collaboration
There came a moment when being engaged exclusively in my own art was no longer enough. I started working on projects that involved cooperation with non-artists. Such projects are small and accessible, and they are always about groups that, for whatever reason, are not directly visible or audible - because of their age or their position in society.
It's about attention, time, the pleasure of working on something together. This creates a kind of interaction where the very things happen that make a project interesting.
Documenting the work process, preferably also by the participants themselves, is again paramount. My role as an artist begins when it's time to establish which part of the material goes beyond the mere context of the project. The goal is not only to show the results in a form that does them justice, but to deepen the project’s context to one that can motivate and inspire.
"From Saving Comes Having" 2006/2007
a personal project about old age and thrift
in collaboration with Corry Lodders, Leni Nelissen and other residents of the Schoterhof Care Center in Haarlem
At the Table 2004
detail of a 6-meter-long wooden table with personal texts carved in the surface
part of a project with 24 youths, commissioned by the Mennonite Community, Haarlem
Talking walls/Greetings from The Rose 2010
six important sites in the Rozenprieel neighborhood of Haarlem were temporarily marked with giant-size historical pictures and quotations by residents. Commissioned by Haarlem Effect and the Rozenprieel cultural working group, and in collaboration with design studio Entremedio
Collecting and Presenting 2012
a project for primary school pupils (grade 4 through 8) about the added value of attractive presentation, commissioned by the Don Bosco School, Haarlem
Zigzag about freedom 2013
30 x 750 cm
in the context of the Festival of Liberation, children of the Children’s Atelier share their thoughts about freedom and liberty, accompanied by their own drawings
Playtime! 2012
a project with elderly people suffering from dementia, part of Zona’s Kiosk 2012
World peace is possible 2003
in the desk corner of a neatly ordered boy’s room a self-made video portrait of three brothers is shown.
Small installation for the exhibition "Outer World" by Bas Heijne in the Vishal, Haarlem
Play together, Share together 2003
detail of a tiled path in the Floragaarde playground: applied art with children’s participation commissioned by the City of Haarlem
Giant ball of crocheted thread 2010/2012
work in progress, currently 1250 meters long - initiated as a finger crochet project by children
and later taken over by crocheting elderly in Playtime!, part of Zona’s Kiosk
The Rose is ours!/Greetings from The Rose 2011
Desie, detail of one of four guided tours for children in the Rozenprieel
neighborhood of Haarlem,
commissioned by Haarlem Effect and the Rozenprieel cultural working group