About Carolien

Plastic waste

As a visual artist, I work primarily with plastic waste. This waste forms the basis of my work.

We live in a plastic world, we use plastic all the time and we pay with plastic. Collecting and then selecting plastic waste by shape, color and size is an essential part of my work. This means that it is necessary for me to collect a large supply of waste at my studio, aided by family, friends, colleagues and associates. You could easily call me a garbage collector.

Inspired by the collections in various Natural History Museums such as Het Natuurhistorisch in Rotterdam, American Museum of Natural History in New York and the MUHNAC in Lisbon, I create collections from waste, which is one of the causes of the decline in biodiversity, with "new" biodiversities assigned by me. These collections are arranged by species and subspecies and given a fictitious Latin name. For example, my tick collection, exhibited in 2015 at Het Natuurhistorisch in Rotterdam, includes the following 'species': Lumenbulbus iocus and Lumenbulbus nix. In addition to these collections, I use plastic waste to craft landscapes and cities. Again, form, color, structure and order are the starting point of my creations.

After studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy as a theater designer, I have been developing recycling workshops under the name De Afvaljuf (The Waste Miss) since 2005, after participating in the course Beroepskunstnaar In de Klas (BIK). Reuse and thus recycling, upcycling and mixeddesign are therefore my content principles. As a result of these activities, I have been asked to participate in distinctive projects commissioned by Ja Natuurlijk (GEM 2013), the Van Gogh Museum, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Greenpeace and the Amsterdam Light Festival.

In addition to 'free' work, I create commissioned work and give presentations and workshops.