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![The Sun, My Father]( "The Sun, My Father")
infoSynaesthetic installation Aluminium, Quartz, Custom-made LED light Installation view - Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques © Pierre Gondard
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![Magnetic Fluctuations]( "Magnetic Fluctuations")
infoReal-time generative sound installation In collaboration with Rob Stammes (Polar Light Center) Make Noise shared system + LED screen Installation view - Biennale des Imaginaires Numériques © © Pierre Gondard
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![The Lights Which Can Be Heard]( "The Lights Which Can Be Heard")
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![The Lights Which Can Be Heard]( "The Lights Which Can Be Heard")
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![Back-and-Forth]( "Back-and-Forth")
infoInstallation view Into The Great Wide Open © Myles Merckel
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![Rite of Passage]( "Rite of Passage")
infoInstallation Wood, Glass and Electronics Installation view - KABK Graduation show © Charlotte Brand
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![Study of crystal growth]( "Study of crystal growth")
info2020
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![As Above, So Below]( "As Above, So Below")
infoLive premiere at FIBER Festival 2020 © Pieter Kers
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![Ak]( "Ak")
infoEngraved sandstone
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![Timeshift]( "Timeshift")
infoAudio-photobook in collaboration with Mark IJzerman Field recording, photographs, electronics, wood,
Sébastien Robert (1993. Nantes, FR) is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher who develops a practice at the intersection of visual and sound art, technology, science and ethnography. Most of his projects revolve around a research cycle, You’re no Bird of Paradise, through which he explores disappearing Indigenous sonic rituals and cosmologies. Beyond simple documentation, yet not an ambitious ethnographic archiving project, he aims to translate these immaterial resources into long-lasting tangible works of art made of materials that echo the traditions of the communities encountered and the geo-specificities of the territories explored. Through his work and research, Sébastien searches for possibilities to create an engaged and expanding artistic dialogue between non-Western perspectives and new technology while questioning our perception of our environment and highlighting the epistemological diversity of the world we inhabit.
Websites
Website
sebastienrobert.nlSocial media
Member of a professional association/artists’ association
Field Records
Curriculum vitae
Education
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2018 - 2020ArtScience (MA) Den Haag, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten diploma
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2011 - 2017Entrepreneurship (M.B.A) ESDES School of Business and Management diploma
exhibitions
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2024ZÉRØ1 Festival France Ⅰ - Musée Maritime La Rochelle, France Solo
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2024Dans La Nature Espace Multimédia Gantner Bourogne, France Group
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2024Sonic Acts EYE Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands Group
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2023SSSSSSSST AG (HKU) Utrecht, Netherlands Group
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2023Green Art Lab Alliance festival UFRO Campus Pucón, Chile Group
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2023FIBER Festival - Fragments DOOR OPEN SPACE Amsterdam, Netherlands Group
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2023Obsoletely New! SIGN Groningen, Netherlands Group
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2023Superluminal Light Art Museum Budapest, Hungary Group
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2023Scopitone Festival ESBANM Nantes, France Duo
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2022Schemerlicht Festival Goffertpark Nijmegen, Netherlands Group
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2022Biennale Chroniques Bibliothèque Méjanes Aix-en-Provence, France Solo
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2022Nordlyst Festival Andenes Lighthouse Andøya, Norway Group
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2022Ayarkut - Terrestrial Voice Online Yakutsk, Russian Federation Group
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2022Changes on Northern Shores Arktikum Rovaniemi, Finland Group
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2022ZER0|1NE Festival Hansen House Jerusalem, Israel Group
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2022Sonic Acts OT301 Amsterdam, Netherlands Group
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2022TodaysArt x SHAPE The Grey Space in the Middle The Hague, Netherlands Group
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2022Into The Great Wide Open Oost-Vlieland Vlieland, Netherlands Group
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2022STRP Festival Pullman Hotel Eindhoven, Netherlands Group
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2021Intangible losses 5020 / fünfzigzwanzig Salzburg, Austria Group
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2021Transliminal (Uncloud Festival) Pieter Baan Centrum Utrecht, Netherlands Group
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2021Meakusma Cinema Eupen Eupen, Belgium Group
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2021Warping Halos TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, Netherlands Group
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2021Situated Sounds Arraymusic Toronto, Canada Group
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2020ArtScience graduation show KABK The Hague, Netherlands Group
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2020Instability (FIBER Festival) Tolhuistuin Amsterdam, Netherlands Group
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2020Rewire x Korzo Paard van Troje The Hague, Netherlands Group
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2020Polarities - Psychology and Politics of Being Ecological MU Artspace Eindhoven, Netherlands Group
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2019Piet Zwart Institute graduation show UBIK Gallery Rotterdam, Netherlands Group
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2019The LIMA Collection: New Work LIMA Media Art Platform Amsterdam, Netherlands Group
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2019Amsterdam Art Weekend Westergasfabriek Amsterdam, Netherlands Group
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2019Rewire Festival Grey Space in the Middle The Hague, Netherlands Group
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2019Dimensions Magick City Brooklyn Group
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2019Agri/Cultures.Seed-links Exhibition Global Seed Vault Svalbard, Norway Group
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2018Salone del Mobile Museum Diocesiano Mlian, Italy Group
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2018Present Progressive De School Amsterdam, Netherlands Group
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2018Field Records: Future History OHM Berlin, Germany Group
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2018mnml ssgs x Field Records night DOMMUNE Tokyo, Japan Group
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2018Organik Festival 2018 Niushan Huting Hualien, Taiwan Group
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20172_gather Art Center Nabi Seoul, Republic of Korea Group
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2017Interstice Festival Église du Vieux Saint-Sauveur Caen, France Group
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2017Mirage Festival Les Subsistances Lyon, France Group
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2017Change The System Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam, Netherlands Group
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2016Smoke Machine Night Korner Taipei, Taiwan Group
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2016Field Records Label Night Vurt Seoul, Republic of Korea Group
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2016France + Singapore Photographic Arts Awards Alliance Française Singapore Singapore, Singapore Group
Projects
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2022
Back-and-forth Netherlands sebastienrobert.nl/Back-and-forth Back-and-forth is the result of several residencies in Vlieland (NL), where Sébastien discovered that at irregular intervals - but according to a ritual schedule - a powerful electromagnetic signal passes through the island for 20 minutes, before disappearing again into silence. This signal turned out to be a Weatherfax (or WEFAX), a weather map transmitted via radio waves from Hamburg (DE). This obsolete technology, used since the 1940s to share information with ships at sea and remote locations, originated from the work of Dutch cartographer and meteorologist Nicolas Kruik (1678-1754). Born in now disappeared West-Vlieland, he was the first to graphically represent weather data and to introduce symbols which are considered the forerunners of those used in today's weather maps. In the form of a site-specific generative installation, Back-and-forth, captures incoming Weatherfaxes transmissions, decodes them and draws them in the island’s sand, before being overwritten again. In addition to the literal visualisation of the data sent, the work gives the island the opportunity to express itself during the creative process: the surface of the sand changes over time according to variations in temperature, humidity and wind. The project brings a forgotten technology back to its birthplace while offering a critical look at our Cartesian desire to constantly predict the future, in contrast to the unpredictable reality of the island, as Sébastien experienced during his visits. The result is the creation of ever-changing abstract cartography and archives, materialised through a dialogue between technology and the forces of nature.
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2022
The Lights Which Can Be Heard Norway sebastienrobert.nl/The-Lights-Which-Can-Be-Heard The Lights Which Can Be Heard is an artistic research project on the sounds of the Northern Lights, long witnessed by various indigenous communities in the Arctic. Despite the numerous testimonies, the Western scientific community denied their existence for decades until some hypotheses about their origin began to surface in the 1950s, which are still subject to debate today. Among the different theories, some think that the observer- er/listener can perceive in their environment the natural VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio waves produced by the Northern Lights. Some natural elements, such as minerals or crystals, would act as receivers and transform the electromagnetic radio waves into the audible, acoustic spectrum. Without rejecting any of them, this is the one that caught Sébastien’s attention for his project. Despite successful recordings following a three-week residency in Andøya, Norway, Sébastien realised that the VLF waves emitted by the Northern Lights are becoming increasingly difficult to perceive due to anthropocentric activity. Drowned by artificial signals, these natural radio waves are bound to disappear from our perception. Inspired by this unique context and in continuity with his previous work, Sébastien approached this ongoing debate from different angles: indigenous, poetic and scientific, giving voice to each stakeholder while incorporating his own vision. The result is four interconnected works at the intersection of visual and sound arts, technology, science and ethnography, which allow the audience to perceive the sounds of the Northern Lights while preserving them in the light.
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2020
As Above, So Below w/ Mark IJzerman Chile sebastienrobert.nl/As-Above-So-Below As Above, So Below explores the changing landscape of La Araucanía region in south-central Chile through live visuals and sound. This audiovisual performance probes into the dualism of man’s relationship with nature via sonic research made by Sébastien Robert and investigative visuals created from satellite imagery as well as microscopic and drone footage by Mark IJzerman. During a residency in Chile they researched the logging industry that has been eroding the biodiversity of the region, causing disruption to the ecosystem.
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2019
The Kultrun of Cañon del Blanco Chile sebastienrobert.nl/The-Kultrun-of-Canon-del-Blanco In La Araucanía region of Chile, ancestral Mapuche rituals are under threat due to drastic changes caused by climate change, land expropriation and logging on the ecosystem in which they live harmoniously for thousands of years. As the landscape disappears, so do their associated advanced knowledge of the natural world. The Kultrun of Cañon del Blanco studies the influence of the Kultrun - a Mapuche drum - on the crystallisation of the Araucaria Araucana’s resin – a Mapuche sacred tree considered as living fossil – and explores the possibilities of preserving its ancestral rhythms in that medium. With his installation, Sébastien carries the rhythms of the drum in the resin and documents their influence on the formation of the crystals. This is being done using a technique called sensitive crystallisation that allows the formative forces of any organic material to be revealed pictorially.
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2018
The Forgotten Melodies of Pleng Arak Cambodia sebastienrobert.nl/The-Forgotten-Melodies-of-Pleng-Arak Pleng Arak, an ancient music performed during shamanistic ceremonies almost extinguished during the Khmer Rouge period (1975-1979), is now facing new risks: the rise of modern medicine as well as lack of belief from the younger generation. There are few musicians who desire to learn this spiritual healing practice and much knowledge will be lost when these older musicians pass away. In that context, Sébastien went in 2018 to record one of the last bands of Pleng Arak. The musicians allowed him to photograph them and record their repertoire, provided that it will never be sonically shared. Because it is exclusively performed during sacred rituals, listening to this music outside of its original context - besides being inappropriate - could potentially put the listener at risk. Sébastien therefore translated the recording’s sonograms into a coding system based on the graphic score of one of the instruments used in Pleng Arak. These abstractions were then engraved on tablets made of limestone and sandstone - the most common in Cambodia - and stored for eternity in the coal mine alongside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.
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2017
Timeshift w/ Mark IJzerman Republic of Korea sebastienrobert.nl/Timeshift Time shift explores the acoustic ecology of South Korea, and documents this in a unique medium, an “audiophotobook”. By using photos made in the winter of 2016 by Sébastien Robert and recording soundscapes in the summer of 2017 by Mark IJzerman in exactly the same locations, Time shift explores both the differences and similarities between what one sees and what one hears in these environments at different times of the year. By capturing the locations in both audio and picture, it gives the viewer a fuller understanding of the locations.
International exchanges/Residencies
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2023Bergen Center for Electronic Arts - BEK Bergen, Norway
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2023The Arctic Circle Svalbard, Norway
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2023IMéRA x Mucem Marseille, France
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2021Arctic Wave Stave, Norway
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2020Into the Great wide open Vlieland, Netherlands
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2019Valley of the Possible Temuco, Chile
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2018WeTransfer Phnom Penh , Cambodia
Publications
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2021Emerging Threshold Vinyl/Lp Meakusma Eupen, Belgium
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2020Exploration or Appropriation? The position of contemporary sound artists towards Indigenous music Book The Hague, Netherlands
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2017Mydriasis Book Paris, France
reviews
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2023Entretien avec Sébastien Robert, chercheur en résidence à l’Iméra (2022-23) TV Iméra www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joj984Oz6GE
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2023The Lights Which Can Be Heard, audible Northern Lights Magazine Neural neural.it/2023/11/the-lights-which-can-be-heard-audible-northern-lights/
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2022À Aix-en-Provence, tendre l’oreille vers les aurores boréales Radio Arnaud Laporte www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/affaire-a-suivre/a-aix-en-provence-tendre-l-oreille-vers-les-aurores-boreales-8771531
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2022Scientific research, cosmologies and human encounters to put into perspective a century-old debate Website obsolete.studio/blog/the-lights-which-can-be-heard/
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2021Mark IJzerman & Sébastien Robert on their collaboration, travel and cultural appropriation Website Lucia Udvardyova shapeplatform.eu/2021/mark-ijzerman-sebastien-robert-cultural-appropriation-is-something-we-both-take-very-seriously/
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2021Using art to study endangered indigenous rituals and music Blog/Vlog Régine Debatty we-make-money-not-art.com/using-art-to-study-endangered-indigenous-rituals-and-music/
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2021The formidable, ancient power of nature in conversation with the needlepoint behaviour of technology Blog/Vlog Oli Warwick www.juno.co.uk/junodaily/2021/04/01/the-best-new-albums-this-week-3/
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2020In conversation: Mark IJzerman & Sébastien Robert Website Holly Dicker www.rewirefestival.nl/feature/mark-ijzerman-sebastien-roberts-as-above-so-below-in-conversation
Awards and grants
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2023Talent Development Grant Creative Industries Fund, NL Rotterdam, Netherlands Granted
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2023Artistic Project Mondriaan Fund Amsterdam, Netherlands Granted
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2023Mobility Grant Culture Moves Europe Brussels, Belgium Granted
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2022Experiment Creative Industries Fund, NL Rotterdam, Netherlands Granted
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2022Residency abroad Creative Industries Fund, NL Rotterdam, Netherlands Granted
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2021Fonds [SCAN] Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon, France Granted
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2021Pro Onderzoek Stroom Den Haag The Hague, Netherlands Granted
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2021DICRéAM CNC Paris, France Granted
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2021Corona-overburgging Mondriaan Fund Amsterdam, Netherlands Granted
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2021Face of We Are Europe We Are Europe Tromsø, Norway Selected
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2021ACT 1 AWARD STRP Eindhoven , Netherlands Granted
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2021Shape Artist 2021 - 2022 SHAPE Platform Netherlands Selected
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2020Royal Academy Master Thesis Award Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag Netherlands Finalist
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2020ArtScience Department Award Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag Netherlands Finalist
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2020Royal Academy Master Award Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag Netherlands Winner
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2020Pro Onderzoek Stroom Den Haag Netherlands Granted
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2016FR + SG Photographic Arts Award Alliance Française Singapore Finalist
Secondary art-related activities
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2021 - 2022Research Assistant - Studio Antimundo
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2019 - 2021Freelance Art Handler - Hizkia Van Kralingen
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2018 - 2018Curational Assistant - Mirage Creative+ (Dolus & Dolus)
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2017 - 2017Grant Assistant - STEP travel grants (European Cultural Foundation)
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2017 - 2019Supervisor - Museum Voorlinden (Stichting Voorlinden)
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2016 - 2016Production Assistant - European Lab Seoul (Arty Farty)
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2015 - --Project Manager - Field Records On-going
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2015 - 2016Project Manager - Coded Matter(s) (FIBER Festival)
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2014 - 2014Project Assistant - TodaysArt Festival