Sentler works within the mediums of (sound/video) installation, performance and artist publications. She is fascinated by the changing of industrial and modern landscapes and the migration of humans, animals and matter in these environments. In order to open various layers of a place up to the audience, she collaborates with scientists and individuals next to taking different roles during the process, learning skills affiliated to her current field of research. For example, she became a fisher and ceramist in order to replicate a fish fossil originating from a lignite pit for Descent into the Future (2020/2021), functioned as a hobby-ornithologist in the endangered woods of the Hambacher Forst for the Chase ( 2020) and explored the Antlantic Ocean as a modern-day shark hunter for Cairban (2021). Sacrifice is a central topic in Sentler's work, where she questions if we should sacrifice nature and human environments to build potentially better habitats.
Fossil Fuel Mnemosyne (2022) - Tapestry, depicting the relationships between oil and myth throughout time. By undertaking residencies close to the oil industry’s working places, ecological facts, personal stories and local myths encountered in the landscapes are used to explore the commercial use of both oil and myth. Produced in collaboration with the TextileLab, the professional workplace of the Textielmuseum Tilburg, currently on show at RADIUS CCA, Delft. (350 x 175 cm. Jacquard weave, merino wool and cotton). https://miriamsentler.com/Fossil-Fuel-Mnemosyne
Concrete Reef - Sculpture and publication, bringing together replicas of various maritime fossils found in the ENCI marl quarry, replicated with the last bags of cement of the closed ENCI mine. The construction is inspired by a star constellation, referring to the name that the coral fossils from this area acquired during medieval times: star-stones. This name was derived from the surfaces of the fossils, which, according to some, resembled stars. At the bottom of the ENCI lake, the sculpture will function as an artificial reef, creating a new habitat and benefiting new lifeforms in the post-modern environment. Currently on show at Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam. (220 x 110 cm, monochrome risography publication, 95x135 mm, 95 pages, edition of 50). https://miriamsentler.com/Concrete-Reef
Ancestors Rising (2022) - Video, showing a drone flight over the Garzweiler lignite pit (DE) with the replica of a 10.000-year-old shamanistic headdress, found in the excavation site in 1987. During the flight, the archaeological object was relocated on its exact finding spot, nowadays pointing to a location in the air. The antlers may have symbolized a connection with the wider universe, reaching out into the cosmos from the top of the head like antennae. The Mesolithic shaman created change in the physical world from the visions he received from the universe. In collaboration with artist Wouter Osterholt - Deep Time Agency. (4K video, ca. 00h12m05s) https://miriamsentler.com/Ancestors-Rising
Cairban: A Contemporary Shark Hunt (2021) - A newspaper publication and audio performance, depicting a three-day sea journey on the Atlantic Ocean, searching for the Basking Shark. While shark-hunting has been banned in the Hebridean waters since 1994, the project showcases a contemporary endeavor of finding, stalking, and ‘shooting’ a shark – with a camera instead of a harpoon. In collaboration with environmental humanities researcher Sadie Hale (UK/PT), developed during a residency at KNOCKvologan in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland (432 x 279 mm, 30 pages). https://miriamsentler.com/Cairban-A-contemporary-shark-hunt
Descent into the Future (2020) - Installation, serving as a test installation for a dive into the Blausteinsee (DE), during which a fish-fossil originating from the former lignite pit was relocated underwater. The return of the fish-fossil closes the material cycle of this landscape, which has transformed from liquid to solid and again to liquid due to the fossil fuel industry. In collaboration with artist Wouter Osterholt - Deep Time Agency. (fishtank, maps, picture: 185x50x50 cm, 60x80x75 cm, 20x30 cm, video documentation of dive (18m30s, HD). https://miriamsentler.com/Descent-into-the-Future-1
The Chase (2020) - Audio installation, revolving around the loss of birdsongs due to the forced resettlement to ‘Neu-Keyenberg’, one of the newly built copy-villages replacing the original settlements of North-Rhine Westphalia, where lignite is being excavated. The work highlights the unique composition of birds present within the disappearing landscape. In collaboration with a composer, a score was made. The composer’s inability of keeping track of the birds represents the problem of archiving the natural, resulting in an auditive play (or chase) between the archived and the archiver. In collaboration with composer Drake Stoughton. (00h07m53s loop, artist publication: 24 x 17 cm). https://miriamsentler.com/The-Chase-1
Janus Walk (2019) - Performance and installation, emphasizing the immaterial and performative rituals of the Via Appia Antica, and the manner in which these have been threatened by the over-trafficking of the ancient pilgrimage route. During the performance, the Roman god of travel, Janus, was carried by a group of performers from its original standing point to the busy four-way crossing opposite the church Domine Quo Vadis. (print: Dibond, 118 x 84 cm, 16 analogue photographs on diaprojector and 3D-printed sculpture: 60x50x45cm, transportation box). https://miriamsentler.com/Janus-Walk
The Mobile Oasis Project (2018) - Installation, playing with the mythification of exotic animals. Deriving from a photograph made on the North Norwegian island of Sørøya in the spring of 2017 while undertaking a residency, the work discusses the presence of two camels on the arctic island. (ca. 320 x 150cm, camel wool, paper-mache, 8 glass bottles, prints, Sahara sand, 2 jerrycans, print on Dibond: 118,9 x 84,1 cm). https://miriamsentler.com/The-Mobile-Oasis-Project
Archipel (2017) - Installation, focusing on ‘phantom islands’, fake islands added intentionally to 19th and 20th centrury world maps by companies in order to avoid plagiarism. Names given to remote islands by explorers, such as Possession and Loneliness, were the starting point for this fictional cluster of islands. During the exhibition, visitors were invited to write a postcard from a fictional island, tricking the recipient into believing these places were real. Over the course of two months, five-hundred postcards were sent, manifesting the existence of these fictional islands. (sand, water, wood, pigment, variable dimensions, postcards, set of 3: 16 x 11 cm). https://miriamsentler.com/Archipel
Rock Monody (2016) - Audio Installation, consisting of a singing stone originating from the Italian Dolomites. During a walk through the mountains, a stone was taken, wrapped up in a container, and send to the Netherlands. Standing in a room painted in a shade mimicking the color of the moss growing on its back, the singing stone is weeping about his brutal abduction from the Abruzzian mountains, a place where he stood undisturbed for millions of years. In collaboration with opera singer Martin Reisbacher. (00h07m51s, stone from the Majella mountains, moss-colored walls, variable dimensions). https://miriamsentler.com/Rock-Monody
