Who Else Leaves: A research studio exploring non-artists’ legacies

On March 20, 2026, during the MACCH conference On Leaving: Contemporary Artists Estates and Legacies at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, Ruth Benschop conducted an artistic research studio about who else leaves. 

Participants as well as organizers or support staff of the conference were invited to sign up for a conversation of approximately 45 minutes in a dedicated space. During these conversations, she explored these questions: Artists may leave, but who else leaves the art world? How do they do that? What (and how) do they leave behind? And how are or how might their leaving be attended to, their legacies be cared for? 

The curators, the cleaners, the critics, the theorists, the technicians, the artistic directors, the conservators, the dealers, the volunteers, the spectators, the researchers, and all the others who may once have been a large or a small part of your working life.In conversation, Benschop and her interlocutors collaboratively started articulating and practicing a generous ethos of bereavement.

If you have any questions, or of you are interested in booking this research studio (collaboratively amended to fit the event at hand), please don’t hesitate to contact us: whatartknows[@]zuyd.nl