Biography
Joan Heemskerk is a Dutch contemporary artist, who in recent years has cultivated an independent artistic practice centred around the internet, with a current focus on exploring the potentials of web4, spanning from cryptography systems to the realm of quantum non-binary computing. Her diverse body of work includes photography, video, software, games, websites, and installations.
Heemskerk is also part of the renowned artist duo JODI, which pioneered within web-based art in the mid-1990s. Leading the way in exploring the possibilities of digital art, Heemskerk and JODI challenge and subvert conventional norms of the internet by examining the visual aesthetics, interface elements, codes, errors and viruses of these systems. They provoke new perspectives on the relationship between technology and users and subvert expectations and conventions.
Both Heemskerk and JODI's pioneering contributions to digital and media art have been widely recognized. Their work has been exhibited at institutions such as MoMA, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, ZKM Karlsruhe, ICC, Guggenheim, Centre Pompidou, Eyebeam, Rhizome and many more.
Joan Heemskerk' artistic excellence has recently been recognized with awards, including the prestigious Female Artist Award of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 2022.
The artist was also awarded the inaugural edition of Collide Copenhagen for her project proposal Alice & Bob after Clay +=-> Hello, world. She will complete a two-month residency, which will be split between CERN and Copenhagen Contemporary and dedicated to artistic research and exploration. She will work side by side with physicists, engineers and laboratory staff. With the support of the curatorial teams of Arts at CERN and Copenhagen Contemporary, the residency will be followed by a phase of designing and producing a new artwork that will become part of an exhibition at Copenhagen Contemporary in 2025, which will examine the impact of technology on humanity.