PolakVanBekkum

Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum work together as artist-couple under the name PolakVanBekkum. Their work focusses on landscape and mobility.

Rooted in the history of Dutch realistic landscape depiction, they embrace new technologies to express personal experiences of spaces of the contemporary city and countryside. Their projects are often informed by collaborations with participants, be it humans, animals, objects, machines, or playable characters.

They have worked and exhibited internationally, at IDFA, Visions du Réel, Berlinale forum, Transmediale Berlin, Ars Electronica Linz, ISEA Istanbul, ZKM Karlsruhe, London, IMAL Brussels, galerie dudokdegroot, Philadelphia Percent for Art program.

In 2015 They received The Expanded Media Preis For Network Culture at Stuttgarter Filmwinters – Festival for Expanded Media with “The Mailman’s Bag.”

In 2005 Esther Polak received a Golden Nica for Interactive Art at Ars Electronica together with Ieva Auzina, for their MILKproject.

Projects and works: Amsterdam Realtime, MilkProject, NomadicMILK, Souvenir Zeeland, Spiral Drawing Sunrise, Fronting Motion, AbstractView, 250 Miles Crossing Philadelphia.

Esther Polak studied at the RijksAkademie for Visual Arts in Amsterdam and the KABK in Den Haag; NL

Ivar van Bekkum studied journalism at the Academie voor de Journalistiek Kampen; NL