Biography

Born 1990, Arnhem, NL
Lives and works in London, UK

Tenant of Culture is the name of the practice of Hendrickje Schimmel. She has completed a BA in Fashion Design at ArtEZ School of the Arts, Arnhem, NL followed by an MA in Textiles at the Royal College of Art, London, UK. By disassembling and rebuilding manufactured garments, Tenant of Culture examines the ways in which ideological frameworks and power structures materialise in methods of production, circulation and marketing of apparel. 
The materials used in her textile assemblages are sourced from various stages of the garment production cycle as well as secondary use platforms and refuse. She recognises commodities not only as the result of a standardised production process, but also as the social relations that arise in the process of their usage and wastage. Working across mediums such as garment, sculpture, workshop and installation her work suggest implicit potential for both destruction as well as transformation.

Education
2014–2016 MA Mixed Media, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2009–2012 BA Womenswear, ArtEZ Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Zwolle, Netherlands

Residencies
2017-2018  Sarabande Foundation, London, UK
2017-2018 Camden Arts Centre and Arts Quest Peer Group, London, UK

Solo exhibitions
2024
Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, NL (forthcoming)

2023
Present Future section, Galerie Fons Welters at Artissima, Turin, IT
'Ladder', Soft Opening, London, UK
'In Situ: Tenant of Culture', MUHKA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Antwerp, BE

2022
Soft Acid, Camden Art Centre, London, UK
PIECE(D) WORK, Ivory Tars, Glasgow (with Gillian Lowndes)

2021
Autumn Cloth, Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, Austria
et al., Kunstverein Dresden, Dresden, Germany 

2020
Georgics (How to Style a Chore Coat), Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam, Netherlands 
Tenant of Culture, Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands
Exterior Assemblage, Soft Opening, London, UK

2019
'Eclogues (an apology for actors)', Nicoletti Contemporary, London, UK

2018
'Works and Days', Outpost Gallery, Norwich, UK
'Deadstock', Sarabande Foundation, London, UK

2017
'Climate | Change', Clearview, London, UK

2016
'The Latest Thing', CODE ROOD Koningsweg, Arnhem, NL

Group exhibitions
2023
Soft Acid - British Textile Biennale, Haslingden, UK
Beautiful Repair, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen, DK
Come Closer, Indigo + Madder, London, UK
Atavism from the future, Erlich Steinberg, Los Angeles, US
Insides Out, Kunstverein Göttingen, Göttingen, DE
Good Signal, Duarte Sequeira Warehouse, Porto, PT

2022
Tomorrow is a Different Day - collection presentation, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
I'm Nobody! Who Are You?, DASH/Rhizome, Kortrijk, BE
Eternally Yours, Somerset House, London, UK
Testament, Goldsmith CCA, London, UK

2021 
Post-digital Intimacy, National Gallery Prague, Prague, Hungary 
Getting Dressed, V.O Curations, London, UK 
LOOK! Exposing Art and Fashion, Museum Marta Herford, Herford, Germany 
A New Art World, Guts Gallery, London, UK 
Ghosts and Bones, Galeria Stereo, Warsaw (as part of Friend of a Friend), Poland 
I hear your keys clinking, Fragment Gallery, Moscow, Russia 

2020 
Sartor Resartus, curated by Jeppe Ugelvig, Huset fur Kunst & Design, Copenhagen, Denmark 
Image Power, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands 
eddy, M 2 3, New York MPP, MEME PAS PEUR curated by Davide Stucchi, Martina Simeti, Milan, Italy 
Fittings (with Kinke Kooi), Exile Gallery, Vienna, Austria 
Wearables, Etage Projects, Copenhagen, Denmark

2019
'Transformers', Future Gallery, Berlin, DE
'Gubbinal', Project Native Informant, London, UK
'Textus Ex Machina', AGNB Project Space, Budapest, HU
'NEW RUINS', Soft Opening, London, UK
'Os Mutantes', S.A.D Projectspace, curated by Saelia Appericio, Madrid, ES
'Workshop and presentation in collaboration with Valerie Kong', curated by 650 mAh, Arcade Gallery, London, UK
'Workshop and presentation during Art Night', Curated by Nikki Agency, London, UK
'Stuff Matters by Jessica Stockholder', work incorporated in collaboration with Maison the Faux at Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL
'Halfway House', Exile Gallery, Vienna, AT
'Metamorphosis. Art in Europe Now', Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, FR
'and I’ll have a pepper shaker in my cave, so laugh', ltd Los Angeles, Los Angeles, US
'Life Hacks', BQ Gallery, curated by 650mah, Berlin, DE
'An Order of Things', Gregor Staiger, Zurich, Switzerland
'The Community Live', Bonington Gallery, curated by the Community Collective, Nottingham, UK
'A closed mouth gathers no feet', DASH, Kortrijk, BE

2018
'Artquest Peer Forum', Camden Arts Centre, London, UK
'Conversation Pieces', Tenderbooks, London, UK
'State of Fashion', Arnhem, NL
'Group Presentation', launch of Press & Fold magazine, Amsterdam, NL
'Counter Quality', 630mAh, Hove, UK
Showroom 101, Barcelona, ES

2017
'Out of Fashion', Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL
'The Door was Locked…', Lily Brooke Gallery, London, UK
'Eternal Interstice', Lady Beck, Leeds, UK
'Limbic', Art Hub Gallery, London, UK

2016
'Bloomberg New Contemporaries', Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK and Bluecoat Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
'VIEWS', Clearview ltd, London, UK
'Gelderland Biennial', Arnhem, NL
'Latent Surfaces', FOOTHOLD, Polignano a Mare, IT

2015
'It Narratives: The Movement of Objects as Information', Franklin Street Works, Stamford, US
'X-CA-VATE-SITE-TWO', Schwartz Gallery, London, UK
'The Offprint book fair', Tate Modern, London, UK
'Squatting Somewhere I found', Hockney Gallery, London, UK

2014
'Born Digital', Museum of the Image, Breda, NL
'Tradition and Innovation in Dutch Design', Mikimoto Gallery, Tokyo, JP

2013
'Mode Bienale Arnhem', curated by Liedewij Edelkoort, Arnhem, NL
'Everything Means Something', Works in collaboration with Arash Fakhim, Circa…dit, Arnhem, NL

2012
'Delft Blue & Dutch Identity in Fashion', Museum het Prinsenhof, Delft, NL
'De Dood Leeft', Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, NL

Collections
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, NL

Publications
2020 Tenant of Culture, co-published by Soft Opening and Charles Asprey