Geertje Brandenburg, 1998, is a Dutch artist who works with photography, collage, installation and text.
Besides her artistic practice she is the founder and curator of de Ijskast, a non-profit art space in Rotterdam.
In artworks built up from her extensive visual archive, Geertje questions the versatility of identity. As someone named after several people Geertje interweaves herself with others, presenting a version of the truth that fluctuates between myth and a half-remembered moment. Geertje’s work is rooted in collage and the archive, photos taken from their original context are combined with text written by the artist herself. Through appropriating materials from the archive and combining them with personal stories Geertje creates a world in which she is both her grandmother and an unknown woman in a photo. Her sister’s dreams become her own, and words written by a stranger become notes in her own diary.
This fluid approach to the autobiographical makes Geertje’s work feel like a dream that you are trying to remember, but can’t quite puzzle together.
Exhibitions
2025
(Upcoming) Juxtapose denmark ->June
(Upcoming) De Aanschouw, 3-4 till 10-4, Cafe hensepeter Rotterdam
(Current) Wiggle Room, De Ijskast, Robert Fruinstraat 52, 26-3 till 24-4
The master carver’s saw, Rotterdam
2024
Open studio, GRAW, Rotterdam
Limburgbiënnale, Marres, Maastricht
Windowwashers, T-space, Antwerp
Hectobar Hejsteck#, Utrecht
Prospects, Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam
2023
In Memory of Memory, Amsterdam
A space is a Space, Den Haag
Re-Build, Rotterdam
De aanschouw on wheels, Rotterdam
2022
Hectobar 21.o, Rotterdam
Am Ende wird alles gut, De Ijskast, Rotterdam
New Generation 3.0, Amersfoort
Simulacrum Online exhibition
2021
ALL IN, Het Hem, Zaandam
Upscale Gallery, Rotterdam
Kunstliefde, Utrecht
Fotofestival Naarden, Galerie Pouloeuff
Fotodok, Utrecht
Hectobar 11.0, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam
2020
Volta showcase, Tallin-Estonia
HKU graduation show, Utrecht
F O M A, Oude Broese Utrecht
Hectobar 8.0, Amsterdam
A0 expositie, Utrecht
Josilda da Conceição Gallery, Amsterdam
2019
Nasty Women, Amterdam
Le Mini Who, Utrecht
Dog Days, Utrecht
2018
Impakt Festival, The Way Out is Through, Utrecht
Videoshow LE:EN, Utrecht
Prizes
CBK I&V grant 2024
Mondriaan startstipendium 2023
Mondriaan startstipendium 2022
Droom en daad coronaloket stipend 2021
Keep an Eye Photography Stipend 2020- winner
Publications
(upcoming) The Letter Network
Artists book Paperbound, 2022
Summerhouse, self published, available at bookstores in Rotterdam, 2021
2020, 2020 (With Koen Taselaar)
tributaries, 2020, (With: Megan Auður, Gordon H. Williams, Patricia Nistor, and Betina Abi Habib.)
Crescendo in E minor, 2019
Residencies
(upcoming) Fish Factory, Iceland ->Oktober
Tiny house HZand, 2024
Collections
Various private collections
The national archive 2021
The Royal Library 2021
Fairs
(upcoming) Juxtapose, Aarhus denmark
Prospects, Art Rotterdam, 2024
Paperbound, Amsterdam, 2022 Swab Art Fair, Barcelona, 2019
Curated
De Belofte 2024
Head curator at the Ijskast Rotterdam 2022-2023
Education
Coaching by Wafae Ahalouch 2024-2025
Coaching by Camille Leveque (LiveWildCollective) 2020-2021
HKU fine arts 2016-2020
Other
Mentor at developementproject De Belofte 2024
Internship supervisor Desirée Bout 2023
Guestteacher HKU 2023
Founder of artspace De Ijskast 2022 Guestteacher Photography and Heritage 2022- now
Stichting Omgevingseducatie Gooi, Vecht- en Eemstreek