Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands
Jules van den Langenberg (1988, he/him) is an artistic director and independent curator working at the intersections of contemporary visual art, landscape, and talent development. Since 2012, he has developed cultural programs in (bio)regions and cities, public artwork development processes in urban and rural settings, and collaborations with cultural institutions, collectors, and editorial projects. Van den Langenberg studied conceptual scenography and exhibition design in the Netherlands and Sweden and lived as a self-taught practitioner in Berlin, Paris, Athens, the German Black Forest and the Dutch Noordoostpolder. His experience includes initiating and leading projects that challenge ideas about longevity, site specificness, permanence and authorship in art and society, with biennales, museums, city festivals, collectives, and artist-run spaces. For his work as an advisor and exhibition maker, Van den Langenberg is alternately based in various European locations. His practice focuses on site-specific art and design, as well as interventions in museums, heritage sites, and historic residences. Recurring themes in his work include materiality, social mobility, and the role of imagination and estrangement in thinking about the future. Previously, he was the founding curator of Ornamenta, a province-wide program connecting contemporary art with historic sites in the German Northern Black Forest. He also served as chair and chief curator of the Polder Triennale and as editor-in-chief at Public Sandberg, part of the master’s programs at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Van den Langenberg has realized projects with the Van Abbemuseum, Museum De Pont, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Sandberg Instituut, Depot Basel, London Design Biennale, and Dim Sun Lausanne. He has lectured and served on juries for institutions including Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe, ArtEZ Arnhem, the Henriette Hustinx Prize Maastricht, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam and the Staatliche Kunstakademie Kassel. His writings have been published in De Witte Raaf, Kasseler Kunstverein, Galerie Kreo, and Galerie Annet Gelink. As general and artistic director of the (Nelly &) Theo van Doesburg Foundation, he initiates and curates site-specific art projects in collaboration with progressive building funds, developers, and artists. These interventions or gradual build up plans often take the form of open-ended scenarios using non-human agents like plants, trees and bacteria within new urban developments in the capital of The Netherlands.
Curator of permanent public art work Table of Content at Zeeburgereiland in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) with artist Bin Koh, producer Royal Makkum Tichelaar and Tomaello Rotterdam, supported by BPD Culture Fund and (Nelly&)Theo van Doesburg Foundation.
Jules Van den Langenberg curates the program of Construction Site Conversations and Collectors' Home Exhibitions that aim to develop and realize site specific public art in Amsterdam.
As initiator and curator, Jules van den Langenberg, worked on the development and realisation of the rolling public art work Black Ball by artist Yvonne Dröge Wendel, produced by over two hundred felting volunteers and more than fifteen municipalities, supported by Land Baden-Württemberg, ISSP e.V, Sparkasse, Pforzheimer Zeitung and Lotto Baden-Württemberg, thanks to Reuchlinhaus Pforzheim, Jewellery Museum Pforzheim, Gallery Lumen Travo. The public art work is currently part of the collection of Stadt Pforzheim and its Schmuckmuseum.
As initiator and curator, Jules van den Langenberg worked on the development and realisation of the permanent public art work Haug, Rainbow Fountain, at river Enz in Pforzheim (Germany) with artist duo Veronika Sedlmair and Brynjar Sigurðarson, producer Alfred Kärcher Vertriebs-GmbH and Skulptur Manufaktur Jörg Rohr e.K, supported by Sparkasse, THOST Projektmanagement GmbH, SWP Stadtwerke Pforzheim, Stadt Pforzheim, Stadt Bad Wildbad, Stadt Pforzheim Grünflächen- und Tiefbauamt, Stadt Pforzheim Kunstkommission, Stadt Pforzheim Technische Dienste and Leutrum-Garde Würm.
As initiator and curator, Jules van den Langenberg worked on the development and realisation of the public art work Inverted Paradise, at a vacant plot of green in Mühlacker (Germany) with Spazio Cura / spatial practitioner Thorben Gröbel, producer Metallbau Maunz, Giesz Bauservice and Vincon with Girl scouts Saint Georg Enzberg, Hofkammer des Hauses Württemberg, Stadt Pforzheim, Stadt Mühlacker, supported by Sparkasse, PZ-Media, Enzkreis and C. Hafner GmbH + Co. KG.
As guest speaker, moderator and mediator Jules van den Langenberg establishes and encourages direct contact between visitors, contemporary art practices, archives and exhibitions. He organized, curated or took part in these moments of mediation: 2025: Preparations for panel talk on the future of site specific biennales biennials organized by Goethe-Instituut Amsterdam, Tubelight Magazine and DutchCulture in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). 2024: Curation of discussion series on contemporary art and sacral heritage, with moderator Theo Ferreira Gomes, priest Julia Kaiser and Martina Morger, Juliane Greb, Zeno Franchini in the Egon Eiermann Church in Pforzheim (Germany). 2023: Participation in panel talk on sustainable museums with fellow speakers Judith Spijksma, Bart Ankersmit, Annabel Dijkema en Rutger Hamelynck, moderated by Nienke van der Wal, commissioned by the National Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). 2023: Moderation exhibition opening Inhalatorium at project space A.K.T.; with artist Minne Kersten and Kunstverein director Bettina Schonfelder in Pforzheim (Germany). 2022: Organization and curation of film screening Inner World in Outer World with artist Josse Pyl, the Archäologisches Museum and Schloss Bauschlott (Germany). 2022: Organization of lecture The Redolence of Memory by writer and curator Sumaya Kassim and Stadtmuseum Pforzheim in Würm (Germany). 2021: Organization and curation of screening Night Soil – Economy of Love by artist Melanie Bonajo, Queer Space Pforzheim and curator Geir Haraldseth at Kommunales Kino Pforzheim (Germany). 2021: Organisation and moderation of hybrid symposium with Nadine Botha, Henriette Waal, Julia Ihls en Studio Pointer at the auditorium of Zentrum für Kunst und Medien in Karlsruhe (Germany). 2020: Reading of review on exhibition Modus at Kasseler Kunstverein (Germany).
A selection of texts written and edited by Jules van den Langenberg for various media outlets and institutions: 2025: Review, exhibition, Unbecomings, Gallery Zilbermann Berlin (Printed in German, Online). 2023: Review, exhibition, The Mystery Garden, Gallery Kreo Paris (Printed in France, Online). 2021: Essay, Dear Countryside, graduation publication Sandberg Instituut (Printed in the Netherlands, Online). 2020: Review, Who wants to be Cinderella if you can be an ugly stepsister, about the exhibition Modus at Kasseler Kunstverein in Kassel (Printed in Germany, online). 2019: Essay, The Emperor is Naked, Gallery Annet Gelink Amsterdam (Printed in The Netherlands). 2019: Longread, Germ-free Adolescents, Journal 2, The Sandberg Series (Online). 2018: Essay, Een greep uit de snoeptrommel, De Witte Raaf 195 (Printed in Belgium, Online). 2017: Column, Design Academy is dead, long live Design Academy, Dezeen (Online).
Jules van den Langenberg published these books as editor in chief: 2024: Hardcover, Black Forest Chronicles, catalogue about Ornamenta 2021-2024, contributions by Josse Pyl, Wiktoria Wojciechowska, Yvonne Dröge Wendel, Thorben Gröbel, Sumaya Kassim, Leman Sevda Darıcıoğl, Eloy Cruz del Prado, Minne Kersten, Özgür Kar, privately published. 2021: Softcover, The Sign of The Stars, graduates of Sandberg Instituut sorted, contributions by CAConrad, Katayoun Arian, Rosie Haward, Aidan Wall, Artun Alaska Arasli, Fiep van Bodegom, Isabelle Sully, Federico Campagna, Maurits de Bruijn, published and distributed by Verenigde Sandbergen. 2020: Softcover, The Subject of The Email, graduates of Sandberg Instituut sorted, contributions by Zippora Elders, Maurits de Bruijn, Léon Kruijswijk, Delany Boutkan, Adrian Madlener, Laurens Otto, published by Verenigde Sandbergen, distribution by IdeaBooks. 2019: Softcover, The Place of Birth, graduates of Sandberg Instituut sorted, contributions by Thomas van Huut, Sumaya Kassim, Yuri Veerman, Adrian Madlener, Mark Minkjan, Tamar Shafrir, Herman Hjorth Berge, published by Verenigde Sandbergen, distribution by IdeaBooks, nominated for Best Dutch Book Designs and exhibited at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. 2018: Softcover, The Name of The Author, fifty-eight graduates of Sandberg Instituut sorted, contributions by Julia Mullié, Léon Kruijswijk, Nienke Vijlbrief, Tamar Shafrir, Laurens Otto, Katharina Wahl, Herman Hjorth Berge, Valter Jimi Törsleff, published by Verenigde Sandbergen, distribution by IdeaBooks. 2017: Softcover, The Title of The Work, eighty graduates of Sandberg Instituut sorted, contributions by Klaske Oenema, Bernke Klein Zandvoort, Maurits de Bruijn, Simon Becks, Hanne Hagenaars, Caroline Ruijgrok en Annee Grote Viken, published and distributed by Verenigde Sandbergen. 2013: Softcover, Local Heroes, catalogue on one day exhibition, contributions by Jeroen Boomgaard, Lidewij Edelkoort and Tabo Goudswaard, privately published.