Press release- The MELLYs 2025 Winners: Kees Reedijk, Gigi Kraan, and The Niteshop

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Kunstinstituut Melly announces the winners of The MELLYs, the award celebration honoring art’s unseen heroes: Kees Reedijk, Gigi Kraan and The Niteshop (Malique Mohamud)

Rotterdam, 27 November 2025

Kunstinstituut Melly held the inaugural edition of The MELLYs, an awards celebration recognizing the often-unseen contributors whose labor, vision, and dedication sustain the arts ecosystem.

Created as part of Kunstinstituut Melly’s 35th anniversary and supported by Mondriaan Fonds, Stichting Stokroos, and Erasmusstichting Rotterdam. Each award carries a €25,000 prize, acknowledging three recipients whose craft, documentation, and cultural leadership shape artistic life in Rotterdam and across the Netherlands.

During the celebration, the following winners were announced: Kees Reedijk received the Maker Behind the Maker Award for over two decades of transformative technical collaboration, designing innovative electronic and multimedia systems while providing generous mentorship to artists across the Netherlands. The Behind the Lens Award went to Gigi Kraan, whose community-embedded photographic practice advances representation, equity, and self-led storytelling, redefining authorship and the role of the camera as a tool for social change. The Visionary 010 Award recognized Malique Mohamud (The Niteshop) for pioneering a community-driven, migrant-centered vision of Rotterdam’s future, using design, research, and street-level knowledge to reshape cultural narratives both on the ground and online.

The Physical Awards were designed and created by artist Jabu Arnell. Arnell’s practice is marked by experimentation with found materials and dialogic gatherings which unfold as an open research studio.

Proceeds from The MELLYs supported Kunstinstituut Melly’s 2026 program, including a major retrospective of Moshekwa Langa, ensuring the continuation of socially engaged and experimental art practices.

Maker Behind the Maker Award - Winner: Kees Reedijk

The Maker Behind the Maker Award is an initiative of Kunstinstituut Melly in collaboration with the Mondriaan Fund. It recognizes a person or group working in the Netherlands who, through their impeccable craftsmanship and collaborative support, has helped a visual artist realize their work to its fullest potential. Visual artists with more than five years of experience creating artworks and carrying out projects were invited through an open call to nominate one or more individuals for this award.

About Kees Reedijk

For over two decades, Kees Reedijk had been an indispensable collaborator to artists across the Netherlands, designing electronics and software for installations and multimedia artworks. Trained in electrical engineering and shaped by early work in broadcast studios and at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Reedijk integrated sensors, motors, sound, video, and light into tools that expanded artistic possibility. His practice was characterized not only by technical excellence but by mentorship, generosity, and a deep commitment to artists’ processes.

Watch & Learn More: Interview with Kees Reedijk

Jury

Amira Gad — Curator, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Charly van Rest — Winner of the Maker Behind the Maker Award 2021, Experimental Artist
Ron Bernstein — Artist and Head of Material Matters Lab, Jan van Eyck Academie

Full Jury Statement

“This year’s edition of the Maker behind the Maker Award at Kunstinstituut Melly received a remarkable number and variety of nominations. It was inspiring to see such a wide spectrum of practices represented, from glass blowing and wood carving to versatile producers whose contributions extend far beyond what is immediately visible.

The nominees revealed not only technical mastery but also devotion, care, and mentorship. Their generosity and collaborative spirit elevate both the work and the artists they support, highlighting the relational and educational dimensions of making that often go unnoticed.

After careful deliberation, the jury chose to honor Kees Reedijk, whose impact reaches countless artists through both his expertise and the unique community he has fostered over many years. Kees distinguishes himself by guiding, supporting, and enabling artists across a broad range of practices, doing so with passion and dedication that benefits both the creators and himself.

Awarding Kees is especially resonant at a time when the educational and mentorship systems he has shaped are often undervalued. This recognition celebrates his generosity and commitment, while also drawing attention to the broader ecosystem of care, knowledge-sharing, and craftsmanship that sustains artistic practice today.”

Behind the Lens Award - Winner: Gigi Kraan

The Behind the Lens Award, formerly the Berry Koedam Award, is named after Berry Koedam, a gallery owner and curator known for her wide-ranging contributions to the Rotterdam art scene. Koedam founded RAM Gallery in 1986 and later the RAM Foundation in 1994, expanding her support for artists beyond traditional exhibitions.

The award recognizes image makers in the Netherlands who excel in documenting art, exhibitions, and artistic communities. Candidates are nominated by about 30 professionals nationwide and submit a portfolio for evaluation. Supported by the RAM Foundation from 2021 to 2023, the award has been funded by the Mondriaan Fund since 2024.

About Gigi Kraan

Gigi Kraan is a photographer and multidisciplinary artist whose work explores identity, heritage, and representation. Her images have been widely published, and her recent curatorial and artistic projects—including It Means Everything Because This Is Who I Am — received national recognition. Deeply embedded in the communities she photographed, Kraan advanced equity and fostered spaces where underrepresented voices could shape their own visibility.

Watch & Learn More: Interview with Gigi Kraan

Jury

Femke Rotteveel — Director, FOTODOK
Marieke Wiegel — Artistic Director, Grote Kerk Breda
Matthew Antezzo — Artist and Photography Specialist

Full Jury Statement

“The jury has selected Gigi Kraan for the Behind the Lens Award for 2025. The jury finds her practice adventurous, and expands the boundaries of what this award can represent.

Gigi Kraan’s distinctive and autonomous artistic signature combines art and activism, and aims to be a catalyst for social change and creative expression through her work.

Gigi Kraan is not only supportive of communities, but also embedded within them. Her work advances equity and representation in the arts from a peripheral perspective, creating space for communities to express identity, resist conventions, and embody culture. The jury acknowledges that this is a delicate position for a photographer, and Gigi Kraan embraces it as a positive force.

The “Behind the Lens Award” finds its meaning in practices such as Gigi’s—where the lens becomes participative, and the artist rethinks traditional authorship by working with and for others. This reimagining of being “behind the lens” exemplifies the spirit of the award.”

Visionary 010 Award - Winner: Malique Mohamud (The Niteshop)

Founded by Malique Mohamud, The Niteshop is a design and research platform that redefined the role of migrant culture in shaping Rotterdam’s future. Mohamud—designer, strategist, and Hip Hop futurist—operated from the belief that lived experience and street-level knowledge are critical forces in city-making. The Niteshop’s hybrid cultural space, programming, and online presence translated complex political and social issues into accessible, community-rooted conversations.

Watch & Learn More: Interview with Malique Mohamud

Jury

Saskia van Stein — Artistic & Managing Director, IABR; Co-Head MA Critical Inquiry Lab, Design Academy Eindhoven
Aruna Vermeulen — Co-founder and Director, HipHopHuis
Joel Ferdinandus — Program Director, Rotterdam Partners

Full Jury Statement

“The jury has chosen the Niteshop, founded by Malique Mohamud, as the winner of the Visionary 010 Award 2025.

The Rotterdam collective has long reshaped the city’s cultural landscape. Their message is simple yet radical: your culture is culture, your experience is knowledge, and you shape the city. Working from the neighbourhood outward, they empower young people to claim space and redefine what ‘Rotterdam’ means.

They’re not interested in tokenistic diversity projects or polite inclusion gestures. Migrant culture is not a side story but central to their vision of Dutch identity. Their space, located on Schiedamseweg, is part night shop, part cultural embassy, a buzzing space that hosts exhibitions, debates, and drop-ins, breaking every rule of what an art space “should” be. Here, community meets creativity without hierarchy. A place where products and diaspora meet.

Online, they’re just as sharp. Their self-made videos and “street-slang pedagogies” on Instagram and YouTube turn complex issues such as segregation, migration and right-wing rhetoric into accessible, street-level conversations. They don’t lecture; they connect.

More than a collective, Niteshop is an attitude of productive antagonism, challenging white patriarchal systems and envisioning a postcolonial, super-diverse city. Their Cultural Currency Conference embodies that vision, reimagining how we live and create together.”

About the MELLYs Awards Celebration

The MELLYs reaffirm Kunstinstituut Melly’s commitment to championing emerging, underrecognized, and community-centered cultural practices, while honoring the people whose behind-the-scenes labor helps define the Netherlands’ artistic landscape.

The evening started within Riet Wijnen’s Suitcase Economy and afterwards unfolded with scenography by Loui Meeuwissen, performances by donna kukama and the Unemployed Airhostesses, a DJ set by Jollyfish during dinner, and moderation by Evita de Roode. This event was possible thanks to the support of Bobby’s Gin. Following the ceremony and dinner, Kunstinstituut Melly opened its doors for the Crew After Party, inviting everyone who keeps the cultural ecosystem alive to dance and celebrate together. The night featured DJ Jollyfish warming up the dancefloor, DJ Fatima Ferrari delivering deep, soulful grooves, and DJ Lynnée Denise taking the party higher and closing the night.

About Kunstinstituut Melly

Kunstinstituut Melly is Rotterdam’s contemporary art and theory institution. Since its founding in 1990, the institution has been committed to presenting and commissioning thought-provoking exhibitions, public programs, and educational initiatives. With a focus on emerging and underrepresented practices, Kunstinstituut Melly provides a vital platform for dialogue and artistic experimentation, rooted in the cultural and social fabric of Rotterdam and connected to international developments.

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