Esther Kokmeijer
Ownership and Pioneering on Ice 1
About
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)
Artworks
Curriculum Vitae
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
Project grant / Mondriaan Fonds
2015
Development and research grant / CBK Rotterdam
2014
Grant proven talent / Mondriaan Fonds
Nomination Dolf Henkes / Tent (tentrotterdam.nl)
2013
Development and research grant / CBK Rotterdam
2011
Publication grant / Stroom Den Haag
Exhibitions ( selection )
2025
Agreement with Nature / installation / FENIX fenix.nl/en/ / Rotterdam (NL)
Where the Sky, meets the Sea, meets the Ice / duo exhibition / gallery Vriend van Bavink
2024
Eatable Landscape - Iceberg / installation / museumnacht België / Antwerpen (Belgium)
2023
Willem de Haan : Before the Scenes / vanbavinkgallery.com / Amsterdam (NL)
Antarktikos - Mapping Nature / launch and film screening Antarktikos magazine / The Hague (NL)
2022
Art Rotterdam / presented by Gallery Vriend van Bavink
Terra Nullius / solo exhibition / Gallery Vriend van Bavink
Art Rotterdam , Gallery Vriend van Bavink ( Stand 74 )
2019
Pleuriversum / installation at group show / Arti et Amicitiae / Amsterdam
La inhalación de un aliento de carbono oceánico / group show / Etopia / Zaragoza (SP)
If Paradise Is Half As Nice #9 / residency + exhibition / Zeitz (DE)
2018
Time within Time - Vapour / installation / Verbeke Foundation / Kemzeke (BE)
Solid, Liquid, Vapour / solo show / Tent / Rotterdam
2017
Becoming Waves / solo expo / Fries Museum / Leeuwarden
Wave Navigation / workshop / Harvard University / Harvard (US)
2016
Agency of Living Organisms / group show / Tabakalera / San Sebastian (SP)
Diary of a Polar Traveller / solo show / Bewaerschole / Schouwen
Nature proof / solo show / Satellietgroep / Monster
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
Sheep - LAM360 / Landart Bienale / Ulaanbaatar (MON)
(呼风唤雨) Summon Wind, Call for Rain / solo show / IFP / Bejing (CN)
2012
Couple / solo show / Gyeonggi Creation Center / Daebudo (KR)
Six Degrees of Conjunction / solo show / Satellietgroep / Scheveningen
Hoogtij / solo show / Gemak / Den Haag
Ode / solo show / Bewaerschole / Burgh Haamstede
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 )
2023
Antarktikos - Light and Shadow
2022
Antarktikos - Mapping Nature
2019
A polar traveler / book about the migration of The Arctic Tern /
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