‘‘Life is Art
&
Art is Life’’

Designing lifestyles, performative rituals, and hypothetical tools,
towards unveiling the symbiocene

Re_Pharmacy | 2020 - 2021

From December 2020, I’ve been replacing the contents of my medicine cabinet with homemade plant-based meds. For this, I used herbs and weeds; that grow within
1 kilometer from my residency, and with otherwise bio-degradable and sustainably produced ingredients. By doing this, one illness at a time, I’ve been forcing myself to learn the names of all these locally growing plants and to rediscover forgotten knowledge.

I find my recipes in old books or I create my own recipes, which I share on my research blog Arty Farty Life. Each little sculpture in this installation contains one of these recipes. Together they form an continuously growing installation.

Symbiose | 2020

Necklace | two people's hair, ruby and glass beads, silver thread | (30 x 60 cm). During Victorian times, it was common, to create jewelry out of a deceased persons' hair; 'mourning jewelry', these pieces were called. At the height of this custom's popularity, merchants would even travel from village to village, to buy the hair of the less fortunate...

For the past fifteen years, I've been a caregiver for one of my close relatives. The relation I've had with this person, has always been complex; It's completely based on trust, which makes the bond very fragile, and because this is also a paid job, which partly enables my art practice. I feel like I had to make many crucial life decisions for this person throughout the years; as where to study, and where to live. And recently, due to circumstances, also how to look, as I was trusted with the task of cutting off his hair.

Re-Fashion |2021 - 2022

For one year and one day, I wore this self-designed, hemp and other eco materials-based, consisting of a minimal amount of items, set of clothes. Inspired by research on former dutch historical (such as folklore ‘klederdracht’) clothing traditions.
The set was made by a local tailor and was sponsored through a crowdfunding campaign. The set was altered and restored by myself, throughout the year, forcing myself to learn about all kinds of sowing, washing and mending techniques.

Durational performance
5 hours | during Frank Taal gallery exhibition 10+, Rotterdam & This Art Fair, Amsterdam | NL

7.83 Hz | 2021

Riga Performance Art Festival, LV

In times in which social distancing had become the new social norm, by singing together with an audience via digital means, distance can nevertheless be overcome. Likewise, sound and intention are proven to be able to influence behavior of molecules beyond dimensions of time and space.

By inviting an online audience, with people from all over the world, to sing along with our performance, we aimed to create a humming for the Earth and mankind, which are facing an even graver crisis than covid-19

CorporAte | 2021

1 hour performance | Chili Performance Art Festival & This Art Fair – Amsterdam
’’Reaching for roots | Grinding death back into fertile humus | The mouth a wet warm incubator | To start anew – Flipping the disbalance
man facilitating nature for once’’

Homo Fragilis (2020)

Images: Roderik Henderson & Marco de Waal

Materials: vitamin pills, band aid, rubber gloves, syringes, ampouls, mushrooms, living plants

PLOW | 2022

Performance video (dyptich) | 03:05 & 03:49
As presented in immersive installation at BigArt, Amsterdam 2022

A voice from the not too far future, poetically shares in whispers, how the evolution of man came about as a result of the unlivable circumstances that arose on planet earth, due to climate change.