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The Multispecies Collective is an art collective in which dogs, humans, and other creatures collaborate and learn from each other. Permanent members of the collective include the dogs and humans Olli Meijer, Doris Meijer, Eva Meijer, Wiske Heemskerk, Miemel Heemskerk, and G.C. Heemskerk. We collaborate with other non-human artists on-site, such as with wasps in a garden in Landsmeer for the exhibition 'Verwerelden,' or with moss in the Pompgemaal in the dunes of Den Helder. The collective investigates what kind of art animals and plants make, and creates new multispecies works of art.
Currently, there is growing appreciation within the art world for collectives. In an art collective, the focus is not on the individual artist but on the exchange of knowledge and care for each other. Collectives explore new ways of creating art together and show that we are always connected to others and need each other to live and work. As artists, we find it important to develop new forms of living and working together in times of political and ecological crises. However, many collectives now consist only of humans. Other beings, like animals or plants, are mainly used as material or decoration (or their body parts are used as such).
This is problematic because a human-centered attitude often leads to violence against these beings, and because the lives of humans are intertwined with those of non-humans. Animals, plants, and ecosystems determine how we live and who we are, and therefore, the art we create.
The Multispecies Collective acknowledges these relationships and does not see them as obstacles but rather as a starting point for new forms of co-existing. The humans in the collective acknowledge other animals as subjects who have their own agency and dignity, and their own perspective on life. In our work, we aim to undermine the anthropocentric world view that currently exists in the art world and beyond as much as possible, together with non-humans.