Esther Kokmeijer 1977
Lives in Rotterdam. Works in Rotterdam.
Represented by:
Galerie Vriend van Bavink
Curiosity and wonder is my primary motivation.
The world at large, in all its connections and movements, forms the main focus of my work, finding expression in journeys, installations, interventions, photo series, documentaries, sculptures, film essays, books, and performances among others. I’m questioning the origins of nature through mapping the intersections between man-made and ‘natural’ forms of reality.
I wonder how ‘landscapes’ are given shape by people and vice versa. This stems from my urge to discover, order and represent the world’s (natural) phenomena on the macro and micro level. For many of my works I collaborate with scientists and other professionals from different background. I’m interested in how art and science can reinforce each other. With these cross-disciplinary collaborative projects I intent to open up alternative routes to lucid and ‘visual comprehension’ of scientific research. Among other I’m interested in the coherence between mysticism and science.
In my work as an artist, explorer and designer, I mainly focus on the interaction between human and their natural environment. In many of my works the ‘Global Commons’ play a role. A term typically used to describe international, supranational, and global resource domains. Global commons include the Earth’s shared natural resources, such as the high oceans, the atmosphere and outer space and the Antarctic in particular.
As possibilities for travelling have become nearly endless, nowadays we tend to move more than ever before. Ideally, travelling leads to greater awareness of the outside world. It makes the world smaller and larger at the same time. My work is permeated by this paradox. Most of my works originate in extensive and goal-oriented journeys, whereby also the travelling itself is part of the work. During my travels I intent to explore quantifiable positions guided by geodetic approaches to mapping, climatology and the (sometimes arbitrary) boundaries between politics and topography.
Other recurring motifs and questions in my work are; How do myths and sagas express and shape mankind’s relationship with nature? How do we relate to and work with the elements and our environment? How do they exert influence on us? More importantly, what are humanity’s effects on geological and biological processes? What can we learn from indigenous knowledge systems, can it deepen or induce a more sustainable relationship to our natural environment, and will it bring more solidarity with the landscape?
My artistic journeys are driven by a quest for the deep history of the Earth. Geographic strata serve as diaries and are archived in nature as well as in the mind. Geography literally means ‘to describe the Earth’, in my work I would try to depict her in a poetic way and to render the visible the invisible.
While Travelling I Acquire (Vacando Acquiro / Reizend Verwerf ik)
Life credo borrowed from W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp (1874-1950)
The world at large, in all its connections and movements, forms the main focus of my work, finding expression in journeys, installations, interventions, photo series, documentaries, sculptures, film essays, books, and performances among others. I’m questioning the origins of nature through mapping the intersections between man-made and ‘natural’ forms of reality.
I wonder how ‘landscapes’ are given shape by people and vice versa. This stems from my urge to discover, order and represent the world’s (natural) phenomena on the macro and micro level. For many of my works I collaborate with scientists and other professionals from different background. I’m interested in how art and science can reinforce each other. With these cross-disciplinary collaborative projects I intent to open up alternative routes to lucid and ‘visual comprehension’ of scientific research. Among other I’m interested in the coherence between mysticism and science.
In my work as an artist, explorer and designer, I mainly focus on the interaction between human and their natural environment. In many of my works the ‘Global Commons’ play a role. A term typically used to describe international, supranational, and global resource domains. Global commons include the Earth’s shared natural resources, such as the high oceans, the atmosphere and outer space and the Antarctic in particular.
As possibilities for travelling have become nearly endless, nowadays we tend to move more than ever before. Ideally, travelling leads to greater awareness of the outside world. It makes the world smaller and larger at the same time. My work is permeated by this paradox. Most of my works originate in extensive and goal-oriented journeys, whereby also the travelling itself is part of the work. During my travels I intent to explore quantifiable positions guided by geodetic approaches to mapping, climatology and the (sometimes arbitrary) boundaries between politics and topography.
Other recurring motifs and questions in my work are; How do myths and sagas express and shape mankind’s relationship with nature? How do we relate to and work with the elements and our environment? How do they exert influence on us? More importantly, what are humanity’s effects on geological and biological processes? What can we learn from indigenous knowledge systems, can it deepen or induce a more sustainable relationship to our natural environment, and will it bring more solidarity with the landscape?
My artistic journeys are driven by a quest for the deep history of the Earth. Geographic strata serve as diaries and are archived in nature as well as in the mind. Geography literally means ‘to describe the Earth’, in my work I would try to depict her in a poetic way and to render the visible the invisible.
While Travelling I Acquire (Vacando Acquiro / Reizend Verwerf ik)
Life credo borrowed from W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp (1874-1950)
Artworks
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Highlights
Recommendations
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CV
Artworks by Esther Kokmeijer
Articles on Esther Kokmeijer
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Dolf Henkes Prijs 2014 - Esther Kokmeijer
Shows
CV
Resume Esther Kokmeijer
Esther Kokmeijer | Brantgum ( Friesland), 1977
Lives and works in Rotterdam
Education
2013 - 2014 Minor Arctic and Antarctic Studies / RUG University of Groningen (rug.nl) / Groningen
1996 - 2001 Graphic Design / Constantijn Huygens, Institute of the Arts (artez.nl) / Kampen
1995 - 1996 Fine art / Constantijn Huygens, Institute of the Arts (artez.nl) / Kampen
Fellowships, stipends, grants, prizes and nominations ( selection )
2018 The power of 10 / prize and grant / spacesworks.com
2018 Project grant / Mondriaan Fonds
2015 Development and research grant / CBK Rotterdam
2014 Grant proven talent / Mondriaan Fonds
2014 Nomination Dolf Henkes / Tent (tentrotterdam.nl)
2013 Development and research grant / CBK Rotterdam
2011 Publication grant / Stroom Den Haag
Exhibitions ( selection )
2020 Art Rotterdam , Gallery Vriend van Bavink ( Stand 74 )
2019 Pleuriversum / installation at group show / Arti et Amicitiae / Amsterdam
2019 La inhalación de un aliento de carbono oceánico / group show / Etopia / Zaragoza (SP)
2019 If Paradise Is Half As Nice #9 / residency + exhibition / Zeitz (DE)
2018 Time within Time - Vapour / installation / Verbeke Foundation / Kemzeke (BE)
2018 Solid, Liquid, Vapour / solo show / Tent / Rotterdam
2017 Becoming Waves / solo expo / Fries Museum / Leeuwarden
2017 Wave Navigation / workshop / Harvard University / Harvard (US)
2016 Agency of Living Organisms / group show / Tabakalera / San Sebastian (SP)
2016 Diary of a Polar Traveller / solo show / Bewaerschole / Schouwen
2016 Nature proof / solo show / Satellietgroep / Monster
2016 Summon Wind, Call for Rain, Disperse Fog / solo show / MU / Eindhoven
2015 A Casa Ovenque in Europa / solo show / Vetry / Orvieto (IT)
2014 Dolf Henkes Price / nomination, group show / Tent / Rotterdam
2014 Sheep - LAM360 / Landart Bienale / Ulaanbaatar (MON)
2014 (呼风唤雨) Summon Wind, Call for Rain / solo show / IFP / Bejing (CN)
2012 Couple / solo show / Gyeonggi Creation Center / Daebudo (KR)
2012 Six Degrees of Conjunction / solo show / Satellietgroep / Scheveningen
2012 Hoogtij / solo show / Gemak / Den Haag
2012 Ode / solo show / Bewaerschole / Burgh Haamstede
2012 The more you take, The more I give / solo show and artist talk / Heden / Den Haag
2010 Contains the EU / solo show / Casa Vertigo / Eindhoven
Collections
CBK (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Spaces (10 City’s World Wide), Verbeke Foundation (Kemzeke, Belgium), Europas Parkas (Vilnius, Lithuania) and various private collections.
Publications ( Selection )
2019 A polar traveler / book about the migration of The Arctic Tern /
2019 A journey, the centre of gravity and home / about the journey to the 27 countries of the EU
2016 Agreement with Nature / Agency of Living Organisms
2014 Sheep / book / Journey from China to Mongolia with a sheep as travel partner
2011 On Time, In Place / Publication exhibition On Time, In Place / text: Lorenzo Benedetti
2008 A Summary of the World / ISBN: 978-90-79344-01-7
Esther Kokmeijer | Brantgum ( Friesland), 1977
Lives and works in Rotterdam
Education
2013 - 2014 Minor Arctic and Antarctic Studies / RUG University of Groningen (rug.nl) / Groningen
1996 - 2001 Graphic Design / Constantijn Huygens, Institute of the Arts (artez.nl) / Kampen
1995 - 1996 Fine art / Constantijn Huygens, Institute of the Arts (artez.nl) / Kampen
Fellowships, stipends, grants, prizes and nominations ( selection )
2018 The power of 10 / prize and grant / spacesworks.com
2018 Project grant / Mondriaan Fonds
2015 Development and research grant / CBK Rotterdam
2014 Grant proven talent / Mondriaan Fonds
2014 Nomination Dolf Henkes / Tent (tentrotterdam.nl)
2013 Development and research grant / CBK Rotterdam
2011 Publication grant / Stroom Den Haag
Exhibitions ( selection )
2020 Art Rotterdam , Gallery Vriend van Bavink ( Stand 74 )
2019 Pleuriversum / installation at group show / Arti et Amicitiae / Amsterdam
2019 La inhalación de un aliento de carbono oceánico / group show / Etopia / Zaragoza (SP)
2019 If Paradise Is Half As Nice #9 / residency + exhibition / Zeitz (DE)
2018 Time within Time - Vapour / installation / Verbeke Foundation / Kemzeke (BE)
2018 Solid, Liquid, Vapour / solo show / Tent / Rotterdam
2017 Becoming Waves / solo expo / Fries Museum / Leeuwarden
2017 Wave Navigation / workshop / Harvard University / Harvard (US)
2016 Agency of Living Organisms / group show / Tabakalera / San Sebastian (SP)
2016 Diary of a Polar Traveller / solo show / Bewaerschole / Schouwen
2016 Nature proof / solo show / Satellietgroep / Monster
2016 Summon Wind, Call for Rain, Disperse Fog / solo show / MU / Eindhoven
2015 A Casa Ovenque in Europa / solo show / Vetry / Orvieto (IT)
2014 Dolf Henkes Price / nomination, group show / Tent / Rotterdam
2014 Sheep - LAM360 / Landart Bienale / Ulaanbaatar (MON)
2014 (呼风唤雨) Summon Wind, Call for Rain / solo show / IFP / Bejing (CN)
2012 Couple / solo show / Gyeonggi Creation Center / Daebudo (KR)
2012 Six Degrees of Conjunction / solo show / Satellietgroep / Scheveningen
2012 Hoogtij / solo show / Gemak / Den Haag
2012 Ode / solo show / Bewaerschole / Burgh Haamstede
2012 The more you take, The more I give / solo show and artist talk / Heden / Den Haag
2010 Contains the EU / solo show / Casa Vertigo / Eindhoven
Collections
CBK (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), Spaces (10 City’s World Wide), Verbeke Foundation (Kemzeke, Belgium), Europas Parkas (Vilnius, Lithuania) and various private collections.
Publications ( Selection )
2019 A polar traveler / book about the migration of The Arctic Tern /
2019 A journey, the centre of gravity and home / about the journey to the 27 countries of the EU
2016 Agreement with Nature / Agency of Living Organisms
2014 Sheep / book / Journey from China to Mongolia with a sheep as travel partner
2011 On Time, In Place / Publication exhibition On Time, In Place / text: Lorenzo Benedetti
2008 A Summary of the World / ISBN: 978-90-79344-01-7
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