Erik Peters

sociaal-maatschappelijk, Ecologie, Digitale technologie, Design, Artistiek onderzoek

O&O regeling 2021. Erik Peters is a multidisciplinary artist engaging with the world-building potentialities seeded in the act of storytelling, uncovering how speculative fiction can germinate new universes of being. His research-based practice is situated in the multi-porous web of independence of ecologies and technologies, human and non-human beings. Within his work, queer methodologies are evoked to create multidiscipinary scenarios; imaginative fables staged as spatial and interactive installations, workshops, publications and audiovisual works.

Before the Deluge (work-in-progress)
Before the Deluge (work-in-progress) - Before the deluge (wip) presents an interdisciplinary Odyssey which explores transoceanic mythologies in the context of climate crisis, looking into which sources of knowledge we draw from in preparation for climate disaster. Flood myths, found in diverse cultures across the globe symbolising renewal and purification, intertwine with dystopian tales that explore the consequences of environmental devastation, the end of the world. Yet, the world has ended many times already. Inspired by the paper ‘Deluge: From Genesis to Atlantis’ by Siversen and Redman, which traces narrative parallels between a vast amount of flood myths across the world, the project seeks to juxtapose climate forecasting, environmental data sets and adaptation strategies from flood myths. Simultaneously, the project explores the siren as an ancient shapeshifting witness to these global disasters. Their merged histories lay bare the xenophobic, racist and misogynistic beliefs Western societies projected on the monstrous guardian of the oceans.
Possible Void
Possible Void - Possible Void is a jacquard tapestry merging non-extractive scientific imagery through electrical resistivity tomographies and ground-penetrating radar scans across Luzon with fictional scenes of underground discoveries. We witness the discovery of a new parasitic flower morphospecies that has evolved to adapt to the infiltrating amounts of microplastics found in the earth’s layers.
The World's Green is Rotting Lime
The World's Green is Rotting Lime - The World’s Green is Rotting Lime is an audiovisual installation that speculates on future ecologies emerging from plastic pollution. The work follows the discovery of a new parasitic flower morphospecies that has evolved to adapt to the infiltrating amounts of microplastics found in the earth’s layers. The story takes place in the Cacupangan cave system in Pangasinan, the Philippines, a subterranean kilometers-long labyrinth of tunnels and underground rivers. Taking its color from the acidic green plastics of Mountain Dew soda bottles which are commonly upcycled and repurposed across rural provinces, the emergence of the flower reveals a history and future far beyond its isolated habitat. The work resulted from the artist’s ongoing field research on coastal climate adaptation strategies between the Philippines and the Netherlands, uncovering how crisis adaptation is shaped by local environmental, economic, and cultural conditions. The work is inspired by conversations with writer Nicola Sebastian from artist residency Emerging Islands and geo-engineer Hagg Perez who both have been working in and with the region for years. We discussed the rapidly changing environment that the increasing tourist industry brings, the impact of climate crisis and the adaptation strategies of both human and non-human communities.
Climate futures: aquatic worldbuilding, queerness and speculative ecologies (workshop series) - How can we explore queer relations and kinship with and between more-than-human perspectives? How might future ecologies adapt to the possible climate futures emerging from climate crisis? And how can we explore queer relations and kinship with and between more-than-human perspectives? Following a set of scenario projections painted by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we will dive into the ocean in search of future species that might exist on this planet. Working with worldbuilding techniques, speculative storytelling methods and generative artificial intelligence tools, we will collectively explore the habitats and perspectives of the aquatic species that have yet to exist.
Xenofossils - Xenofossils presents a series of future artefacts emerged from human interventions on Earth's ecosystems. The pieces speculate on new fossils, entities and alliances that might unfold from the fusion of natural and human-made ecosystems beyond a nature-culture dualism. The artist recently conducted research in the Philippines on the use and development of artificial coral reefs, used in the fight against the extinction of this fundamental life form. By immersing yourself in the work, you get to know the symbiotic and unified voice(s) of the coral. What might they tell us about their experience of the world, which now finds itself between organic and synthetic matter? The works are created in collaboration with ceramist Funda Baysal using ceramic 3D printing as a process of reconstructing natural materials, drawing parallels between print layers and geological layers.
How to Wake Up the Ghosts - ‘How to Wake Up the Ghosts’ is an immersive film installation that explores the thresholds of artificial nature and interconnectivity. Based on a 1756 publication in which whale hunters found a piece of coral near the Arctic, the piece presents a speculative future with remnants of human efforts to counter the global ecological crisis. The work reveals a truth that is made up of reconstructed pieces of coral and reflects on the blurred lines between ‘reality’, ‘nature’ and ‘technology’ from a more-than-human perspective. The voice of the coral takes you on a journey of reflection. As a plural entity, its being carries opposing perspectives on what it means to be alive in a neo-ecological world.
From Then to Here - Welcome to the liminal. In his first solo exhibition, Erik Peters builds on his practice of collaborative worldbuilding to co-imagine a transcendental space with portals into alternate realities. They are worlds, existing somewhere between the present, the no-longer-conscious, and the not-yet-here. Taking place on different spatial and temporal paths, each world amplifies the others in the space. Together, From Then to Here, proposes a collective quest of sensemaking and imagination: where are we now, and where do we go from here?
Queer Mercury - Queer Mercury (17 min) is a visual exploration into the possible utopian impulse embedded in queer collectivity. Queer futurity, as explained by José Esteban Muñoz, is essentially about the rejection of the ‘here and now’ and an insistence on potentiality for another world. More important than defining an end goal is striving for, and moving towards, more inclusive worlds. De documentary follows three members of the Dutch ballroom scene during the preparations for the Utopia Ball, held in Kunsthal in September 2021. The three protagonists reflect on how ballroom culture pursues this utopia by creating an inclusive space in which all gender identities and expressions are welcome. The performances can be experienced as a continuous striving towards inclusive futures that are not yet here, with gestures and movements that transmit knowledge of queer histories and possibilities.
Imagining narratives for preferable AI futures - Workshop, 2020. "As AI systems are often pretty invisible, most people imagine artificial intelligence in the way it often is portrayed in sci-fi and pop culture. The Terminator, Ex-Machina, Blade Runner: AI is basically the same as an evil robot, right? This workshop aimed to explore the anxieties and prejudices we have around this technology and instead of imagining the easy-coming-to-mind dystopia, focus our gaze on preferable AI futures. Speculative design helps us to imagine and visualise these explorations, so we can open up these topics for discussion. To focus on real life issues rather than the creation of utopias, we used the Sustainable Development Goals as a framework to thematize our anxieties and narrow down the focus of possibilities."

Uroboros Festival

Datum:
Locatie: Uroboros Festival
In samenwerking met: Uroboros Festival

The very first Uroboros fellow Erik Peters was selected via an open call, with their project Before the Deluge. Erik will introduce Before the Deluge and parts of their ongoing research process at the Uroboros 2024 festival, as part of the Feral Nest: Multispecies Sense~making event on November 30th, 2024

https://2024.uroboros.design/

The Queer Geobacter

Datum:
Locatie: Quartair
In samenwerking met: Queer Leiden University

The Geobacter, which the exhibition’s title derives from, is a microbial species that has evolved to be able to eat and digest toxic waste in radioactive environments. QLU proposes a metaphorical approach to this exchange to encourage conversations about how practices of consumption relate to queer survival.

https://www.quartair.nl/the-queer-geobacter/

Inframundos

Datum:
Locatie: Las Cigarreras Centro Cultural
In samenwerking met: La Cuarta Piel

On May 10 and 11, the artist presented several audiovisual, textile, botanical and material pieces that speculated on possible subterranean ecosystems in the near future. Paying attention to both mythologies and realities that have existed beneath the layers of the Earth for centuries, the artist speculates on the post-natural conditions that are emerging in these times of planetary crisis.

https://estratos.club/simbiontes/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAabkO7E6k1NUiraMVVFzkxIRo6GpIdYwY226VROuXIIGBYvUZdOfeMTjuuA_aem_cTfXFhug23-y-zTB4-mHjw

Bits and Atoms

Datum:
Locatie: Transmedia Research Institute / online
In samenwerking met: Transmedia Research Institute

The syndicate of Transmedia Research Institute aims to investigate the post-organic framework in its 2024 endeavor. The seal of flesh that divided the human being from the physical and virtual stratifications of reality has been hacked, the boundaries between “human” and “machine”, “natural” and “artificial” have lost all ontological value.

https://www.transmediaresearch.institute/general.html

Plastic Tides

Datum:
Locatie: Mono8 Gallery
In samenwerking met: Bianca Carague

Speculating the future of an archipelago that had emerged from plastic waste, Rotterdam-based artists Bianca Carague and Erik Peters present the third iteration of their ‘Maria Island’ projects through this exhibition. While the Philippines ranks highest as an oceanic plastic polluter, much of this waste originates from Western countries such as the Netherlands.

https://www.mono8gallery.com/exhibitions-plastic-tides

Maria Islands

Datum:
Locatie: Modeka Art Gallery
In samenwerking met: Bianca Carague

Maria Islands is a fictional archipelago. Here, new species, cultures and technologies have emerged as a response to social and ecological crises. The exhibit’s thematic framework was initiated by Rotterdam-based artists Bianca Carague and Erik Peters, as the second iteration of a speculative worldbuilding project. Together with Philippine artists Celine Lee, Is Jumalon, Luis Antonio Santos, and Miguel Lorenzo Uy, they have created an island group made of debris.

https://modeka.space/exhibitions/maria-islands/

Xenofossils at group show Fragments

Datum:
Locatie: DOOR Space
In samenwerking met: Fiber Festival

For its 2023 festival edition, FIBER explores the theme of Fragments. Carrying a duality between something falling apart while simultaneously offering a chance to rearrange and explore new compositions. Fragments invites you to reassemble a new understanding of our surroundings and identities, using different acts of listening, music, sound, sonic speculation, and magical worldbuilding as inspiring and critical media.

https://www.fiberfestival.nl/about

'How to Wake Up the Ghosts' at group show The Measure of the World

Datum:
Locatie: Radius CCA
In samenwerking met: Radius CCA

RADIUS starts the year with the group exhibition THE MEASURE OF THE WORLD, revolving around the ghosts of Western Enlightenment thinking and the relationship between science, truth-finding and the consequential creation of worldviews. With the work of fifteen artists, the exhibition forms a conversation starter for the NATURECULTURES year program and presents a first counterpoint to the current crises that bear witness to the perverse reality of modernism.

http://www.radius-cca.org/en/exhibitions/naturecultures-chapter-1-the-measure-of-the-world

Artist talk and residency at Emerging Islands, Philippines

Datum:
Locatie: San Juan, La Union
In samenwerking met: Emerging Islands

Together, we formed Emerging Islands, a coastal-based organisation and residency. Our activities explore engagements between artists and grassroots communities on issues relating to the natural world through our artist residency program, community programming, artist-led expeditions, and multidisciplinary storytelling. By holding space for island voices and narratives, we hope to foster greater awareness and solidarity around the issues that coastal communities face and the shared culture tha

https://www.emergingislands.com/

Responsible AI

Datum:
Locatie: Amsterdam
In samenwerking met: The Hmm

Talk over responsible AI voor The Hmm

https://thehmm.nl/event/the-hmm-responsible-ai/

Queer Mercury at group show Deep in Vogue. Celebrating Ballroom Culture

Datum:
Locatie: Rotterdam
In samenwerking met: Kunsthal

Film screening 'Queer Mercury' als onderdeel van de groepstentoonstelling Deep in Vogue. Celebrating Ballroom Culture in Kunsthal.

https://www.kunsthal.nl/en/plan-your-visit/exhibitions/deepinvogue_en/

From Then to Here

Datum:
In samenwerking met: Roodkapje

Solo tentoonstelling / curatie groepsinstallatie

https://roodkapje.org/event/2021-10-exhibition-from-then-to-here-by-erik-peters/

Mutant Myths Worlds

Datum:
Locatie: Amsterdam
In samenwerking met: Fiber

Talk tijdens Fiber Festival

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQOnCirxWDg&ab_channel=FIBERFestival

Yours Truthfully

Datum:
Locatie: Enschede
In samenwerking met: Tetem

Groepstentoonstelling

https://tetem.nl/event/gogbot-sprintexpo-yours-truthfully/

Reassemble Lab: Weaving With Worlds

Datum:
Locatie: Amsterdam
In samenwerking met: FIBER

Serie van workshops en talks

https://www.fiber-space.nl/project/weaving-with-worlds/

Hamburger Community of Art

Datum:
Locatie: Roodkapje
In samenwerking met: Roodkapje

Dutch Design Week

Datum:
Locatie: Virtual
In samenwerking met: Tante Netty, Stimuleringsfonds

Groepstentoonstelling This is not a simulation, Groepstentoonstelling Data-West

BIO26 Common Knowledge, The 26th Biennial of Design Ljubljana

Datum:
Locatie: MAO, Museum of Architecture and Design

Groepstentoonstelling

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