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Traversing Glass - A Journey to create Resonant Spaces, 2023
“Traversing Glass” is a handbound artist book encased in glass that intertwines two stories. The first is a personal narrative of my 800-kilometre pilgrimage through Spain on the Camino Francés, undertaken in October 2022. In a fast-paced world, I sought more meaningful ways of being and feeling connected. This journey led me to explore encounters, engage with materials, grapple with time, and reconnect with my body, ultimately finding my way back to Maastricht. Through this pilgrimage, I discovered a deep connection with the theory of Resonance by German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, which became central to my artistic practice.
The second story is about the book's materiality. “Traversing Glass” isn’t just a book to be read; it’s an experience. The glass cover refracts light and distorts words, while soft paper, translucent pages, and hidden sketches invite readers to explore beyond the text. The book’s design—featuring scratchable linen, see-through pages, collaborative texts, diary entries, and niches for small notes—transforms reading into a tactile, playful experience, encouraging a deeper engagement with the material.
Both stories speak to a longing for resonance and the search for more meaningful connections. “Traversing Glass” invites you to slow down, contemplate, and sensitize yourself to the quality of your relationships with the world around you, offering not just a narrative, but a resonant space in itself.
photography by Joris Hilterman
Jumble, 2024
This publication came into existence in April 2024 from the shared interest in an exchange and collaboration between the artists in the exhibition "The Burnout Society". “The Burnout Society” reflected on the demands of modern society, and the way they influence new generations. In “Jumble” the four artists tell stories of dealing with the overwhelm, powerlessness and disconnect, using artistic methods to navigate the jumble of information and challenges.
Sara Bachour immerses herself in an online realm inundated with self-help videos and documentaries and finds a way to deal with her information fatigue. Disheartened by the toxicity of online forums and comment sections, artist Stef Lemmens devises a method to compost hate speech. Milena Dahl grapples with a feeling of disconnect and starts walking in search for ways to converse with an accelerating world. Elisa Verkoelen investigates pressure as a working method, crafting rituals that honor negative space and the traces we humans leave behind.
In our attempt to grasp and process everything at once, we end up seeing nothing. Everything blurs and overlaps. The book visually replicates the feeling of overwhelm. But if we direct our focus to one aspect after another we can begin to discern clarity amidst the chaos. "Jumble" invites readers to approach its contents one page at a time, offering a chance to see and, perhaps, to act.
“Jumble” and “The Burnout Society” is part of an experimental project, developed to support emerging artists entering the commercial art world. It is a cooperation between The Artist and the Others and Marieke Severens, from PontArte Gallery in Maastricht. The exhibition is part of the Archipel program of Bip Liège.
Concept and design by Milena Dahl
Contributions by Sara Bachour, Milena Dahl, Stef Lemmens & Elisa Verkoelen
Buy the publication via The Artists and the Others or PontArte
You don’t have to compete, 2022
"I am only valuable if I achieve something", "I have to impress", "I have to be better".
Thoughts like these have always driven me to work harder, compare more and constantly evaluate and criticize myself and others. Not only at work, but also in my free time. With every action, with every thought. I try so hard to become happy and successful in this system that I forgot to question whether it serves me in the first place. Many of these ideas do not come from within me but from educational systems and work environments based on competition and productivity. They do not serve my well-being, but a capitalist economic system with its logic of profit and its compulsion to exploit.
Thoughts like these have always driven me to work harder, compare more and constantly evaluate and criticize myself and others. Not only at work, but also in my free time. With every action, with every thought. I try so hard to become happy and successful in this system that I forgot to question whether it serves me in the first place. Many of these ideas do not come from within me but from educational systems and work environments based on competition and productivity. They do not serve my well-being, but a capitalist economic system with its logic of profit and its compulsion to exploit.
You don’t have to compete is a 22 page Zine; a rebellion, an outcry in the form of a collection of poems, essays, stories and illustrations. The publication is an artistic approach to shed light on the conflict and point to hidden internalized belief systems and inspires to reevaluate them.