MATRIX.
A Machine for Drowning In.Credits
Ricky Rijkenberg, Mentor
Kuba Jekiel, Committee
Ronald Boer, Committee and Ceramics
Jens Petter, Programmer
Femke Kersten, Book Design and Production
Fredrik Svendgård, Woodwork
Marius Renard, Photographer
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Matrix is an immersive extended reality installation that approaches the North Sea as a protagonist: a living entity rather than an abstract landscape. It investigates a relational approach, framing her as a conversation partner we can listen to, engage with, and get to know.
The project uses immersive technologies to explore alternative ways of relating to natural environments, integrating landscape architecture, spatial narratives, and research-based fieldwork.
Structured as a rite of passage across physical and virtual space, participants encounter the North Sea through a 15-minute interactive VR experience. This experience does not aim to replicate or replace nature; rather, it acts as a lens, filtering the environment through technology and highlighting specific qualities.
The North Sea is not depicted, but encountered as a living being. Rather than representing a specific site, Matrix approaches her as an interconnected ecosystem, unfolding through a sequence of landscapes, from dunes and forest to tidal zones and submerged environments. The virtual environment is structured around bodily interaction, allowing participants to navigate through movement and balance. Soft and intentionally ambiguous shapes and textures invite interpretation rather than representation, shifting attention toward sound, touch, and embodied perception as alternative modes of engagement.
Emerging within the context of sea level rise in the Netherlands, Matrix reflects on the cultural and existential implications of living with water. It frames the climate crisis not as a technical problem to be solved, but as a condition that exposes the separation between the human and the nonhuman world, calling for a shift in how we perceive and inhabit our environment.
Through immersive and sensory experience, the project explores how states of playfulness and curiosity can cultivate a sense of belonging with the North Sea, positioning this as a necessary condition for rethinking human-nonhuman relations in the context of climate change.
The project uses immersive technologies to explore alternative ways of relating to natural environments, integrating landscape architecture, spatial narratives, and research-based fieldwork.
Structured as a rite of passage across physical and virtual space, participants encounter the North Sea through a 15-minute interactive VR experience. This experience does not aim to replicate or replace nature; rather, it acts as a lens, filtering the environment through technology and highlighting specific qualities.
The North Sea is not depicted, but encountered as a living being. Rather than representing a specific site, Matrix approaches her as an interconnected ecosystem, unfolding through a sequence of landscapes, from dunes and forest to tidal zones and submerged environments. The virtual environment is structured around bodily interaction, allowing participants to navigate through movement and balance. Soft and intentionally ambiguous shapes and textures invite interpretation rather than representation, shifting attention toward sound, touch, and embodied perception as alternative modes of engagement.
Emerging within the context of sea level rise in the Netherlands, Matrix reflects on the cultural and existential implications of living with water. It frames the climate crisis not as a technical problem to be solved, but as a condition that exposes the separation between the human and the nonhuman world, calling for a shift in how we perceive and inhabit our environment.
Through immersive and sensory experience, the project explores how states of playfulness and curiosity can cultivate a sense of belonging with the North Sea, positioning this as a necessary condition for rethinking human-nonhuman relations in the context of climate change.
01–2026