Home - Esmé Valk
 

25.10.20

I’ve decided to archive my artistic work on this website. In recent years I’ve not been producing new works. However I am continuing my work and research with movements through space (the choreography of a space), autonomy and free play with infants and young children.

I design areas for free play and autonomous movements for infants. I create the right physical conditions and give pedagogical guidance to infants and their parents in the form of advice and parent-infant playgroups (Pikler SpeelRuimte). This results in a positive and secure relationship where the children flourish physically as well as emotionally.

In addition I design areas for self-directed and play-based learning, like this construction room and play & learning areas in a democratic school.

You can find more about my work at In Their Own Time.

15.11.17

Film program: Adventure Playgrounds

I will presents my research into adventure playgrounds, illustrated by a series of unusual films at Stroom, den Haag. Adventure playgrounds are places where children can use all kinds of materials like planks, pallets, car tires, stones, pieces of plastic and other junk, to play with. They can play freely and unrestrictedly. They can do whatever they want. They can build something (or to tear it down). Adventure playgrounds were a reaction to the asphalt playgrounds with their rigid play-structures like slides, swings, seesaws and sandboxes.

On the basis of selected film clips I want to discuss the following questions: “What kind of personal autonomy does a user have in relation to a designed environment?” and “How can a playground design contribute to (or hamper) a child’s figurative margin for manoeuvre?”

One of the films shown is the The Land (2015) by Erin Davis, a short documentary film about the nature of play, risk and hazard set in The Land, a Welsh adventure playground. Here children climb trees, light fires and use hammers and nails in a play-space rooted in the belief that kids are empowered when they learn to manage risks on their own.

Stroom
Hoge Wal 1-9
Den Haag
15 November 2017 | 17.00 – 19.00

03.11.17 / 11.11.17

Sundays a film screening at TIFF

In collaboration with Tirana International Film Festival, Gallery On The Move is proud to present video works by Dutch artist Esmé Valk.
Sundays is a presentation of the artist’s films created between 2006 and 2013. The films 'What belongs to the present’ (2013), 'Guest House’ (2009), 'Mappings may themselves dance along with dancers dancing’ (2007), 'Lunchtime Tracking’ (2007), 'Untitled’ (2007) and 'Sundays’ (2006) will be exhibited during the 15th edition of Tirana International Film Festival from November 3 until November 11, 2017.

Tirana International Film Festival
Njësia Bashkiake Nr.5, Pall. 1 Maj, Shk.18/54
1022, Tirana
Albania

08.10.17

The city: an adventure playground?

A Q&A with Tracy Metz organised by Stroom at the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam in Lantaren Venster.

What do we see if we look at the city through the lens of play? Tracy Metz will talk with a.o. Esmé Valk (artist, doing research into adventure playgrounds), Saša Radenovic (architect, doing research into play facilities in Sarajevo, from the theoretical viewpoint of Aldo van Eyck) and Jeroen van Mastrigt (creative director FreedomLab, expert in engagement strategies, with a background in game design). Illustrated with film clips of their own choice.

Stroom at AFFR
Lantaren Venster
Otto Reuchlinweg 996
3072 MD, Rotterdam
8 October 2017 | 13.00 – 14.30

05.03.16 / 07.08.16

Exhibition: Project Rotterdam at Museum Boijmans van Beuningen

Project Rotterdam presents a new generation of creative talent with artists and designers showing new works in displays, installations and interventions throughout the museum. Encompassing a range of oeuvres, messages and positions, Project Rotterdam explores the diversity of contemporary artistic developments in Rotterdam.

I’ll be presenting the film Asymmetry is Dynamic in a new site-specific installation.

Curated by Noor Mertens and Annemartine van Kesteren

With:
van Nada van Dalen, Simon Davies, David Derksen, Suzanne Dikker, Kevin Gallagher, Reinier de Jong, Chris Kabel, Simon Kentgens, Koehorst in ’t Veld, Masha Krasnova, Daisy Kroon, Johannes Langkamp, Letterproeftuin, Minale Maeda, Sabine Marcelis, Atelier Monté, Nightshop, Antje Peters, Pink Pony Express, Bertjan Pot, Rory Pilgrim, Phil Procter, Emma van der Put, Tonio de Roover, Melle Smets, Studio WM, Jay Tan, Koen Taselaar, Esmé Valk, Reinaart Vanhoe, Wouter Venema, Lorelinde Verhees, Weronika Zielinska, Timmy van Zoelen.

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Museumpark 18-20
3015 CX, Rotterdam
Opening during Museumnacht: 5 March 2016 | 20.00-01.00
Open: Tue-Sun | 11.00-17.00

26.03.15 / 25.07.15

Exhibition: This is the Time. This is the Record of the Time.

This is the Time. This is the Record of the Time is a collaborative project between SMBA and the American University of Beirut (AUB) Art Gallery as part of the Global Collaborations programme.

With; Kristina Benjocki, Diana Hakobyan, Sebastián Díaz Morales, Peter Fengler, Daniele Genadry, Walid Sadek, Rayyane Tabet, Esmé Valk, and Cynthia Zaven.

Curated by Angela Harutyunyan and Nat Muller.

AUB art galleries
AUB Dodge Hall, AUB Upper Campus
Beirut
Opening: 26 March 2015 18.00-21.00
Opening Hours: Tue/Sat | 12.00-18.00

13.09.14 / 09.11.14

Exhibition: This is the Time. This is the Record of the Time.

This is the Time. This is the Record of the Time is a collaborative project between SMBA and the American University of Beirut (AUB) Art Gallery as part of the Global Collaborations programme.

The exhibition features newly commissioned works by nine artists based in Lebanon and the Netherlands; Kristina Benjocki, Sebastián Díaz Morales, Peter Fengler, Priscila Fernandes, Daniele Genadry, Walid Sadek, Rayyane Tabet, Esmé Valk, and Cynthia Zaven.

Curated by Angela Harutyunyan and Nat Muller.

SMBA
Rozenstraat 59
1016 NN, Amsterdam
Opening: 13 September | 17.00-19.30
Opening hours: Wed/Sun | 11.00-17.00

23.05.14 / 20.07.14

Exhibition: In Search of the Horizon

International contemporary art exhibition curated by Ieva Kalniņa, with works by Mike Kelley, Bas Jan Ader, Guido van der Werve, Jerszy Seymour, Oleg Kulik, Anatoly Osmolovsky amongst others.

Latvian Railway History Museum
Uzvaras bulvāris 2-4
Rīga, Latvia
Opening: 22nd May 2014 | 18.00
Opening hours: Tue/Sat | 10.00-17.00, Thu | 10.00-20.00, Sun | 10.00-16.00

16.05.14 / 03.06.14

Exhibition: Tijd (Time)

During a duo show with Eva Olthof in De Paraplufabriek in Nijmegen (NL) I will present the installation what belongs to the present

De Paraplufabriek
Van Oldenbarneveltstraat 63 a
6512 AT, Nijmegen
Opening: 16 May | 20.00
Opening Hours: Thu/Sun 13.00-17.00

19.02.14 / 22.02.14

The Van Eyck, Multiform institute for Fine Art, Design and Reflection, is keeping open house. The academy first welcomes a select group of invited guests on Wednesday 19, Thursday 20 and Friday 21 February. Would you like to visit the Van Eyck during these preview days, then please send an email to openstudios@janvaneyck.nl

Official opening Friday 21 February 15.00 – 19.00
Open to the public: Saturday 22 February 10.00 – 17.00

Van Eyck
Academieplein 1
6211 KM Maastricht