Take Off Your Shoes & Enter The Womb

Take Off Your Shoes &
Enter The Womb

Wait.. what?

Dear friends, colleagues & fellow creatures,

Would you like to join me and together enter a large furry vessel, a womb of sorts, but a cinematic environment at the same time? Yes, yes, you do have to take off your shiny shoes that match your outfit so well, but I promise it’s worth it. Together, in this warm and weird inflatable space, we can connect through storytelling, imagination, maybe confusion, and likely some laughter.

This is what I envision happening next week at Art Dusseldorf, where I will be showing my inflatable cinema sculpture in the shape of a bunny lying on its back, its round belly protruding like a dome that you can enter (right, you guessed it).. between its legs.

You are warmly invited to

Art Dusseldorf, Booth G15
with Durst Britt & Mayhew
16-19 April, Dusseldorf - only a few hours away from NL
(PS: they curated my work under the sections Cosmic Feel & Panic Attack, and I could not have dreamed of a better cross-reference..)

To get you in the mood so to speak, below I’m sharing some insight behind the scenes and the wonderful editorial documentation by photographer Fan Xi from Beijing, shot at C5CNM last year.

Fever Dreams & Primary Colors

I’m more than aware that some of the visual aesthetics in my work can be on the nose, sometimes even a tad corny or over the top. In my installations, I like to play with proprioception (the sensation of navigating your body in space in relation to its environmen) by enlarging objects or maximizing sculptures to make you feel smaller, maybe even less human more creature, or less determined by the supposedly fixed elements of subscribed identity. This is what modes of absurdity allow when orchestrated with care, compassion, and curiosity.

When I’m planning a new sculptural installation for viewers to step into and experience the worlds of my films, I always tune into the feeling of having a fever dream as a kid. There was one in particular that kept returning to my dream consciousness whenever I was in bed with a high fever. It would feature large objects that surrounded me, in primary colours: triangles, rectangles, and spheres standing around me, in red, blue, yellow. At first, playful, like a toy, something to relate to with wonder. But as they towered over me, I suddenly felt very small. Small like a baby. Tiny like a mouse. Minuscule like an ant. Minute like a microbe. (Did you catch my reference to John Smiths’ short film Gargantuan there?)

My feverish dream would always end with the feeling that I’d done something wrong, like the order of things had changed and I was somehow the culprit. It was on the verge of a nightmare, or a bad trip, but ever so slightly not just so. Make of that what you will Dr. Freud, but somehow that seemingly simplistic narrative on the surface evoked so many complex feelings within me. And so, I guess when I’m very honest with myself in my artistic process, this is what I am looking for: complex gut feelings, hard to explain with words but somehow conveyed through visual presence.

Come check out for yourself if my installation succeeds these ambitious aims or not. Step in and make up your own mind, that’s what I like best!

Other News & Upcoming Projects

Wandering Wombs, a duo exhibition of works by Puck Verkade and Tanja Ritterbex at SEE OUR VISION gallery in Prenzlauerberg, Berlin. The exhibition opens on Thursday, April 24 at 6 pm and runs through May 15, 2026. 
More info here.

Currently I’m a resident at ORAP (Online Residency for Artist Parents) and we will be presenting our research firstly online on 7th May and later in the season with a presentation in person (most likely September this year). You can sign up for the online event HERE.

Recently I’ve updated my website, go and have look. If it gets you curious, don’t hesitate to contact me for a studio visit either online or in Berlin.

www.puckverkade.com

with love, Studio Puck Verkade