Installation 2011 is no political reply or approach, although the subtitle ‘Immer forwärts, Nimmer Rückwärts’ might suggest so. This proverb comes from a postcard of the city of Oldenburg. It connects to the feelings amongst the people I met; a kind of restlessness, a silent protest. There were  plans to renew the Bahnhofviertel: Soon to be the 'Creative District' of Oldenburg. It is an idealistic approach to develop this relatively small and unpopular suburb into an attractive area.

The local inhabitants preferred to see their artistic and cultural district develop from local initiatives instead.

This area fascinated in another way: Its characterizing diversity in architecture. There are townhouses in neoclassical style from the late 19th and early 20th century,  after-war apartments, office cubes from the 70's and modern buildings from the 90's.

This motivated me to work on a site-specific installation in a garage behind Kulturetage, the local arts-center.  The garage is an abandoned place, hidden somewhere between the impressive buildings I came across.    To me it was a very calm and quiet space.

This site-specific installation is a reflection of my experiences of the bahnhofviertel. And appeared during the six-week residence prior to the exhibition.

Four artist from the North-Sea area were invited to create an artwork for the Creative District in Oldenburg, Germany, the Creative City of Europe 2011.

Graduation project 2010.  Academy of fine arts,  Amsterdam School of the Arts.

Release is a personal project in which I was releasing my known, trusted environment to take   the next step in leading an independent life.

The project began with a work process of drawings, sketches, and photographs about identity, development, and movement. It transformed into a play of composing shadows, burned images and grass rolls at the place where my art students life was soon to be over.

Will you look at the same landscape differently if I change your perspective?

When the public enters the installation their view on the area is limited by the arrangement of objects: In material; mosquito nets, its shape and transparency.

The landscape exists of hills with eucalyptus and paper bark trees. It is the end of the summer, a very dry period but the area will soon transform into a greener setting.

I choose a spot from which the viewer has a good overview on the surroundings.

Wreck is a sculpture made of found and natural materials:

Metal wire, paper bark and wood.

It was one of the first projects after my arrival as a student and tourist on the other side of the world. Wandering around the Kings Park and Botanic gardens of Perth helped me  to adjust to my new environment. This is where I found the paper bark.

The paper bark comes from the broad-leafed paper bark tree, family of the Eucalyptus, a common species and native to Australia.

The  piece reminded me of the Batavia, a Dutch VOC trade ship which was shipwrecked in 1629 on the West coast of Australia.

On request from Stadslab Leiden for the project ‘Kunst in de Etalage’ in Leiden I created an installation in the former Hardware shop of W.P. Hartwijk & Zn BV.

For the installation I used nostalgic objects of the former shop in the building.

The Hardware shop still exist, but has moved to an other building nearby.

The installation consists of old and antique objects and materials of the former hardware shop, the attic and neighbors of Hartwijk, all related to the company’s building.

For the installation I also made a photo series of the old, small and dusty attic, which contained an almost original wooden construction for the roof of the building.

The building dates from the 18th century; Old Dutch architecture. During the centuries it was renovated many times and it doesn’t really look like how it used to be before.

The relation between the old and the new, hidden inside and outside, the old objects and materials inspired me to create an installation which goes a step further;

    The experience of emptiness of the room, the relation between the nostalgic objects and the space, tries to reach a connection between nostalgic materialism and feelings.

Temporary and site-specific sculpture for the 'De Weerd gebouw'  a building at the temporary exhibition space of Art festival Ede.

The building triggered me to create a sculpture that referred to the traces of the interior in past times,  as well as the theme of the festival 'art and food'.

It became a gold-colored 'egg', fragile and covered with mandarin peel and Angora wool. Held by ropes coming from the ceiling, it balanced or floated like the prominent chandler in the background.

Materials used: Plaster, gold-colored paint, sisal rope,  mandarin-peel, collected over 3-4 years and Angora wool (collected rabbit fur).

The dried peels attracted me because of its whimsical delicate shapes, deep dark matte orange shades, and strong penetrating unnatural but beautiful smell.

The wool is cloudy soft, white, light and delicate. It was the fur my mum collected from her Angora rabbit  Brenda she loved very much. it was waiting for a new destination for more than 25 years on her attic.