Vijftigjarig bestaan van de Universiteit van Amsterdam 1927 1927

This bronze medal was made by Chris van der Hoef in 1927, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Amsterdam. It’s a funny thing, a medal, right? A tiny little sculpture that fits in your palm. What strikes me is the doorway. It’s got this austere, classical vibe with those columns, but then there's this flourish of ornamentation on top. It’s so subtle, almost like a secret handshake. And the doorway itself is just an empty space, it’s a void, an opening to somewhere, or nowhere. The texture is something else; you can almost feel the cool smoothness of the metal, and then the sharp, precise lines of the lettering, each groove catching the light just so. It reminds me of Brancusi, his endless pursuit of simple forms that still manage to hold so much complexity and feeling. Art, like education, is an ongoing conversation, full of ambiguity and interpretation.