A short introduction

Esmee Geerken graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and obtained a PhD in Earth Sciences, with an expertise in the field of biomineralization and paleoceanography. Her hybrid ArtScience practice playfully questions our perception of the obvious. Geerken’s artistic work draws inspiration from the materials and beings she encountered as an Earth scientist. Soils, rocks, seagulls, seafloor sediments, ocean currents and unicellular organisms called ‘foraminifera’ are amongst the subjects she has worked with. Geerken is specifically interested in the psychological and biogeochemical mechanisms that shape and propel our forms, connections and trajectories. Her work questions how knowledge, imagination and experience of our environment are entangled and affect how we enact with the biosphere: how do we form bodies, thoughts, shelters, societies and cities while being part of bigger systems?