At a young age, Irma de Vries saw a painting by Mondriaan. When she asked what it was, her mother answered, That is art. What is art, Irma asked? Her mother replied I don’t know. As curious as she was, Irma wanted to find this answer in life.
Contemporary Dutch artist Irma de Vries builds interactive digital art spaces. She uses Augmented Reality, Videomapping, painting, computer animation, and digital techniques to immerse viewers in a beautiful world.
Growing up in a religious reformed family, Irma de Vries was exposed to the strict idea of good and evil. It was a powerful division that would guide her to explore the grey areas in life and in art. At 18, she attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academy to study Video Art.
*Notable collaborations with Peter Greenaway, Rineke Dijkstra, Shirin Neshat, and Peter Schneider.
Without destruction, there is no creation.
Throughout her life, Irma has had to fight - bullies, disbelief, disorders, for acceptance, and now, her life. A few years ago, she collapsed from heart failure in a tram. As a young mother, she almost lost everything. Her diagnosis - a chronic autoimmune disease. Irma de Vries has used this life-changing moment to express through her installation art rooms that Art is Healing.
IRMA DE VRIES
Born 1980 Wieringerwerf, the Netherlands
Lives and Works in Amsterdam, the Netherlands
EDUCATION
The Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL
SHOWS
2020 REFLECT – Videomapping, Augmented Reality, Multi-Sensory Immersive Experience, Moco Museum, Amsterdam, NL
2018 I’m deforming – Videomapping, Nieuw Dakota, Amsterdam, NL [Collaboration with BeamLab]
2017 Ongoing Mi Goddess – Videomapping, Moco Museum, Amsterdam, NL
Mi – Videomapping, Augmented Reality, & Painting, Transvaal Buurt, Amsterdam, NL
Mi – Videomapping, Kerk Utrecht, NL
Mi – Videomapping, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, NL [Collaboration with BeamLab]
2016 Canalhouse – Videomapping, Amsterdam Light Festival #4 Edition, Canalhouse, Amsterdam, NL
Julius Caesar – Videomapping for Opera by Peter Schneider, NL
Gatekeepers – Videomapping, Vlieland, NL
2015 Gatekeepers – Videomapping, Amsterdam Light Festival #3 Edition, Hermitage, Amsterdam, NL [Project supported by Amsterdam Museum, Hermitage, & Rijksmuseum].
Brukenthal Museum – Videomapping, Sibiu, Romania
Typhoon – Videomapping, Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam, NL
Title – Videomapping, Leidseplein, Amsterdam, NL
2014 Vertigo – Videomapping, Il Rivelino Art Gallery, Locarno, Switzerland
2013 Mozes en Aaronkerk – Videomapping Competition for the Amsterdam Light Festival, Amsterdam, NL [Project supported by EYE Filmmuseum & Joods Historisch Museum]
2012 Options of Luxury – Curated by Architect Italo Rota, Location, New York
GROUP SHOWS
2013 James Purdy, Kleine Komedie, Amsterdam, NL [Collaboration with Dutch Stand-up Comedian Jan Jaap van der Wal]
2013 Dance of Death, Videomapping based on the drawings of Hans Holbein the Younger, Location, Country
2012 Atomic Bombs on the Planet Earth, Location, Country
2010 Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway, Location, Country
2007 Nightwatching, Location, Country
2004 Short Circuit, Arteffects Foundation, Kema Keur Terrein, Arnhem, NL
PROJECTS
2020 Moco Museum x Heineken – Augmented Reality
2019 Moco Museum x Denham BE@RBRICK – Augmented Reality
2018 TEDx Breda – Conference Presentation about Light & Shadow
2017 Artist in Residence – Moco Museum, Amsterdam, NL
3D Roy Lichtenstein Room – Medium
Dots Room – Medium
Stairway to Heaven – Medium
Kusama Room – Medium
Moco Play App – Augmented Reality
Year Rijksmuseum – Videomapping, Amsterdam, NL [Collaboration with Juvat]
Year NABC Minister Ploumen – Long Gallery, Washington D.C.
Year Keune Fashion Show – Videomapping & design, Amsterdam, NL [Collaboration with Choreographer Isabelle Beernaert]
Year Artis – Design, choreography, & videomapping, Amsteredam, NL [Collaboration with world-renowned harpist Lavina Meyer]
AWARDS & GRANTS
1st Prize Videomapping Contest, Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania, 2015
2nd Prize Amsterdam Light Festival, Mozes en Aaronkerk, 2013