I am a Rotterdam based media artist working with installation, video, and workshops. My creative practice investigates the manipulative nature of digital media and the conflicting desires it creates in us. I am deeply fascinated by the motivations behind people's goals and dreams – especially when these appear as part of larger trends fueled by online media. I find it important to question the ways our commerce-driven media landscape shows, shapes and shifts the definitions of a meaningful, successful life. Through playful research methods, I delve into this landscape, deconstruct and re-assemble its narratives, and create entertaining multimedia works that invite critical reflection.
United Mental States - United Mental States by Emma Verhoeven questions what happens in the media-saturated heads of young people. It imagines how feelings, dreams, fears and concerns of an online generation come together in a physical landscape. Performance pressure, motivation, loneliness and happiness are continents which invite you to self-reflect in a playful way.
In 2020 Emma Verhoeven exhibited the work Escape Here Now in MU. This escape room allowed visitors to visually and spatially explore the self-help media chaos in Verhoeven’s head. In the past year she investigated the therapeutic potential of this process with youngsters from Brabant. In workshops she invited students to imagine landscapes based on the chaos in their heads. These sessions resulted in a series islands in which the emotions and concerns of young people are literally given a place. These worlds not only visualize how young people feel, but also act as a film location for personal conversations about those feelings. World building as therapy.
This project was on show from 25-05-2023 tot 11-06-2023
as part of ‘Hybrid Tales For Hybrid Times’.
Vliegangst met Hedwig (2021) - Current research - video project about a retired stewardess and her journey towards a new destination as a life coach.
https://www.instagram.com/vliegangstmethedwig/
Escape Here Now – The Game (2020) - When life is good and basic needs are fulfilled, what do I do? Simple, work up to the top of Maslow’s pyramid and self-actualise! Trying to figure out what to do with my self, I surf the web for tips & tricks, hints and clues: find your purpose, find your passion, make your passion your profession. Be happy, be healthy, be good, be better. Be strong, be productive, work hard, set goals, aim higher. Let go, enjoy, be calm, be here, now. Be yourself, be your best self, your true self, inner self, optimal self, ideal self. Be all those things: click here, now!
Now I made a habit of watching videos on how to change my habits. I’m procrastinating with how-to-stop-procrastinating-articles. I feel all this pressure to feel less pressure. How do I exit this prison of self-help? I just want to have fun and play a stupid videogame.
Play your way to self-actualisation in this escape-the-room inspired adventure game! Follow the clues and escape on a journey towards a better you.
Escape Here Now – The Room (2020) - If you’ve ever experienced an escape room, you will know the thrill of looking around for clues, finding patterns in everything, and feeling like the hero in a real adventure story. For under €30 you can have a fun hour trying to crack codes and find the key to your fake escape.
But escape rooms are just superficial entertaining experiences you can buy, and I want to spend my time productively and meaningfully. I want to play the lead role in my own adventure. I want real experiences!
I want to travel the world to discover myself, go on a retreat to find myself. Lift up my soul on the yoga mat, but also keep both feet on the ground; need to stay down to earth. Straightforward. Got to move forward. Set goals, reach my full potential. Push myself, be more productive. Dream big, trust the universe. Let go of fears and stress. Do what I want! Enjoy life, live it to the fullest. Have fun, be free, escape!
https://www.theselfdesignacademy.nl/en/work/emmaverhoeven/
Guardians of the Amazon (2019) - I gathered a large collection of images, which represent the Indigenous people of the Amazon from historical archives, Greenpeace media sources, Western and Brazilian media. Using a vibrant video collage I explore my fascination with the different conflicting roles or identities which Indigenous people could be associated with, depending on who is creating images of them.
Guardians poster series (2019) - A series of bright, matte printed 60x60cm posters designed from existing online & archive material combined with colourful gradient backgrounds to uncanny collages about the relationship between the Western world, climate change and the indigenous communities of the Amazon. Exhibited at 'Views from Above' icw Greenpeace NL
Alternative Trusting Methods (2018) - An essay and video that explore the various ways in which technology could be trusted. By comparing CAS to predictive methods like weather forecasts and horoscopes in a speculative video, alternative modes of trust come to light.
Most footage was taken from the Dutch Police’s YouTube account, altered and supplemented with a fictional CAS promotion-video.
NERO (2018) - (NL 2018, 05:03 MINS)
Nero explores the (re)construction of memories in a digital age. While a classics professor recalls the image of an ancient political figure, a neural network tries to create one from online searches.
Screened at IMPAKT festival 2018
VRcation (2016) - What do we really seek when we travel? Holiday deals are sold to us like mass products which make vacationing seem no more than the consumption of fabricated tourist experiences. So how is passively travelling within the comfortable tourism bubble, far removed from local realities and authenticity, different from seeing a destination through VR-goggles? VRcation is a speculative travel agency selling virtual vacations. Order this new-style package deal online: mix various sights, environments and tours to your own desire, complete with home-delivered accessories. Put your goggles on, stick your feet in the sand and enjoy your personal package deal without even packing.
