on offer.
If you’re in a position where you can pay it forward, become a Rising Radical and help us make change happen.
And if you love a piece of art, I urge you to buy a print of it! You’ll be supporting the artist as well as our work - and you get to frame a little bit of Bristol history.