The Sinking of Big Daddy Casino
Puppet show, video
2025
The Sinking of Big Daddy Casino is a puppet show about a floating casino on the Mandovi River in North Goa and a growing rebellion against it by the all-seeing-crabs, mudskipper croupier, mangrove bat and pole dancing crocodile. Casinos are illegal in India but through Portuguese hangover laws, they are welcome in Goa as long as they are not on land. So now, in Goa, the middle of a river is considered ‘offshore’. These eyesores are emblems of the current government, selling common land for quick bucks, betting on a single Dreamworld at the cost of many.
I made this show during the Planetary Poetics masters program at Sandberg Institute. Performed with generous help from classmates Toni Steffens, Lucila Pacheco Dehne, Eshwari Ramsali, Finn Maätita and Feniks. The soundtrack ‘in a world we want..’ was made by Luz Bran
ARM IN ARM, SWIMMING BACKWARDS
Performance
2025
During the opening of the exhibition ‘Veranderende Vergezichten’ I performed a scene from my thesis titled Intertidal Maladies. The scene was a reflection on the coast of Noord Holland, once known as the Geestlanden or Spirit lands, was seen as infertile before peat and soil was brought from inland to prepare beds for the propagation of bulbs. The performance was a reflection on the colonial notion of a landscape being ‘infertile’ and how this notion was used to build the Dutch coast before being exported to the colonies.
This is part of ongoing research into coaslines and their industrial, colonial and socio-ecological histories.
This is part of ongoing research into coaslines and their industrial, colonial and socio-ecological histories.
This project was was part of the Nomadic program at Kunstcentrum de Ploeg in Wehe den Hoorn.
Photos by Heleen Haijtema
Photos by Heleen Haijtema
JE DROOMT OOK VAN JEZELF ALS EEN SCHEPSEL VAN HET MOERAS
(You also dream of yourself as a creature of the swamp)
(You also dream of yourself as a creature of the swamp)
Video
2023
In the summer of 2023 I spent 5 weeks in residence at Kunsthuis SYB in Beetsterzwaag, researching the practice of water witching. Water witching, doodlebugging or wichelroede lopen in Dutch, is a method of looking for underground water or mineral sources using a forked twig or two L shaped copper rods. This practice was made popular in the 16th century by the mining industry in Germany. During my stay in Beetsterzwaag, I spoke to neighbours about their relationships with water witching. Through these conversations I learned about the frogs, storks, water bodies and peatlands around the town. The film Je droomt ook van jezelf als een schepsel van het moeras, based on these conversations, is about the joys and tensions between knowing closely and grieving bodies of water.
This project was made possible with the help of Gisanne Hendriks, Gepke and Jan Harmsma and other dear friends in Beetsterzwaag.
watch the film here
watch the film here
IN THE COURTROOM WITH ROCKS: PLAYGROUND
Installation
2023
Between watching films from the project ‘In the Courtroom with Rocks’ visitors of the ‘Courtroom’ were invited to play in a pile of sand with ceramic and wooden instruments based on mining practices. The installation reflected on the movement of raw materials in a landscape and the separation of ‘pure’ and waste material. The pile of sand was shifted, sifted, prodded, dug into, slapped into molds and played in, leaving new traces/scars/pits each day of the festival.
The installation was part of the Expedition route at Oerol 2023.