JOKE VDH
Joke Van den Heuvel° 1983
lives and works between Antwerp (B) and Lisbon (PT)Joke Van den Heuvel’s work deals with plant intelligence and the intimate association of the plant-fungi-animal-human connection.
She concentrates on the importance of telling new narratives and how this can challenge the dominant narratives of (material) progress and (economic) growth proclaimed by a global neoliberalism that has caused immense harm. Bringing into question the notion of humans as the only intelligent beings on the planet, a deliberate refusal to participate in the destructive and exploitative mechanisms of our time.
It aligns with Akomolafe's call to move beyond binary thinking and embrace the multiplicity and interconnectedness therefore also the darker sides of life.
Seeing the Forest as a political space. ( historically a refuge for
The importance of embodying the art work and bringing into practice a way of living that focusses on making kin with others. Expanding our circles of care beyond human boundaries to encourage a re-thinking or re-imagining of frameworks of re-solution, healing, and problem-solving .
As Teresa Castro writes in her essay ‘The Mediated plant” Van den Heuvel is interested in the metaphors and possibilities of creating new stories and ways of thinking plant intelligence can bring us.
Here the practice of animism becomes a profound act of transgression, it calls for a radical shift in our perception and engagement with the world - a recognition that intelligence and agency are not exclusive to humans but are shared by the countless beings with whom we coexist. Van den Heuvel visited in collaboration with a Ines T. Alves’ film project (Waters of Pastaza, selected at the Berlinale Film Festival) the Amazone rainforest recently to dive more into this research of networks of sociality with the potential to draw connections between interdisciplinary research, social practices, cultural life, and local infrastructures,
Her involvement in the art world can be seen through participation in group and duo shows at among others BePart (Waregem) CIAP (Hasselt), NAK (Aachen), Extra City Vitrine, residenties at BePart and Lokaal01, publications at Posture Editions (Ghent) and a recent invitation for an academic lecture at Sint Lucas Antwerpen.
Van den Heuvel has been working professionally as an art handler the last 10 years for different institutions and galleries such as Museum M, Leuven, Bozar BRXL, Axel Vervoord, National Gallery’s Schotland, etc
A residency of 7 months in Maumaus Lisbon shifted her work to more video based as now will be shown in involvement with international projects such as , Sphere4.org/Waterworld. Or shown in festivals like ADAF Greece ,FungiFilmfestival (USA),…
Joke Van den Heuvel is also actively involved in a Portuguese project, Movimento Officina Collaborative de Cinema, a filmworkshop of two weeks, held each year by Ines T. Alves focusing on the importance of play and collaboration in cinema.