Stichting Das Spectrum

We are an Utrecht based peer support platform facilitating connection and mutual support among artists and art-initiatives

Stichting Das Spectrum grew out of the dynamic studio building in Overvecht that was taken down in 2018. Building on the foundation of this former artist initiative, a new collaboration of artists and board members invested their time and energy to translate it into a peer support platform - with the aim of supporting local artists and grassroots art-initiatives in Utrecht.

As such we continue taking inspiration from the origins of Das Spectrum: an artist initiative, where a group of young artists supported each other in various ways. Our second inspiration comes from Indonesian art-scene, their peer communities and their collective approach to making art. Thirdly we are profoundly inspired by Enik Recovery College: a peer support initiative where people struggling with their mental health come together for mutual support.

This melting pot of inspirations offers our grassroots organization a fertile soil from which our peer support program continues to grow and develop. With this we aim to offer safe spaces, from which fellow artists and creatives can support both themselves, as well as each other.

Are you interested in learning more about our platform and program? You are very welcome to join one (or several) of our meetings and events!

Learn More | Agenda

a Peer Support Platform:

Stichting Das Spectrum is a peer support platform, facilitating mutual support among artists, creatives and art-initiatives.

a Peer Support Platform

Stichting Das Spectrum is initiated by local artists who have lived experience of running and sustaining art-initiatives. We know what it means to sustain art-initiatives besides our individual artistic practice(s), to work side jobs in order to survive and what it entails to invest our own time and money keeping them afloat. We have become very skilled at juggling these different aspects of life and art, often at the expense of our mental health. Constantly balancing inner drive, burn-out and self-care.

We apply regularly for funds, grants and residencies, seeking various opportunities for future growth. We have received many rejections, as well as the occasional grant. We are familiar with the beauty of our failures and the stresses of our success. Some of us did masters or postgraduates in art, but in most ways we are self-taught. Some periods of life we have been productive and other periods we love(d) doing nothing. To focus on being, instead of doing.

With our peer support platform we hope to facilitate an open space for reflection, sharing and mutual support. We all seem to be going through similar struggles, so why not learn from them? Reflecting on what we need to flourish and how to sustain our artistic practice(s). Each in our own way(s). To defy the pressure to perform, even if it’s only by coming together for a brief moment in life.

Stichting Das Spectrum is currently run by Mitchel Breed, Angelina Kumar and Engel Pluck as initiators - From left to right:

Das Spectrum: Artist Initiative & Studio Building

Before evolving to our current form, Stichting Das Spectrum was simply known as Das Spectrum. From 2011 onwards a group of freshly graduated artists transformed an old worn down publishing house in Overvecht (situated in the outskirts of Utrecht) into a vibrant studio building. Over the course of seven years alternating artists and art-initiatives initiated a variety exhibitions, lectures, movie screenings, theater performances and hosted a guest studio, for which they invited foreign artists, as well as from other parts of the Netherlands. Bringing in outside perspectives.

In 2017 they had to evacuate the building, which was torn down a year later, making space for student housing. In 2018 Mitchel Breed, Pim Tieland and Jop Vissers Vorstenbosch hosted Das Spectrum’s last events on locations throughout the city. After this our artist initiative fell apart, with all artists developing their practices elsewhere. Each in their own way.

Do you want to learn more about our history? Check out our Archive to learn about everyone involved!

Learn More | Archive

Nongkrongen in Utrecht: Wok the Rock, Parasite Lottery & Indonesia

At the beginning of 2016 Casco Art Institute invited Mitchel Breed from Das Spectrum for a two-week zine residency. During which he got a request from Wok the Rock to be interviewed for his upcoming Parasite Lottery project, on which he was collaborating with Casco. After an informal meeting Mitchel invited Wok to use the guest studio we created at Das Spectrum and in turn Wok invited Das Spectrum to join his Parasite Lottery project!

These were just the beginning(s) of an ongoing fascination and connection with the Indonesian art(s). In 2019 Mitchel traveled to Indonesia with the support from the K.F. Hein Fund. Visiting ruangrupa in Jakarta and staying at Wok’s art-initiative ruang mes 56 in Yogyakarta. Within this vibrant scene of many art-initiatives he was introduced to the concept of nongkrong, which he translated back to Utrecht as ‘nongkrongen’.

Do you want to learn more about our inspirations, past lives & incarnations? Check out our Archive to learn about everyone involved, and dive a bit deeper into our origins!

Peer Support: Enik Recovery College & the Recovery Movement

Parallel to slowly developing Stichting Das Spectrum into a peer support platform, from his own artistic practice, Mitchel Breed became part of the peer support community of Enik Recovery College. Within this mental health initiative he started following peer based workshops and working groups and in 2022 he developed his own art-based peer support project Ship of Fools II (Reflections on Madness). Which was developed within and with the support of the art-route CareFull, initiated by Art-Utrecht.

Here he became familiar with the concept of peer support, within the context of the recovery movement. This is an emancipation movement, by survivors and (former) patients of psychiatry. Within Enik Recovery College everyone has experience with mental health struggles and this shared experience makes us peers. Peers which support (and learn from) each other, as equals, within an unequal world.

Do you want to learn more about our inspirations, past lives & incarnations? Check out our Archive to learn about everyone involved, and dive a bit deeper into our origins!