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Documentation video of solo exhibition The Portal
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Conceived as a sensorial exploration of the bog, THE PORTAL presents new video, sound, and ceramic work that reflect on the ecosystem of the bog - it's cultural and ecological entanglements, learning what it is to be human, both in deep past, present, and in speculative futures.
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Conceived as a sensorial exploration of the bog, THE PORTAL presents new video, sound, and ceramic work that reflect on the ecosystem of the bog - it's cultural and ecological entanglements, learning what it is to be human, both in deep past, present, and in speculative futures.
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Conceived as a sensorial exploration of the bog, THE PORTAL presents new video, sound, and ceramic work that reflect on the ecosystem of the bog - it's cultural and ecological entanglements, learning what it is to be human, both in deep past, present, and in speculative futures.
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Conceived as a sensorial exploration of the bog, THE PORTAL presents new video, sound, and ceramic work that reflect on the ecosystem of the bog - it's cultural and ecological entanglements, learning what it is to be human, both in deep past, present, and in speculative futures.
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Conceived as a sensorial exploration of the bog, THE PORTAL presents new video, sound, and ceramic work that reflect on the ecosystem of the bog - it's cultural and ecological entanglements, learning what it is to be human, both in deep past, present, and in speculative futures.
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This is a screen recording of the running simulation, which has been edited down. Read more about the work here: https://sisselmarietonn.com/project/the-sentinel-self
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Ecotones are the transition areas between two adjacent but different ecosystems. Estuaries, tidal zones, wetlands, for instance, are places where complex systems meet and clash, seep into and transform one another. In the series Ecotones I’ve worked with a visual imagery where living organisms become entangled with one another, with their environments and with the novel and persistent materials introduced into the world by industrial activities. In the series of drawings new organic bodies emerge, morph and shape-shift. Through this wild morphology they reject any form of neat categorization of the world, or any separation between “nature” and “culture”.
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Ecotones are the transition areas between two adjacent but different ecosystems. Estuaries, tidal zones, wetlands, for instance, are places where complex systems meet and clash, seep into and transform one another. In the series Ecotones I’ve worked with a visual imagery where living organisms become entangled with one another, with their environments and with the novel and persistent materials introduced into the world by industrial activities. In the series of drawings new organic bodies emerge, morph and shape-shift. Through this wild morphology they reject any form of neat categorization of the world, or any separation between “nature” and “culture”.
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A real-time simulation of an immune system becoming exposed to microplastics particles. A heart rate sensor sculpture allows audience to animate the body-world through the beats of their hearts, thus forging an embodied connection with this inner ecosystem.
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A real-time simulation of an immune system becoming exposed to microplastics particles. A heart rate sensor sculpture allows audience to animate the body-world through the beats of their hearts, thus forging an embodied connection with this inner ecosystem.
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A real-time simulation of an immune system becoming exposed to microplastics particles. A heart rate sensor sculpture allows audience to animate the body-world through the beats of their hearts, thus forging an embodied connection with this inner ecosystem.
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Digital Render made on the occasion of the retirement of philosopher Rosi Braidotti, as a gift from her department.
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Sissel Marie Tonn talks about the research that preceded and inspired the project Plastic Hypersea. Plastic Hypersea is an interactive, site-specific work that speculates on a possible future for the field of immunology in which it has merged with the field of Environmental Health. As the listener explores the terrain they are invited to imagine the environment as an extension of their immune system and to contemplate the many ways in which their bodies are entangled with microplastics in the sediments of Amsterdam’s waterways. Ultimately, Plastic Hypersea asks listeners to abandon the war metaphors haunting immunology and to contemplate a more expanded sense of self. Sissel Marie Tonn is a Danish artist based in The Hague. Her practice focuses on the shifts in perception that occur when humans are entangled with their environment, blurring the boundaries between bodies and surroundings. Her artistic research often results in interactive sensorial installations and objects as an invitation for the audience to actively participate in her works. Plastic Hypersea credits: Narration: Sallie Harmsen Music and composition: Vincenzo AcquAria Castellana Sound recording and mixing: BJ Nilsen Plastic Hypersea is commissioned by Sonic Acts in collaboration with Paradiso as part of Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Video by Catalina Reyes Navarro
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Learn more about the work here: https://sisselmarietonn.com/project/sphagnum-time.
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Set in the year 2099, Plastic Hypersea is a guided, spatial and interactive experience that speculates on a possible future for the field of immunology in which it has merged with the field of Environmental Health. As the listener explores the terrain they are invited to imagine the environment as an extension of their immune system and to contemplate the many ways in which their bodies are entangled with microplastics in the sediments of Amsterdam’s waterways. Ultimately, Plastic Hypersea asks listeners to abandon the war metaphors haunting immunology and to contemplate a more expanded sense of self.
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When our ancient ancestors crept out of the primordial soup, they had to effectively “fold” the ocean back into themselves. This is called the Hypersea—a biological concept describing the interconnected network of nutrient-filled fluids flowing through all land-based organisms. Our blood, interstitial fluids, gastric juices, sweat and urine are daily reminders of these shared aquatic origins. Today, however, there is another material entanglement (re)connecting marine and land-based organisms: plastic. Plastic debris has spread to every corner of the earth through air and water currents. It breaks into ever-smaller bits that never fully disintegrate, and pass from environments into our bodies. In a year of pandemic, where pressure on food systems led to a worldwide public health crisis, contamination reminds us that our health is also inextricably entangled with the health of our ecosystems. Departing from the notion of shared contamination, Plastic Hypersea (the spill) is part science-fiction film, part eco-immunological environment experienced through many different audiovisual “pools” that “infect” one another. From two human bodies attempting to extend their sense of self to include the waters around them, to microscopic footage of cells ingesting microplastics, and 3D scans of an ancient shipwreck, Tonn prompts us to consider how we can shift our understanding of our individual health towards a more ecological world view.
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When our ancient ancestors crept out of the primordial soup, they had to effectively “fold” the ocean back into themselves. This is called the Hypersea—a biological concept describing the interconnected network of nutrient-filled fluids flowing through all land-based organisms. Our blood, interstitial fluids, gastric juices, sweat and urine are daily reminders of these shared aquatic origins. Today, however, there is another material entanglement (re)connecting marine and land-based organisms: plastic. Plastic debris has spread to every corner of the earth through air and water currents. It breaks into ever-smaller bits that never fully disintegrate, and pass from environments into our bodies. In a year of pandemic, where pressure on food systems led to a worldwide public health crisis, contamination reminds us that our health is also inextricably entangled with the health of our ecosystems. Departing from the notion of shared contamination, Plastic Hypersea (the spill) is part science-fiction film, part eco-immunological environment experienced through many different audiovisual “pools” that “infect” one another. From two human bodies attempting to extend their sense of self to include the waters around them, to microscopic footage of cells ingesting microplastics, and 3D scans of an ancient shipwreck, Tonn prompts us to consider how we can shift our understanding of our individual health towards a more ecological world view.
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n Sphagnum Time we encounter three bog bodies who were never found by the peat diggers of the 20th century. Sacrificed to the bog thousands of years ago, they have obtained a new form of subjectivity beyond the human, one that spans across the ecological circumstances they became part of; of acidic water, sphagnum mosses, trapped methane gas, and the bacterial ecosystems maintaining the bog. In the installation, the bog bodies act as guides for a sub-surface undergoing change. They communicate with us an understanding of time and change that seems beyond our reach, one that requires listening to and observing the subjectivities and rhythms that span beyond the lived experiences of humans. Sphagnum Time invites us to meditate on time and changing environments as the three bog bodies murmur and chant the seasonal rhythms of life and post-life cycles entangled within sphagnum ecosystems. The source material for the characters is created with photogrammetry scans of bog bodies from Moesgaard Museum (DK) and Drents Museum (NL), which support the process of converting these into 3D digital models.
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Artist Sissel Marie Tonn is one of the BAD Award winners of 2020. Her work 'Becoming a Sentinel Species', that she created together with researchers Leslie Heather and Juan Garcia Vallejo, is part of the exhibition Evolutionaries. The experimental science-fiction film follows two researchers on a quest to explore and amplify their own bodies’ sensitivity to microplastics on a cellular level. The fictional narrative emerges around the documentation of the artist’s research into the immune system and microplastics. By imagining a future with humans in the role of sentinels signaling pollution in their bodies, the film reflects on how all life on earth is fundamentally interconnected with each other and the environments they inhabit. Press 'CC' to turn on Dutch subtitles. Video by: Isolde Hallensleben (composition & interviews), Wouter Sessink (camera & animation), Willem Sluyterman van Loo (camera)
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Learn more here: https://sisselmarietonn.com/project/becoming-a-sentinel-species
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Becoming a Sentinel Species Sissel Marie Tonn, in collaboration with Heather Leslie (Department of Environment and Health, VU Amsterdam) and Juan Garcia Vallejo (Department Molecular Cell Biology & Immunology, Amsterdam UMC - location VUmc) Sissel Marie Tonn investigates the issue of microplastics by re-introducing the concept of a sentinel species. An imaginary human guinea pig takes on the task of becoming a sentinel species by introducing microplastics in her blood. By activating old immunological alarmsystems it recalls latent ancient memories of a common origin in the primordial sea. An immersive audiovisual installation invites the audience to connect with the fluid reality of their own bodies and, perhaps, to become sentinel species too.
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Part of exhibition Sentinels with Helena Sanders at See Lab Project Space, February 2020
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Installation photo from the exhibition Elsewheres Within Here curated by Jo-Lene Ong at Framer Framed, Amsterdam [2019]. © Maarten Van Haaff, Framer Framed.
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Installation photo from the exhibition Elsewheres Within Here curated by Jo-Lene Ong at Framer Framed, Amsterdam [2019]. © Maarten Van Haaff, Framer Framed.
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In this ‘deep-time tale’ a fictive scientist explores how certain inter-species evolutionary developments make the boundary between our bodies and the surroundings are more permeable than we might think. Shared evolutionary biomineralization processes has enabled the application of mother-of-pearl in human bone regeneration experiments. But we don’t always get to choose what permeates our bodies - As we infuse our shared ecology with persistent chemicals, we disrupt ancient hormonal developmental processes across a wide range of species.
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The Intimate Earthquake Archive is an interactive installation that creates bodily experiences from the seismic data of the man-made earthquakes recorded in Groningen. Worn interactive ‘interfaces’ transform the data into vibratory compositions on the body of the visitor. The vibrations move across the skin similarly to how the earthquakes moved across the land, and inspire ‘deep listening’ within the body. Composition: Jonathan Reus. Hardware design/Interaction: Marije Baalman & Jonathan Reus Radio transmission system: Carsten Tonn-Petersen.
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In this ‘deep-time tale’ a fictive scientist explores how certain inter-species evolutionary developments make the boundary between our bodies and the surroundings are more permeable than we might think. Shared evolutionary biomineralization processes has enabled the application of mother-of-pearl in human bone regeneration experiments. But we don’t always get to choose what permeates our bodies - As we infuse our shared ecology with persistent chemicals, we disrupt ancient hormonal developmental processes across a wide range of species.
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Part of exhibition Sentinels with Helena Sanders at See Lab Project Space, February 2020
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The Intimate Earthquake Archive documentation video - Tanja Busking
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The Intimate Earthquake Archive is an interactive installation that creates bodily experiences from the seismic data of the man-made earthquakes recorded in Groningen. Worn interactive ‘interfaces’ transform the data into vibratory compositions on the body of the visitor. The vibrations move across the skin similarly to how the earthquakes moved across the land, and inspire ‘deep listening’ within the body. Composition: Jonathan Reus. Hardware design/Interaction: Marije Baalman & Jonathan Reus Radio transmission system: Carsten Tonn-Petersen.
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A performative data-collection expedition, where we seek to explore extreme and information-rich sensory environments through the motions of biometric recordings. At the center is the creation of worn instruments that attempt to address notions of collection, categorization and navigation.
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Part of the group show Oxalis, CCA Andratx, Mallorca
Websites
Online portfolio and news
sisselmarietonn.comSocial media
Member of Artists’ Initiative/Collective/Incubator
See Lab
Curriculum vitae
Education
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2013 - 2015Master Artistic Research Den Haag, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten diploma
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2009 - 2010Fine Arts/Cultural Studies York University, Canada diploma
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2007 - 2010Film and Media University of Copenhagen, Denmark diploma
exhibitions
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2023The Portal Radius CCA Delft, Netherlands In THE PORTAL, Sissel Marie Tonn expands on her artistic research on the bog, once an awe-inspiring site of contact with spirits, ancestors and gods, now a threatened ecosystem that is key to counteract ecological decline. radius-cca.org/en Solo
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2023Wasteland Festival Grey space in the middle Den Haag, Netherlands Bringing together researchers, artists, and activists, Wasteland Festival collectively address the challenges posed by waste in today’s world thegreyspace.net/program/2023-10-19-wasteland-festival/ Group
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2023Bodies of Water CCA Andratx Andratx, Spain Group exhibition with Danish and Spanish artists around the topic of water ccandratx.eu Group
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2022Earthbound - In Dialogue with Nature Esch Esch zur Alzette, Luxembourg "Earthbound – In Dialogue with Nature" presents works by internationally renowned artists that reflect on and draw attention to urgent environmental issues with an emphasis on the complex relationship between human activity and the ecosystem. The exhibition proposes solutions and alternative models for a more sustainable coexistence with our environment. esch2022.lu/en/ Group
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2022MYR McEvoy Foundation San Fransisco, United States Guest curated by Elizabeth Thomas, MYR assembles artworks in a wide array of media that leverage science and technology to see through and beyond the Anthropocene—the current epoch in which humans have had dominant control over the environment. www.mcevoyarts.org/exhibition/myr/ Group
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2021Re-World - S+T+ARTS Showcase MEET Digital Culture Center Milan, United Kingdom :REWORLD addresses world-building as a core activity in advanced digital culture—an emerging domain of constructed reality that is starting to face its own sustainability challenges and contradictions. As we move in and out of metaverses under construction, mixed realities (XR) reveal an unparalleled potential to provide critical visualisations of ecosystems outside our bodies and also to map out the emotional and nervous entanglements inside of them. Likewise, :REWORLD examines the urgency of re-materialization. www.meetcenter.it/en/event/reworld-repairing-the-present/ Group
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2021Becoming Geological V2 Lab for the Unstable Media Rotterdam, Netherlands Humankind has always been dirty and harshly geological, through intentional incorporation of earthly and thus cosmic elements (as part of medicinal or spiritual practices), and within a direct connection with a slowly changing earthly and cosmic environment. The earth authors us. With the arrival of the questionable era of the anthropocene, marking another entry point into the planetary geological, new “natural” cycles are initiated. We literally inhale and ingest our own anthropogenic indicators - for example, as the particulate exhalations of burning forests, as isotopes from nuclear testing, as metallic dust from global extractions. These cycles are embedded in strange feedback loops and complex geo-algorithms informing climate catastrophe, and tense, global ecological conditions. Understanding this new nature for humankind involves a close examination and potential embrace of a becoming geological, becoming a-human. Becoming Geological thus provokes new and ancient imaginaries for this essential relation of the human with the earth and with the cosmos, invoking becoming metal, becoming earth and becoming cosmic as potential and multiple ways of being and as active philosophies of the earth; an exploration of how to live and die within novel planetary and cosmic techno-cycles. Becoming Geological: the exhibition marks, traces, invokes and unfolds these multiple routings and cycles of becoming through new and foundational artistic projects from six contemporary artists who interrogate and reflect on the close connections between technological, planetary, cosmic and earthly bodies, particles and imaginations. Featuring Alfonso Borragán Cecilia Jonsson Rosemary Lee Anaïs Tondeur Sissel Marie Tonn Rosa Whiteley Curated by Martin Howse and Florian Weigl. Publicity design and images: Alice Cannava, Martin Howse, Martin Sulzer, Antti Tenetz(data) v2.nl/events/exhibition-becoming-geological Solo
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2021Toxicity's reach AND Festival Manchester, Estonia Online exhibition for AND Festival toxicitysrea.ch/ Group
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2020Plastic Hypersea (the facility) NDSM / Sonic Acts Amsterdam, Netherlands Plastic Hypersea is an interactive, site-specific work by artist Sissel Marie Tonn that can be experienced at the NDSM Wharf in Amsterdam until the end of May 2021. sonicacts.com/portal/experience-the-interactive-audio-walk-plastic-hypersea-by-sissel-marie-tonn Group
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2020Point of No Return Narva Artist Residenc Narva, Netherlands www.nart.ee/en/exhibitions/nart-annual-exhibition-2021-point-of-no-return-attunement-of-attention/ Group
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2020Evolutionaries MU Hybrid Art House Eindhoven, Austria Presentation of Becoming A Sentinel Species, winner of 2020 BAD awards mu.nl/en/exhibitions/evolutionaries Group
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2019Elsewheres within Here Framer Framed Amsterdam, Spain Elsewheres Within Here, investigates what we welcome, refuse, or overlook in marking the boundaries of spaces we call ‘home’ – our bodies, houses, and countries. The exhibition presents works by eleven artists, all of whom are based in the Netherlands, and yet each comes from or thinks with places beyond. The works gather stories around errant movements of plants, animals, objects, and symbols across different cultures and times, and through unexpected intimacies. framerframed.nl/en/exposities/expositie-elsewheres-within-here/ Group
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2019Fiber Festival 2020 - Instability Tolhuistuin Amsterdam, Netherlands www.fiber-space.nl/project/fiberfestival2020/ Group
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2019Ars Electronica - In Kepler's Gardens Ars Electronica Linz, Hungary ars.electronica.art/keplersgardens/ Group
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2018Web of Wet Trafo Gallery Budapest, Belgium he exhibition presents artistic approaches that examine the manifold power relations and processes concentrated in water as a material and as a cultural metaphor. The exhibition also aims to create a situation where we can leave behind the rather anthropocentric idea that water is merely a physiologically vital material, a resource to be exploited and rather consider it as something that can be regarded as an entity with a memory of its own and a substance that bounds us together in an intimate and tight network of other beings, that might even be far from us in space and in time. trafo.hu/en/trafo_gallery/webofwet Group
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2018This Rare Earth Artefact Festival, Stuk Leuven Leuven, United States The Intimate Earthquake Archive part of Artefact festival, This Rare Earth www.artefact-festival.be/en/ Group
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2018Jan van Eyck Open Studios Jan van Eyck Maastricht, Turkey Becoming Escargotapien part of Jan van Eyck Open Studios www.janvaneyck.nl/ Group
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2018Oxalis CCA Andratx Andratx, Netherlands Residency and group exhibition in CCA Andratx www.ccandratx.com/en/c1/home.html Group
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2017Hyperobjects Ballroom Marfa Marfa, United States The Intimate Earthquake Archive in Hyperobjects at Ballroom Marfa www.ballroommarfa.org/ Solo
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2016What Is It Like To Be A Bat Zone2Source Amsterdam, Netherlands What Is It Like To Be A Bat, group expo with Jonathan Reus zone2source.net/ Duo
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2016Becoming Escargotapien Stroom Ondertussen Den Haag, Netherlands Becoming Escargotapien research exhibition www.stroom.nl Solo
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2016Istanbul Design Biennial Arter Istanbul, Netherlands An Education of Attention part of 4th Istanbul Design Biennial aschoolofschools.iksv.org/ Group
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2015The Intimate Earhtquake Archive Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, Netherlands Installation - The Intimate Earthquake Archive vanabbemuseum.nl/ Group
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2015
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2014We the enemy 2014 Osnabruck, Germany The work Machar part of European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrück www.emaf.de/de/index.html Group
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2014Sensory Cartographies Multimadeira festival Funchal, Germany Exhibition of data-collection instruments in Jardim Botanico museum, Funchal Madeira Group
Projects
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2015
The Reading Room at Stroom 2015-2018 The Reading Room The Hague, Netherlands platformtm.tumblr.com/ The Reading Room is an event series dedicated to creating a community-oriented, public platform for encounters with contemporary ideas on art and society. At its core, the Reading Room series revolves around the reading of texts provided by invited guests – cultural theorists, philosophers and curators – who join our diverse community in an open discussion while providing insight, context and perspective on the topics at hand.
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2014
Ongoing performance workshops/research project with We Are Here Coorporative – a coorporative of undocumented refugees and artists in Amsterdam We Are Here Coorporative Amsterdam, Netherlands Community project with undocumented refugees
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2012
Audio/visual director and composer for Wunderkammer’s play Jackalope for Helsingør Theater Wunderkammer Performance collective Copenhagen, Denmark part of artistic/theater collective
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2010
2017 Public Displays of Affection Toronto, Canada part of social design collective, who makes inclusive interior design solutions for social housing projects
International exchanges/Residencies
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2023EKWC - European Ceramic Workcenter, Oisterwijk, NL EKWC, Netherlands
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2020Kunsthuis SYB, Beetsterzwaag NL Beetsterzwaag, Netherlands Kunsthuis SYB kunsthuissyb.nl/over-syb/?lang=en
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2019CCA Andratx, Mallorca (artists-in-residence) Andratx, Spain Residency and group exhibition in CCA Andratx www.ccandratx.com/
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2017CCA Andratx, Mallorca (artists-in-residence) Rotterdam, Netherlands The book 'Becoming Geological' (2022) provokes new and ancient imaginaries for the essential relation of the human with the earth and with the cosmos. Edited by Martin Howse it accompanies the eponymous exhibition. Becoming Geological
Sales/Works in collections
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2023Becoming a Sentinel Species VU art collection Amsterdam, Nederland
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2022Becoming a Sentinel Species 2022 Milan, Italië VU acquired the work after my participation in Some Body at the VU ArtScience Gallery 2022-2023
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2019Rhythm of Attention CCA Andratx Andratx, Spanje Lino ink on fabric 120x250 cm
Publications
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2022Becoming Geological Book V2_Lab ed. Martin Howse Rotterdam, Netherlands 2017 The book 'Becoming Geological' (2022) provokes new and ancient imaginaries for the essential relation of the human with the earth and with the cosmos. Edited by Martin Howse it accompanies the eponymous exhibition.
reviews
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--2016
Awards and grants
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2022S+T+ARTS Residency S+T+ARTS Milan, Italy Repairing The Present residency with host institution MEET Digital Culture Center Milan.
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2021Work Stipend The Danish Arts Foundation Denmark A stipend to work on artistic practice
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2020BAD Award BAD Award Rotterdam, Netherlands Winner of 2020 BAD Award with the project "Becoming a Sentinel Species" in collaboration with Heather Leslie and Juan Garcia Vallejo
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2019Talent Development Grant Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie 2018, Netherlands
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20172013 Jan van Eyck Academie
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2016prize for emerging female artists given by Van Abbemuseum Theodora Niemeijer Prize
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2013Private funding stipend for artistic practice Copenhagen Denmark, Augustinus Foundation
Representation
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--2022
Secondary art-related activities
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2014 - 2018Co-creator of The Reading Room
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2010 - 20122021
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2010 - 2013Freelance documentary maker / videographer