- beekje
Schetsen
Stromend het nieuwe jaar in.
December 2024 - navelstaren
Notitie
Tijdens de drukke maand december realiseer ik mij dat ik, tijdens de zwangerschap, letterlijk aan het navelstaren ben, en dat ik het recht heb op een beetje weg te dromen in de drukte.
December 2024 - een poging tot het uitleggen van het leven
Schetsen
In schetsen en teksten doe ik een poging om het leven uit te leggen, eventueel voor de volgende generatie. Deze uitleg is gebaseerd op mijn ervaring van de afgelopen 30 jaar.
November 2024 - inwaarts
Notitie
Of het ligt aan het koude winterweer, of aan het vele leven dat ik in mijn buik voel, maar ik heb de laatste tijd de behoefte om daar binnen te keren.
Dit lukt niet altijd want er bestaat nu eenmaal ook nog een wereld buiten mij en mijn (warme) huis. Maar het inspireerde mij wel om deze inwaartse beweging op papier te zetten.
November 2024 - een nieuw hoofdstuk
Notities en schetsen
Sinds er nieuw leven in mij groeit, sta ik meer stil bij de cyclus van het leven, en hoe we elkaar dragen (en tegelijkertijd worden gedragen).
Oktober 2024 - tools voor het moderne leven
Notities
Sinds kort werk ik aan een idee om “tools voor het moderne leven” te onderzoeken en te ontwerpen. Deze tools hebben niet de ambitie om de wereld te redden of zelfs maar makkelijker te maken, maar brengen wél creativiteit en connectie in de snelheid van alledag.
De tools zijn tegelijkertijd een verzet tegen onze obsessie met efficiëntie en productiviteit. Zo zou ik een presentatie beginnen met de woorden: “Dit gaat de minst praktische en efficiënte presentatie worden die je in lange tijd hebt bijgewoond”…
September 2024 - makkelijke dingen moeilijk gemaakt
Observatie
Eén van mijn grootste talenten is dat ik makkelijke dingen moeilijk kan maken.
Hoewel dit in het dagelijkse leven niet altijd praktisch is, zorgt dit er wél voor dat mijn creativiteit vaak wordt getriggerd door alledaagse dingen waar de meeste mensen gewoon voorbij lopen.
September 2024 - zomer van niks
Schets
Tijdens de “zomer van niks” maakte ik, precies zoals de naam zegt, weinig schetsen, notities en plannen.
Nu het najaar voor de deur staat, ga ik op zoek naar de stilte ín de storm.
Juli & augustus 2024 - stilte in de storm
Reflecties
“Soms moet je de chaos omarmen om de stilte in de storm te vinden.”
Juni 2024 - tussenruimtes
Notities
Notities over hoe Radicaal Niksen zich in de “tussenruimtes” bevindt. Oftewel: de ruimtes die je even leeg durft te laten.
Zoals wanneer ik na mijn werk op het treinstation besluit even geen mails of berichtjes te lezen, maar gewoon even helemaal… niks doe.
Juni 2024 - onderzoekspraktijk
Schetsen
Schetsen van de inrichting van een “onderzoekspraktijk voor nutteloze zaken”.
Dit is een plek waar gewerkt wordt aan onderzoeken en projecten die eens níet gaan over efficiëntie, versnelling en groei. In plaats daarvan is het een ruimte waar voldoende tijd en ruimte is voor connectie en creativieit om op te bloeien.
Juni 2024 - moddermodus
Notities
Sinds kort probeer ik meer in “moddermodus” te leven. Oftewel: iedereen moddert maar wat aan, dus waarom ik niet ook?
Zo probeer ik vaker op de rem te duwen. Zoals alles, neem ik dit “niet alles serieus nemen” héél serieus!
Juni 2024 - kleine dingen
Schets
Wanneer iemand zegt “van de kleine dingen te genieten” voel ik altijd enige sceptisisme.
Vaak liggen er vele privileges en luxes ten grondslag aan de “kleine dingen”‘.
Mei 2024 - praktijk
Schetsen
Schetsen van een “praktijk voor nutteloze zaken”.
Mei 2024 - mezelf zijn
Schets
Zo stel ik mij voor dat ik eruit zie wanneer ik even “lekker mezelf ben”.
Mei 2024 - een duik in de tijd
Notities
In het kader van mijn dertigste verjaardag: een verhaal over het loslaten van de tijd (en de controle).
April 2024 - zzzaaahaha!
Notities
Bij loopbaancoaching leer ik hoe ik mezelf niet teveel push naar de “paniekzone” (aaah!). Deze “alles of niets” houding zorgt er namelijk ook voor dat áls ik niet in die paniekzone zit, ik mij wentel in de “comfortzone” (zzz).
In plaats daarvan is het gezonder vanuit de comfortzone af en toe richting de “groeizone” te bewegen, waar ik in alle veiligheid (en zonder mezelf te pushen) mijn grenzen voorzichtig kan verleggen (of ontdekken!). Je kan dan natuurlijk niet voorkomen dat je dan af en toe uitwijkt naar de paniekzone, maar dat is oké.
Eén van de dingen die hierbij helpen is om af en toe de schuld níet bij mezelf te zoeken, maar juist buiten mezelf te leggen. Oftewel: door mijn schuld(gevoel) af en toe “uit te laten”.
Ik noem deze beweging (en dit leerproces): zzzaaahaha! En zo voelt het ook precies!
April 2024 - not to do
Notities
Sinds kort heb ik een snijplotter, en deze laat ik onder andere een NOT To Do List tekenen en uitsnijden.
Dit past ook mooi bij de lessen van loopbaancoaching: dat ik bij mijn nieuwe werk niet meteen te hard op het gaspedaal mag duwen.
Maart 2024 - water
Schetsen
Als ik ruimte wil ervaren, ga ik naar het water. Zoals het weekendje op een woonboot op het Uitgeestermeer (eerste afbeelding).
Zelfs als ik ziek in bed lig, zorgt water voor ruimte en inspiratie (tweede afbeelding).
Februari 2024 - avontuur
Notities
Sinds kort ga ik eens per maand “op avontuur”. Ik neem de trein of waterbus naar een natuurgebied en maak een lange wandeling. Deze avonturen zijn eigenlijk een zoektocht naar “niks”. Oftewel: naar ruimte, om mij heen en in mijn hoofd.
Januari 2024 - verhalen
Schetsen
Sinds mijn ontslag gebruik ik af en toe weer kleur, en schrijf/teken ik korte verhaaltjes over mijn ervaringen met een third-life crisis, de creatieve flow en, tja, het leven.
Januari 2024 - inspiratie
Schetsen
Schetsen van mijn twee grote inspiratiebronnen uit het alledaagse leven: de maan en theekopjes.
Sinds mijn ontslag vind ik weer meer inspiratie in alledaagse dingen, en neem ik meer tijd om die objecten te observeren en na te tekenen.
Januari 2024 - invitation for nothing
Experiments
Some experiments for invitations for “2024 – the year of nothing”.
This is an idea for an campaign for a book about doing nothing, with empty posts, newsletters and ads.
December 2023 - stories
Sketches
Since I quit my job I started drawing and writing stories, about the creative flow, mental health and life in general.
December 2023 - adventure time
Note & sketch
I started going on “adventures”. This means I take the train or boat to go outside the city, make a long walk and drink tea somewhere.
December 2023 - sketchbook
Sketches
Since I quit my job, I feel a lot more space for creativity. I started in a new sketchbook with drawing and designing.
I also started using different materials and colors than only my black fountain pen. Unfortunately, the colors didn’t look good on the scans. So here are, again, only black and white drawings.
October 2023 - whirlwind
Notes
A short story about the whirlwind in my head.
I call it “The Kraken Unleashed”.
October 2023 - handbook for “radicaal niksen”
Notes
Writing the first pages of a book I have in mind: Handbook for “Radicaal Niksen”.
Radicaal Niksen (radically doing nothing) means making a powerful statement in a world where we always have to be reachable, loud and productive.
I discovered the hard way that this is not easy. That’s why I’m writing down the lessons I learn along the way.
September 2023 - observations
Observations
In a separate notebook I keep track of all my observations.
These are texts about daily life, and explain my awkwardness towards normal things, such as work, social interactions, commuting…
I gave it the following title:Easy Things Made Difficult
September 2023
- third life crisis
Note
While dealing with some sort of “third life crisis” (because: almost 30, life gets serious, freedom more scarce, possibilities more limited and ovaries more impatient) I write about what I want in life.
I stumble upon a wish that seems very simple, but that lies at the bottom of everything I (want to) create:Making, reading & writing books
… and tell about it.
July 2023
- walk
Experiment
Instead of starting the day at my art residency at Het Bos with doing nothing, I started this day with a walk.
Together with two other residents, I walked through the city to capture shapes, patterns and spaces.
I wrote the following text (in Dutch):
Verlopen
Vergeten
Vergaan
Ver gaan om de lucht achterna te gaan
Ver lopen om de lucht te openen
Vergeten in de vergezichten van de maan
Verzopen
in het lopen
en hopen
op een stukje blauw
een stukje
open
July 2023
- unplanner
Note & experiment
Making an UNplanner to unplan your day (& life).
July 2023 - pieces of something
Notes & experiment
During my residency at Het Bos in Antwerp, I work in a very calm, empty and silent space.
Instead of making Stukjes Niets (Pieces of Nothing) to create stillness in the public space, I now create Stukjes Iets (Pieces of Something) in the personal space.
This makes the rest of the space automatically a Stukje Niets.
July 2023 - empty residency
Notes & experiments
Starting with a two week art residency at Het Bos in Antwerp.
I begin every day with 5 minutes of doing nothing, and write and draw about these experiences.
July 2023 - nothing – something
Notes
While recovering from surgery, I experienced how there’s a thin line between “nothing” and “something”.
Nothing is filled with something, and vice versa, and it’s good to press the pause button once in a while and experience that.
May 2023 - asocial
Note
Note to self: try to be more “socially undesirable” sometimes!
May 2023 - moon & meditation
Notes
Looking at the moon and thinking about how meditation creates space between “earlier” and “soon”.
Space to experience the “now”.
May 2023 - organizing
Note
I realized everything I do, is basically organizing all my notes, thoughts, feelings…
And composing it into stories, collections and research.
May 2023 - endless loop
Note
Thinking about how every moment is a new beginning, but also an endless loop of events, without start or end.
April 2023 - head & body
Note
Reading and writing about how the body is in charge when you’re creating something.
April 2023 - snow
Note
I went to France for a skiing trip.
There I had an… interesting insight about how snow is just slowly falling rain.
March 2023 - the expanding & shrinking of space and time
Note
Writing about how my project The Big Nothing is about the slowing down & speeding up, and the expanding & shrinking of space and time.
February 2023 - pieces of nothing
Notes
In the city of Antwerp, I made “Stukjes Niks” (Pieces of Nothing) to invite people to slow down and do nothing (or to look around or inside them).
The Stukjes Niks are presented in the newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen.
Also, Kavka and Het Bos gave me the chance to work on this project and present it the coming months.
February 2023 - dutch
Note
Writing about being a Dutch person living in Belgium.
Thinking how to behave when I see another Dutch person in Antwerp.
Should I wave, just like bus and truck drivers greet each others as “equals”?
February 2023 - the overlab
Notes
Designing a logo for an idea I have for a while: The Overlab.
The Overlab is a creative place where different disciplines, audiences and ideas overlap and can connect & create.
February 2023 - sick
Note
Reading and making notes while experiencing some medical issues.
February 2023 - small ritual
Note
Writing about how rituals create space in time.
Starting with a small ritual where I make tea after my afternoon walk, and write or draw something in my notebook.
January 2023 - information overload
Notes
Drinking tea across from “Het Sterretje”; a shop with so much information on the window you can’t grasp it all at once.
Thinking about how we can say more by saying less. Or, how we can just say less, sometimes.
December 2022 - cow
Note
“Artists are like cows with 7 stomachs, who continuously ruminate familiar things until they created something new from it.”
(I later discovered that cows don’t have 7 stomachs, but only 4).
October 2022 - baas boss
Note
In October I started a program for entrepreneurs.
At Baas Antwerp I follow sessions about marketing and finances to start my ownéénmanszaakéénmenszaak (business led by one person) in Belgium.
October 2022 - the big nothing
Create empty space in your life (and on your screen)
Doing, thinking or being nothing can be a very powerful statement in a world where we always have to be reachable, loud and productive.
With empty newsletters, posts and areas in the city, The Big Nothing offers tools to create empty space in your life and on your screen.
Find the ongoing research (in Dutch) behind this project here.
- read the world
Note
Brainstorming with colleagues about a promotional text for our library.
The library holds a special place in our society, and gives many people access to this society.
September 2022 - listening to nothing
Note
In my search for empty space, I discovered the podcast De Weg Naar Waar Het Stil Is about silence.
It discusses silence with people on the street, and one of them makes a surprising remark: ” I love to listen to nothing.”
September 2022 - how to be less productive
Notes & experiments
Reading, writing and thinking about how to be less productive and decisive.
Googling how to be less productive, without success. Apparently it’s not common to search for ways how to be less productive.
September 2022 - this post-it is empty
Notes
Creativity demands space, in our head and our environment.
That’s why I’ve been experimenting with creating empty space, in my agenda, on my screen, and at the office with these post-its.
September 2022 - observations
Notes
Observations about daily life.
September 2022 - wiggle room
Note
“There has to be “wiggle room” in life.”
This is the best translation I could think of translating this Dutch sentence.
It means that there has to be room, space to be not productive, to not do anything or to wander around sometimes.
September 2022 - connect & create
Notes
Connect & Create (with) the (digital) world.
August 2022 - (on)gezellig
Note
Listening to the the episode about racism of the Rudi & Freddy Show podcast, and learning about how you sometimes must be “ongezellig” to start discussions and change systems.
August 2022 - the importance of the notebook
Notes
Writing about the importance of carrying a notebook with you, as the creative process can never be predicted or planned.
And about how documentation enables us to unravel the “red thread” in our work.
July 2022 - creating creates independence
Notes
Reading the books My Dark Vanessa and The Body Lies.
In both books women are taking back control after being controlled.
Thinking about how creating and shaping the world (by writing, making or imagining), gives you the power to take control.
July 2022 - n̵͕̰̣̭̣͔͍͌ô̶͓̩̝̱̈́̓́̓̂̏͂í̵̛͖̣̹̝̫̏͌̍̅̂́̂̕s̵͉͔̭̮͍̪̞̰̩͌̌͗̉͂̐̆̎̕e̴͚̲̭̠͉̭͉̻̱͍͒̇̐̄́͒͛̔͊͝ ̶̨͕͖̝͜͝à̷̡̧̺̮̑̃͐͊̎͌̏͐͌n̴̗̺͎̰̙͔̒̇̂d̸̛̪̭̰͇͐̑͆͐ ̶̢͈͔͙̳̲̉͊̒̓̔̓̀͜ͅf̴̲̜̥̹̬̝̖̽͊̀̃́̃͝͝r̵̖̥̠̽̎̉͛̋̐́ḯ̴̠͚͖͓͚̳̫͜ͅc̴̠͕͔̈̕t̶̨̲̞̝͔̐̑i̷̧̧̻̖̗͍̤̗̟̝͠ơ̸̛̭͉͐̌͋́͝͝ņ̶̦̟͓̘͎́̆̈̎͑͠
Note
Unlike influencers and designers try to show a creative process, it can never be clean, slick and perfect.
We need noise and friction to create.
June 2022 - corona 2.0
Notes
I got corona for the second time.
Or actually, corona got me, pretty hard.
June 2022 - time + space
Notes
Thinking about how we create, fill and are time and space.
After asking permission to work part-time, I immediately felt more time and space.
But I also experienced that if we don’t decide how to fill our time and space (or decide to keep it empty), it gets decided for you.
July 2022 - media wise(r)
Notes
Doing research to the possibilities and dangers of the virtual world.
Digital and social media are more and more portrayed as merely negative: they’re commercial, energy consuming and superficial.
The question is: can they still be or become a places for experiment and expression?
May 2022 - not to do
Notes
Thinking about how to create space.
For example, by creating a Not To Do list for every To Do list you make, or by creating a piece of emptiness in the digital and analog world.
April 2022 - making is building a bridge
Note
I went to the Maker Faire Gent and came back with a lot of inspiration and insights.
April 2022 - ego
Notes
“It’s fine, to be no-one sometime.”
Writing and thinking about how our ego is fragile and scattered by its focus on others.
While it can be satisfying to be no one for a moment.
April 2022 - connect [with] & create [the world]
Notes
Writing my new artistic statement:
Connect with
and create
the world
April 2022 - flowing notes
Notes
Random thoughts written on and between the flowing lines of the notebook I (re)designed and printed on recycled paper by a local printer.
March 2022 - spring writings
Notes
Writing about spring in my Flowing Lines Notebook.
Experimenting with weaving texts together using the flowing lines and the space around them.
March 2022 - expression vs communication
Notes
Writing about how communication is different from expression.
Where communication brings a message clear and direct towards another person, expression is more about bringing an inner process towards the outside world.
I believe both are very important to survive in our modern age.
February 2022 - movement / rhythm / dimension
Note
Thinking again about how life seems an endless cycle of circles.
The head and the hands are part of the body. Me and others are part of the world. And time and space are part of… Movement? Rhythm? Dimension?
February 2022 - idea upon idea
Note
Realizing how ideas always build upon each other.
Instead of replacing the previous idea, a new idea always enhances, enfolds the previous idea.
January 2022 - deepening
Note
Writing about how life, or time, doesn’t seem to pass by horizontally, but more vertically.
Instead of moving you in a linear movement and staying on the surface, time takes you deeper and deeper, through the layers of life and yourself…
January 2022 - cycle of circles
Notes
Describing how life just seems an endless cycle of circles. Circles that contain smaller circles, and at the same time are part of bigger circles.
January 2022 - library
Even though I’m surrounded by books at my work, since I’m working full-time, I have less time for reading, writing and meditation. But I still try to make time to make and document notes, as it keeps me grounded and elevated at the same time.
December 2021 - brainstromen
A happy mistake where I wrote Brainstromen (brain waves) instead of Brainstormen (brain storming).
December 2021 - inside out
Thinking about a theory that creative people are turned “inside out” (for visuals, take a look at when Summer turns inside out in Rick & Morty (season 3 episode 5)). Their sensitive soft shell becomes their outer shell. This makes them more sensitive for impulses from the outside world, which is important to make creative work, but also makes them “overstimulated” more often.
October 2021 - the erotic
Interviewing Rose-Myrtha Fortuna about “female energy”, and listening to the speech of Audre Lorde about “Uses of The Erotic”.
September 2021 - fluid
Writing and thinking about how we’re all fluid, just like our creative process.
August 2021 - random notes
Some random (Dutch) notes about nature, nothingness, time and distance, from during the vacation.
July 2021 - nothing = something
More (English and Dutch) notes about my experiences with (doing) nothing.
June 2021 - find your flow
Find your creative flow
Find Your Flow offers tools and sessions to find your creative flow.
The Flowing Lines Notebook helps you to get your ideas flowing, and creates room to write about and draw them.
The Find Your Flow Session is designed for groups (young) professionals to create space to find our creative flow.
- the big nothing
To become more familiar with emptiness and uselessness, I did nothing for 2 minutes every day for a couple of days. During these 2 minutes I record myself. Afterwards I make notes about the sensations I experienced.
May 2021 - found in [ ]
Writing my master’s thesis about my journey from being Lost in Latency to being Found in Latency, as the latency (the delay created by computers and screens, but also by social distancing) also creates space for stillness, thoughts and reflection.
April 2021 - the flow of time
Using the notebook with flowing lines, that I designed, for making notes (in Dutch) about the book Stil De Tijd by Joke Hermsen. This book is also about something flowing: time.
March 2021 - le père goriot
Using a second hand book in French as a notebook. Writing about how we can give our “tiny, sometimes miserable, complex but also simple lives meaning”, by being part of something bigger than us. “Something that extends us when we can’t, something that embraces us all.”
February 2021 - endless printing
Trying to print an infinite loop with a regular printer, by putting a long piece of paper in the paper tray and sticking the beginning and the end of the paper to each other. It didn’t work (the paper always got stuck in the end), but the result turned out to be interesting anyway.
February 2021 - intimations
Reading and editing Intimations by Zadie Smith, and reflecting on the current situation of lock-downs and social distancing.
January 2021 - handwriting
Reading and making notes about mirror-neurons and bodily sensing. Discovering how mirror-neurons are connected to using and reading handwriting, and how this makes handwriting more interesting than for example typing.
January 2021 - on beauty
Notes
Reading and editing the book On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Reflecting on the text, and weaving my own texts into it.
December 2020 - crumpling paper
Experiment
Crumpling, smoothing out and scanning the same paper over and over again. Seeing how the scanning app (of Evernote) tries to smooth it out, but fails to do so.
December 2020December 2020
- the art of archiving
Make your creative process visible and valuable.
The Art of Archiving dives into the importance of documenting, reflecting on, curating and presenting the creative process. It explores how to connect with the creative process and make it visible and valuable for the artist and their audience.
For students of artistic and digital practices
Presented at the Willem De Kooning Academy Rotterdam
2020 – current