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Sanne Vaassen is fascinated by the unstoppable and continuously flowing transition of her surroundings: not just the transient matter within nature (changing of seasons, the hydrological cycle or symbiosis between fungus and trees), but also the changes within our culture, how for example rules and laws are adapted, how traditions and customs gain new meanings or how language evolves. Often she analyses and deconstructs such developments and questions their symbolism.

She completed her Bachelor‘s degree at the Maastricht Institute of Arts in 2013 and worked at the Jan van Eyck Academy in 2014/2015. She won the Henriëtte Hustinx Prize in 2013, the Parkstad Limburg Prize in 2016 and the Symbio Kunstprijs in 2024. Her work has previously been shown in several group and solo exhibitions nationally and abroad, including the Bonnefantenmuseum (Maastricht), SALTS (Basel), Unit 1 Gallery (London), and 601Artspace (New York).

During her stay at Arts Initiative Tokyo Sanne will research the water network of Tokyo and the invisible flood control system that lies underneath the city. She will investigate the shapes that the rivers in Tokyo had throughout the past and what influence humans had on the rerouting of the rivers.

RESIDENCY

Stay: 2025 2/13~4/14
Founders: Mondriaan Fonds（Netherlands）