In my practice I strive to visualise the passing of time and its influence on how we derive meaning through erosion, mediation and repetition. This is the overarching context of my work, which I often handle as a kind of objective. To an extent it is embedded in the idea of the anthropocene, wherein I work as a kind of archeologist slowly unraveling the present, peeling off layers to get to new insights and the process often goes back and forth between the virtual and the physical world – the material and the immaterial. While having this in the back of my mind, I mainly work with digital photography, video and organic material; in particular with agar-agar, alginate and ceramics.
Agar and alginate are both made of specific kinds of seaweed, which are then mixed with water. This allows me to make sculptures that alter their shape over time and are thus, in some way, performing. Depending on the temperature and humidity, the water evaporates out of the sculpture, changing form and content, as well as inviting micro-organisms that become a part of the work. The disintegration, as well as the influence of the local atmosphere, slowly becomes visible, like photographic paper getting exposed to the light.
My work is rooted in the term ecology (οἶκος meaning “environment / house” and λογία “study of”) which is connected to the landscape of The Netherlands, responding to terraformed and virtual aspects of the curated environment. This topic inescapably circles around the sociopolitical question of how to organically coexist in a space that has been so overly designed. Propelled by this line of questioning, my practice often involves architectural motifs and a certain site-specificity. In my work I intend to minimise the use of any synthetic material, manifesting primarily in the form of temporary sculptures that advocate a kind of organic inclusivity. Clearly, this also stems from the realisation of imminent climate change and the temporality of society.
After studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and graduating in 2017 from the master program Materialisation in Art & Design at the Sandberg Instituut, I currently work from my studio in Amsterdam–Oost.