project process
personal process
- 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