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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
infoClose-up of one of the jarred test subjects
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
infoDetail shot right side panel
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
infoOverview of the room
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![In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely]( "In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely")
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![The Five Stages of Recomposition (working title)]( "The Five Stages of Recomposition (working title)")
info3D sketch voor upcoming project 'The Five Stages of Recomposition (working title)' 2 ideas for installation pieces. 1 is based on skeletal remains / human skeleton as well as an insect exoskeleton. The other is based on organs and crustaceans. Testing and producing of first pieces will start in September, planning to organize a group show on 'othering' in Quartair Den Haag in early 2025.
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![The Body is...of the Flesh]( "The Body is...of the Flesh")
infoClose-up
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![The Body is...of the Flesh]( "The Body is...of the Flesh")
infoClose-up of abstract visual
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![The Body is...of the Flesh]( "The Body is...of the Flesh")
infoOverview of layout
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![Tech Week #1 - Visual Noise]( "Tech Week #1 - Visual Noise")
infoA collaboration between myself and Guillaume Lelong. This workshop project is a combination of digital and analogue, where we created images that could be turned into sound frequences through spectogram principles.
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![The European Sandcastle]( "The European Sandcastle")
infoA collaboration between me, Michela Meliddo and Saber Ammar. As part of the MA program NLN in collaboration with HIVOS, displayed at The Grey Space in the Middle.
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![The European Sandcastle]( "The European Sandcastle")
infoA collaboration between me, Michela Meliddo and Saber Ammar. As part of the MA program NLN in collaboration with HIVOS, displayed at The Grey Space in the Middle.
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![Through Chaos and Decay We Await Rebirth]( "Through Chaos and Decay We Await Rebirth")
infoOne of the images from my submission for the Anthroposphere: Oxford Climate Review magazine. The concept of decay, rebirth, transformation, but explored through the lens of the Anthropocene and nature, to speculate on new non-human natural entities that will surpass the Anthropocene and exist on their own terms.
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoFront cover of a poetry bundle co-written with A.I. about non-binary, post-human futures that transcends the Anthropocentric Capitalist reality.
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoDedication note
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoIntroduction spread
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoPoem + Visual spread
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoVisual spread
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoVisual spread
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoPoem + Visual spread
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![Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry]( "Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry")
infoBack cover
NVDP is a non-binary creator with work that sits on the edge of the uncanny: somewhere between the weird and the wonderful.
NVDP (they / them) is a designer and researcher, with a practice rooted in gender and queer theory, xenofeminism, post-humanism, science fiction, body horror and digital culture. Their work spans across multiple mediums such as graphic design, 3D visuals, 3D sculptures and installation.
Main topics of their research revolve around gender queer identity, embodiment and othering. These interests are born from a personal necessity to negotiate and mediate with the idea of a body. They are primarily investigating the weird spaces that lie in between beauty and terror of being othered, through the deconstruction and re-construction of bodies through different lenses.
Their body of work is often speculative, abstract and experimental in nature. By involving a visual language informed by queerness, science fiction, body horror, digital culture, video games, their work questions the line between reality and fiction, human and non-human. Their work often depicts chimeric xeno shapes, characters, prosthetics, limbs and extensions that speculate on different potential physicalities and embodiments. These speculations might be Photoshop collages, 3D rendered visuals, short video animations, 3D printed installations or pieces of writing, but they all attempt to build a larger overarching world with a hope to increase queer visibility and bodily autonomy.
Websites
Official portfolio website of NVDP
www.nvdpdesign.comSocial media
Curriculum vitae
Education
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2023 - 2023Tech Week Royal Academy of Arts the Hague (KABK)
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2023 - 2023
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2022 - 2024Master degree Non Linear Narrative Den Haag, Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten diploma
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2017 - 2021Bachelor degree Graphic Design Utrecht, HKU faculteit Kunst en Vormgeving diploma
exhibitions
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20242023 Royal Acadamy of Arts The Hague, Netherlands KABK Gradshow 2024 graduation.kabk.nl/2024/nigel-van-der-pol Group
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20232023 The Grey Space in the Middle The Hague, Netherlands Testimonies of Change documents the joint efforts of eight KABK students of the Non-Linear Narrative master program with six independent human rights activists. Students of the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) master Non Linear Narrative are hosting an exhibition platform and a series of panel discussions focusing on 21st century practices of social justice informed by postcolonial perspectives. The related events focus on the lived experiences of six independent human rights activists, who have been campaigning against climate change, and for LGBTQI+ and women’s rights in Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Niger and Tunisia. thegreyspace.net/program/testimonies-of-change-12-04-2023/ Group
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20232021 Quartair The Hague, Netherlands As part of Hoogtij #76 and our MA program at KABK, we organized an event that served as a testing ground for our graduation research. Or as the Quartair site puts it: "six contemporary makers from the masters Non Linear Narrative (Royal Academy of Art/KABK), will be showcasing their thesis research in a playful and open manner." www.quartair.nl/echoes-of-reflection-what-remains-in-light-of-change/ Group
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2021Exposure 2021 Kapitaal Utrecht, Netherlands Online and offline graduation show of the Bachelor Graphic Design HKU Media year 2021. exposure2021.hku.nl
Projects
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2024
In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely Royal Academy of Art The Hague The Hague, Netherlands graduation.kabk.nl/2024/nigel-van-der-pol 'In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely' explores a series of prototypes for fictional bodies. It presents an assemblage of body parts, in the process of becoming imperceptible. Through contortion and mutation, these new creatures reflect both the beauty and the terror of what it means to be othered. 'In The Process Of Becoming Something Else Entirely' proposes to see the out-of-place, not as a place of alienation, but as a place of possibility. NVDP sees fiction as a vehicle to queer the body. NVDP utilizes their experience as a non-binary gender-queer entity, and their love for the fictional territories of body horror, role playing games and sci-fi as a means to (de)construct and fantasize different physical potentialities and subvert the notion of a ‘normal’, ‘attractive’ or ‘legible’ body.
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2024
The Five Stages of Recomposition (working title) The Hague, Netherlands A continuation of sorts on my graduation work 'In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely' where I want to explore 3D installations revolving around embodiment and different ways of viewing a body. This project will lean in more on the ideas proposed in Body Horror media where bodies transform, mutate and contort, and the title is a playful twist on the five stages of decomposition, but instead of decay, or horror, I want to focus on transformation, making new bodily contellations, creating new creatures that have qualities that can be read as 'bodily' like skeletal features, organs, limbs etc. A way to queer the idea one has of what a body can mean, through horror and science fiction.
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2023
The Body is...of the Flesh Quartair (NL) The Hague, Netherlands quartair.nl/echoes-of-reflection-what-remains-in-light-of-change/ A project that revolves around what a body can be. It features a projected video loop of a body mass becoming more and more abstract and deconstructed, while 'subtitles' explained what a body can be, starting from more anatomically correct notions towards more abstract and philosophical notions. The video was accompanied by two small 3D printed body horror figurines who defied the idea of normal bodies. It was a playful test research that would lead me to discover some themes, and materials for my actual graduation work 'In the Process of Becoming Something Else Entirely'
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2023
The European Sandcastle The Grey Space in The Middle, Den Haag The Hague, Netherlands A collaborative project with fellow artist Michela Meliddo, who was also part of the MA program Non Linear Narrative, and Saber Ammar, an environmental activist from Tunisia. The project is a two-channel video installation that narrates the story of greenwashing and environmental exploitation in Tunisia by European companies. The video was split up in three chapters, the first explained the colonial history of Tunisia, the second chapter explained what renewable energy techniques are being deployed in Tunisia by Europe and the third chapter explains how these techniques are then used for European gain as Tunisia is left with drought and famine even though Europe promised that these renewable energy sources would benefit their country.
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2021
Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry HKU Utrecht, Netherlands exposure2021.hku.nl/p/transcendental-shores-post-human-poetry Imagine a future where we can use our minds to their full potential. A future in which we can overcome bodily limitations and dismantle binary thinking, dismantle social constructs (and inscriptions) and dismantle the neoliberal and capitalist hegemonies. Imagine a world of peace, abundance, symbioses and harmony. A world where all borders between man, machine and nature are disappearing. 'Transcendental Shores' is a collection of speculative poems that focus on a non–binary state of existence and functions as a manifest to re-conceive what it means to be human. Co-written by algorithmic language models: it uses artificial intelligence as a ‘second’ creative brain and a nonhuman, non-binary discourse partner. It is an exciting co-operation between man and machine, portraying a prelude to a post-human future.
Commissions
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2024Warsaw, Poland 3D visuals for fashion garments for gender neutral clubwear brand Doom3k. doom3k.store/products/hyperglow-tribal-crest-x-nvdp finished
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2024The Hague, Netherlands Visual identity, 3D visuals for album covers, posters and merchandising for obscure electronic label Antidermis Group. soundcloud.com/antidermisgroup
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2023Berlin, Germany 3D visuals for various album covers for German techno/psytrance label Terenor. terenor-records.bandcamp.com/album/true-reflections finished
Publications
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2024Becoming Monstrous: Queering Horror to investigate bodies & gender. NVDP 2023, Netherlands denhaagkabk-my.sharepoint.com/personal/r_amaro_kabk_nl/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fr%5Famaro%5Fkabk%5Fnl%2FDocuments%2F2023%2D24%2FYr%202%20%2D%20Thesis%2FChapter%20Submissions%2FNVDP%2FFinal%20Thesis%2FNigel%20van%20der%20Pol%5FBecoming%20 My graduation thesis at KABK, this thesis is exploring Gender and Identity through the concept of Monstrosity in Postmodern Narratives of Queer Horror. The urgency of this topic lies in the growing recognition of diverse gender identities and the evolving cultural discourse surrounding queerness in the postmodern context and expanding them into more fictional territories, particularly within the realm of horror cinema and literature. Drawing upon theoretical frameworks from Susan Stryker, Gilles Deleuze, Donna Haraway, and others, this study adopts a postmodern, posthuman, and queer theoretical lens to analyze the narratives of body horror and queerness. The methodological approach involves close textual analysis of selected films, such as 'Tetsuo: The Iron Man' and 'Titane,' alongside critical engagement with relevant theoretical literature, to explore the ways in which these narratives depict and challenge gender norms and identity constructs. The projected outcome of this research is to contribute to the ongoing debate surrounding gender, identity, as well as exploring themes of monstrosity and horror narratives and queering them, so they can serve as sites of resistance, transformation, and reclamation.
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2023FAKE2-120AMERICA Vinyl/Lp NVDP 2023, United States fakenyc.bandcamp.com/album/fake2-120america Publisher FAKE released their second LP '120AMERICA' accompanied with a zine, which has my essay “Sulphur, Sin or Synergy: On BDSM and Othering” in it.
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2023Anthroposphere: The Oxford Climate Review NVDP 2021, United Kingdom www.anthroposphere.co.uk/ A published page with my images, in Anthroposphere: The Oxford Climate Review, which is an interdisciplinary magazine founded at Oxford University and open to students from around the world. We cover climate change and the environment through the lenses of natural science, economics, policy, politics, literature, pop culture, and much more.
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2021Transcendental Shores: Post-human Poetry Book NVDP 2023, Netherlands exposure2021.hku.nl/p/transcendental-shores-post-human-poetry Imagine a future where we can use our minds to their full potential. A future in which we can overcome bodily limitations and dismantle binary thinking, dismantle social constructs (and inscriptions) and dismantle the neoliberal and capitalist hegemonies. Imagine a world of peace, abundance, symbioses and harmony. A world where all borders between man, machine and nature are disappearing. 'Transcendental Shores' is a collection of speculative poems that focus on a non–binary state of existence and functions as a manifest to re-conceive what it means to be human. Co-written by algorithmic language models: it uses artificial intelligence as a ‘second’ creative brain and a nonhuman, non-binary discourse partner. It is an exciting co-operation between man and machine, portraying a prelude to a post-human future.
Secondary art-related activities
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2023 - --co-founder and head visual identity of experimental music label Mutant Modality On-going
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2021 - --graphic design commissions (mostly with people from the music and fashion industry) On-going