Chiel Lubbers

Cervicalgia embodies an armor of muscle tension in the cervical spine. It manifests as stiffness, muscle spasms, and reduced range of motion in the neck. The armored body series or simply muscle armor refers to what is described as “the experience-dependent development of a protective layer of muscle tension that forms over time in response to a history of threat, fear, and trauma”

Cervicalgia embodies an armor of muscle tension in the cervical spine. It manifests as stiffness, muscle spasms, and reduced range of motion in the neck. The armored body series or simply muscle armor refers to what is described as “the experience-dependent development of a protective layer of muscle tension that forms over time in response to a history of threat, fear, and trauma”

Workshop Hoogtij Energiekas The Hague In Change With Me, nothing is meant to stay the same. Everything is temporary and responsive. What you touch reacts. What you taste disappears. What you hear keeps changing. The artists invite you to actively experience their work. Chiel Lubbers is driven by the ongoing interaction with our environment, in which our bodies both influence and are influenced, continually transforming along with the world around us. Explore with him biobased material research around celery as an ongoing metabolic process. Through three interactive steps - dissecting and fermenting, tasting, and making textiles - a collective Exquisite Corpse emerges.

Indium emerged from exploring the parallel between plant and human tissue fibers.The project derives its name from the concept 'Indusium' - the Latin word for undergarment - in which corsets are created that reference the supportive and protective muscle and connective tissue layers, which not only receive, store and transmit energy, but also hold our deepest traumas.The garment materializes a dialogue between physical and emotional layers, reflecting an embodied relationship in which our internal fibrous tissues resonate with and are shaped by our environment. Indusium explores the vegetal realm through a meditative process of carefully deconstructing celery plants. By extracting individual fibers from the stems by hand, I initiate a transformation that continues through a slow fermentation process. Each fiber is then positioned and layered by hand, creating patterns that mirror the anatomy of human muscle tissues. The garments form emerges through thousands of these carefully arranged fibers, which unite into one composition. This labor-intensive handwork connects craft methods with experimental material exploration, revealing how human and non-human can collaborate in creative work.

The Gorget, known as piece of armor worn to protect the throat, one of the body’s most vulnerable places, made from plant fibers that mirror the fibers of muscle and connective tissue, gives form to the tension in the neck. Gorget embodies the struggle to speak.

An exploration within the theme of 'the armoured body' in which varying fibre directions and density embody a piece of armor.

Indusium emerged from exploring the parallel between plant and human tissue fibers.The project derives its name from the concept 'Indusium' - the Latin word for undergarment - in which corsets are created that reference the supportive and protective muscle and connective tissue layers, which not only receive, store and transmit energy, but also hold our deepest traumas.The garment materializes a dialogue between physical and emotional layers, reflecting an embodied relationship in which our internal fibrous tissues resonate with and are shaped by our environment. Indusium explores the vegetal realm through a meditative process of carefully deconstructing celery plants. By extracting individual fibers from the stems by hand, I initiate a transformation that continues through a slow fermentation process. Each fiber is then positioned and layered by hand, creating patterns that mirror the anatomy of human muscle tissues. The garments form emerges through thousands of these carefully arranged fibers, which unite into one composition. This labor-intensive handwork connects craft methods with experimental material exploration, revealing how human and non-human can collaborate in creative work.

An imagining of a group of back muscles that run along the spine, erecting and stabilising the back.

An imagining of a microscopic image of the cardiac muscle

A 1:1 reflection of a group of back muscles that run along the spine, erecting and stabilising the back.

The work captures a ripple field at the sea, emanated from a resonating human to non-human dynamic.

Resonance is a sensitivity to the movement of the entities and energies that build up our body. An inner-act attempts to reveal these intimate lifeforms. Bringing the inner to the outer, tapping into resonance. A composition of fragmented patterns translated from human muscle anatomy. Materials that within their tissues hold protein fibres dissected from vegetables. A discovery in the relation between food and muscles both in terms of nutrition and energy, but also for the material likeness as fibers. An inner-act seeks to find an essence of culture within nature by bringing equal position to non-human lifeforms that together make up an ecosystem in which we inner-act. The research is conceptualised in a garment resembling a second skin, acting as a mirror to human beholders.

The 'Fragmented Body' series naturally evolved from the 'an inner-act' project. This collection encompasses both three-dimensional and two-dimensional artworks, portraying patterns that symbolize the path towards fragmentation. It delves into the concept of decomposition within the ecosystem where humans are integral participants.

Commission for the Jos Brink, LGBTQIA+ Award I see my identity as an energy that is never fixed, it’s always in motion and open to transform. For me, Queering is the way one vibrates to someone or something else’s energy. It’s a sensitivity to a resonance that attracts me to another being. The frequency of the sea shapes ripples in the sand, I resonate to the radiant energy of these ripples as they move into my energy field. The constant waves that shape the ripples are a metaphor to the energetic force for gender equality. I capture the ripples by using the technique of casting. As I warp the casted ripples they are transformed into an energy field. Grains of sand are melted into a transparant, layered object in glass that captures a variety of motion. I want to thank the winner for shaping ripples. A consciousness that will vibrate onto the lifes to follow. Photography Scott van Kampen Wieling

A resonance is a sensitivity to the movement of the entities and energies that build up our body. An inner-act attempts to reveal these intimate lifeforms. Bringing the inner to the outer, tapping into resonance. A composition of fragmented patterns translated from human muscle anatomy. Materials that within their tissues hold protein fibres dissected from vegetables. A discovery in the relation between food and muscles both in terms of nutrition and energy, but also for the material likeness as fibers. An inner-act seeks to find an essence of culture within nature by bringing equal position to non-human lifeforms that together make up an ecosystem in which we inner-act. The research is conceptualised in a garment resembling a second skin, acting as a mirror to human beholders. Photography Scott van Kampen Wieling

A resonance is a sensitivity to the movement of the entities and energies that build up our body. An inner-act attempts to reveal these intimate lifeforms. Bringing the inner to the outer, tapping into resonance. A composition of fragmented patterns translated from human muscle anatomy. Materials that within their tissues hold protein fibres dissected from vegetables. A discovery in the relation between food and muscles both in terms of nutrition and energy, but also for the material likeness as fibers. An inner-act seeks to find an essence of culture within nature by bringing equal position to non-human lifeforms that together make up an ecosystem in which we inner-act. The research is conceptualised in a garment resembling a second skin, acting as a mirror to human beholders. Photography Scott van Kampen Wieling