Anna van Ark is doing an internship at the Rijksmuseum: ‘I’ve always wanted to be a curator’
Master’s student Anna van Ark has landed her dream internship at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. For three months, she’ll be shadowing the curator and conducting research on Japanese prints for the acquisitions team.
With two artists as parents, Anna’s love for art was instilled in her very early on. ‘I was taken everywhere from a young age,’ she says. ‘As a teenager, that developed into a love for anime, which led me to the Open Day for Japanese Studies. I really liked the people and the atmosphere: very open. It immediately felt right to study Japanese.’
Anna was so pleased with her choice of Japanese that she decided to take a break from her bachelor’s programme to study Japanese in Japan. ‘For me, the best way to learn a language is to be in the country itself, so this seemed like the best step to really get to know the language and culture,’ she explains. ‘As one of twenty students, she was admitted to the programme for international students, where she focused on art-related courses in her elective track. ‘My thesis was also about Japanese prints,’ she says.
A challenging translation
That decision is now paying off: since February, Anna has been interning at the Rijksmuseum, where her work includes cataloguing a recently donated collection of Japanese prints. ‘I measure the new prints and translate the titles. That’s often quite challenging, because they frequently contain double meanings. Sometimes the kanji (Japanese characters, ed.) differ from the phonetic pronunciation below them, giving a double meaning. Then you have to decide how to translate it. That’s really cool, especially since I’ve never worked with prints from around 1900 before. I’m also working on my research and helping to select prints.’
The ins and outs
Through her internship, Anna also gets a glimpse into the day-to-day operations of the museum. ‘On my first day here, we had the staff opening of the new exhibition. It was so cool to hear from all the people who had worked on it what they had done. That really helps broaden your perspective. I was always focused on becoming a curator, but I’m now realising that I really enjoy cataloguing as well.’
She had previously explored new worlds through her minors. ‘I once chose European Union Studies because I thought I might want to become a diplomat, but that really wasn’t a good fit. On the other hand, I really enjoyed books, bookstores, and publishing. I can recommend to everyone that they seize moments like these.’