The Legacy Continues

OBRAS isn’t just a place. It offers time without interruption and the conditions for sustained work alongside a small group of other artists. Many residents carry that experience with them long after they leave.

Tim first came to OBRAS in 2021 as a resident. From the beginning, something felt different here — in the pace, in the structure, and in the quiet way the residency supports artists. It wasn’t simply a strong residency experience; it felt like a place he wanted to remain connected to.

During that first stay, he told Ludger and Carolien that if they ever needed a caretaker or house sitter, he would return immediately. He later came back for three residencies in total, each time deepening his relationship with the place and with the community around it.

When Tim and Alex met in 2022, the conversation soon turned to OBRAS. As Tim described his experience there, Alex recognised the kind of place he had long hoped to be part of — one where artistic work, landscape, and daily life exist closely together.

In 2025, Alex finally arrived at OBRAS after years of hearing about it. What stood out to him was the way work and daily life settle naturally into the same rhythm here, and how the surrounding landscape becomes part of that experience.

What Ludger and Carolien created is rare. They built a structure that supports artists without directing them, and established a working atmosphere based on trust, independence, and time — something we came to understand gradually from the inside.

Between us, we bring experience as participants, mentors, organisers, and collaborators in artist-led environments. Tim came to know OBRAS from the inside through three residencies and an ongoing relationship with the place. Alex came to it from a different direction, with a long-standing interest in places where artistic work, landscape, and daily life exist together. The agricultural setting of OBRAS was part of that recognition as well, reflecting his own interest in living and working on the land alongside artists.

Our role is not to change what OBRAS is, but to continue it — to carry forward the same values and working conditions that have shaped the residency from the beginning.

Everything that led us here feels connected: the early visits, the conversations, and the time spent learning how OBRAS works from within.

We feel fortunate to be part of OBRAS, and responsible for what comes next.

Tim (L) and Alex (R) on their first road trip through the American Southwest.