About Susan Kooi:
Susan Kooi (Leeuwarden NL, 1988) graduated in fine arts from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2012, with an exchange in visual arts at Emily Carr University for Art and Design in Vancouver. In her installations Kooi combines the tactile objects she produces in ceramics, textile and plastics with their specific narratives in video, text and performance. The starting point of her work is to find stories related to the location where she works. Looking for topics that interest her – prehistoric architecture, scientific discoveries, unidentified objects, legendary characters, from a specific region – and incorporate them in new work. She is interested in the dual role of objects, as a physical object and as a container for meaning. How we can experience both sides of an object and what role our imagination plays in this.
Kooi exhibited solo at Galleri CC in Malmö, Sorbus gallery in Helsinki, showroom MAMA in Rotterdam, Apice for Artists in Amsterdam and Spring in California, and has been part of duo- and group shows in Yotsuya Unconfirmed Studio in Tokyo, HAUNT in Yogyakarta and Atelier Chiffonnier in Dijon. Kooi was in artist in residencies in Portugal, Italy, Finland and Japan. In 2014 she received the young talent stipend, in 2018 the proven talent stipend and recently the basic stipend from the Mondriaan Fund. Next to her individual practice Kooi is part of the collective Samet Yilmaz, who have exhibited in Lodos Contemporáneo in Mexico-City, konsthall in Stockholm and Trampoline Gallery in Antwerp, and music duo echo+seashell, who performed at the Banff Centre in Canada, Kiasma Museum in Helsinki and Paradiso in Amsterdam. Since 2022, Kooi is a board member at artspace W139 in Amsterdam.
