With an interest in people and their stories, social constructs, and national identities, Anne Lakeman (1993) uses the image as her tool for exploration and communication. Next to the continuous research on the role of the photographer, she also uses her power to amplify others by organizing events and exhibitions. She has been Programme and Event manager at Mediamatic since October 2018.

For two years she formed the Management Team at Cultureel Centrum ‘t Fijnhout with Irina Djojoatmodjo and Margherita Soldati, where they created a ‘cross-pollination’ space for young makers and locals.

She contributes to the collective with her experience in event management, website and network building. Her strong aesthetic eye and spatial perception influence both the exhibition design and visual identity of AbsurdBeings. She is the collective’s very own in-house photographer and therefore responsible for archiving and documenting all exhibitions.

Margherita Soldati (1991) is an Italian-Dutch designer, intrigued by how objects and materials relate to our bodies and senses, and how these relations create a secondary effect on human behaviour. In her practice, she focuses her research more on the human being rather than the objects that surround them. In a society that relies mainly on sight, she wants to make it possible to ‘see’ with other senses. She sees the body as a platform that produces experiences. Since January 2020 she has been Project Manager at Waag Society.

With her genuine interest in innovative design, she looks beyond the artwork and the material, at the artist and their intentions. This results in a large network of makers in Amsterdam and beyond.

For AbsurdBeings she plays a key role in navigating the city through contacts and gallery spaces. She understands the responsibility of working with funding and functions within the collective as a financial advisor and bookkeeper.

Meret Zimmermann (1993) is a Swiss-Dutch multi-media installation artist who graduated from the Voorheen Audio Visueel department. Her work revolves around the topic of beauty, the standards we are faced with and their implications on our sense of self. She mostly takes her inspiration from social media and the trends that float around on the internet, trying to reveal their absurdity, problematics or the mechanisms behind them by placing them in a different visual context.

Understanding today's visual language combined with Swiss precision, Meret is part of our Graphic Designer team, as well as our Communication manager.

Her attention to detail and her structured way of working helps us keep a steady, yet well-thought-through course. Her keen eye not only helps with visualising our content and planning our process but also facilitates a well-produced exhibition.

Irina Djojoatmodjo (1993) is a Swiss writer, translator, and artist who has been based in Amsterdam for the past nine years. She built her network from the ground up by learning Dutch and later by joining DesignLab. From graphic design to fashion design, from poetic perspectives to cynical critiques, Irina has an eye for keeping things simple, to the point, and aesthetic.

With a natural feeling with languages, one of her talents lies in translating people's thoughts into text, while putting the bar high, but keeping the threshold low. Her work is about amplifying what she chooses to put her mind to.

This is also what she brings to the table in the collective. She is the 'trump' of AbsurdBeings, as she functions in all our departments. She is part of the team on our visual identity, the curatorial group, as well as the copywriter of texts about our exhibitions. With her striving for clarity and her willingness to ask critical questions, she keeps AbsurdBeings to its core by choosing the right words.

Mirre Yayla Séur (1991) is a born and raised Amsterdammer and autonomous artist. Already during her studies at the LargeGlass she shaped her practice to what it is now: theoretically grounded and material based. Her drawings, video-, and installation work mainly evoke questions of the body, but whose body and where it begins and ends are left open. Fascinated by structures of power she aims to continuously investigate how we as individuals and as a collective are influenced by our exterieur surroundings.

Through the lense of her own practice and with her theoretical knowledge she contributes heavily to the concept development as well as the copywriting within the collective. Her contagious positive energy is a driving force when it comes to building networks and bringing people together.