Anne Hofstra

Artistic Research
Multi Species Design
(immersive) Storytelling
Concept Development

More about me




2023

KIP


︎︎︎︎︎-  VOLKSKRANT

“AN ABSURD AND GENIUS CONCEPT” - THEATERKRANT


Concept: Anne Hofstra

Created with:
Willem Wits
Doke Pauwels

Coproduced by:
Mediamatic
Fringe Festival Amsterdam

Press:

NRC
Volkskrant
Vice
NPO Radio 1
Radio Veronica
EditieNL
Theaterkrant
NH-Nieuws
AT5





We don’t know what it is like to be a chicken.

We sort of know what makes a chicken healthy and calm.

We know that a chicken has complex emotions, we know that a chicken has the cognitive ability to feel, show and recognize empathy.


We know that a chicken is smart.

But whether a chicken can wonder or enjoy art, we don't know.





Making man the center of the universe has not done much good for the planet and its non-human inhabitants - and is proving to be a bad idea for man himself as well. Clearly, we need to change our perspective and see not humans but the entire eco-system as the centerpiece. But such a perspective change is difficult.

Kip is my first try to start this perspective change. Can I create something that is for one different species?  What happens when I try? 




Research for the play was conducted at a six week residency at Buitenplaats Doornburgh

In KIP, we make an attempt to approach something human like a theater performance in an ecocentric way. The performance is not for humans, but for chickens. Can we learn in to look beyond humans?









2023

TIME
TRAVELS


In progress


What if universal languages are less universal than we think?

Our time-based reailty is shaped by many factors, like our age, our estimated time of living and the speed in which we can process information and react on our surroundings.

Can we bridge the gap between our reality and those of other species?


Using music as a universal language I try to write and play a piece of piano music in the time-reality of plants. 

I will be researching reaction times of plants, living speed and finding perspective on what age looks like in plants.




Magnesium traveling through the plant in order to react to their surroundings.






SELECTION OF PROJECTS IN COLLABORATION WITH MEDIAMATIC


As a program developer for Mediamatic, I developed multiple projects with Mediamatic, Dutch Design Week, UVA, Museumnacht and more.

2021-2022

Penny for your thoughts

Mediamatic

How to celebrate work in progress? Ideas that are not yet teinted by reailty. 
In Penny for your Thoughts we created a way to bridge the gap between the beginning of an idea and the moment that the idea is formed enough to apply for funding, or realise the project in another way.
Penny for Your Thoughts published and presented new ideas to bring together artist and public. 

︎︎︎Read more
2023

Japanse Duizendknoop Festival

Mediamatic

Knotweed is a fast-growing plant known in Europe for its intrusive properties. What many do not know, however, is that this plant species has a host of positive properties. During the festival we explored how to live in harmony with this controversial plant.

︎︎︎Read more

2022

Museumnacht Duif

Mediamatic / Museumnacht Amsterdam

Celebrating the pigeon and finding ways to cohabitate our city more peacefully. 
How can we stop seeing the pigeon as an unwanted outsider? What can pigeons teach us about the way we design our world?

︎︎︎Read more



2022

Radical Imagining of Green and Just Futures

Mediamatic / UVA Faculty of Law

A limit on your energy consumption? A ban on cars? Or hamburgers for 100 euros?

We like to promise each other a "just and green transition" of the economy, addressing global warming in a "fair, equitable and inclusive" way. But we're still unsure what that actually means.

What are the ground rules, characteristics, values, infrastructures, institutions and forms of governance of a just world? How can we imagine it in a way that is inclusive and just for humans, plants, minerals, fungi and animals? To make the future better, we will have to practice imagining what it should look like.

︎︎︎Read more

2021

Inhuman Carnaval

Mediamatic / Natlab / Baltan /
Dutch Design Week.


People are just beginning to discover the richness of our planet's biodiversity, and with it the value of each individual species within our ecosystem. At the same time, this biodiversity is shrinking at a great rate.

How can we break out of our anthropocentric worldview and learn to feel more empathy for the other species on the planet? Can we train ourselves to see the world from a non-human perspective by wrapping ourselves in pink velvet and becoming the endangered pink velvet worm?

In this project we challenge artists, designers, make up artists, creators and audiences to dress up themselves and each other as the beautiful species that make up our ecosystem.

︎︎︎Read more