Studio Nergens

Our website has a new look! We have been working behind the scenes on a brand new website. Big thanks to @lafabriquedesregards for this amazing design 😍 Make sure to check it out!

Meet the team - Giulia Cristofoli, office & community manager For Giulia, inspiration lives in conversation—those everyday exchanges with friends and family that unexpectedly open up deeper connections and new ways of understanding each other. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀? Her dog 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗽? Reflect on happiness and take a good look on your life choices after listening to the Podcast by Trevor Noah. A recurring question for Giulia is about belonging. Moving between cultures and languages, she wonders: where—and how—do you feel at home? For her, art has always been that constant, a place of grounding, no matter where she is. 🌍 What about you? Where do you feel most like yourself? 🌍

Meet the team — Nicky Groot, Producer Nicky sees immersive technology as a place where people can meet themselves and think about life in a new way. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀? A laser distance meter and Jan-Willempjes 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗽? All the work Studio Nergens is making! When it comes to big questions, Nicky keeps it grounded: she prefers to spend time on things that make her and the people around her happy. That is how she can find inspiration in the simplest activities, like playing video games. For her, the question that matters is: “what brings more joy to the world?” 🎮 What about you? How do you create space to see things differently? 🎮

Meet the team — Sophie Simenel, executive director As a food lover and a great cook, Sophie finds inspiration in her fridge, as it is “always able to deliver something that I can work with, to nourish both my stomach and my creativity.” 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀? Her headphones 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗽? The Power by Naomi Alderman, a dystopian novel in which women develop superpowers and take control. Practical and pragmatic by nature, Sophie still likes to surrender herself to immersive artworks, without rules or expectations. She says, “I like not having time to form an opinion about it. I just feel it immediately. I perceive it in my body, and it sort of carries me away and hijacks me." 🍋 What about you? What’s an everyday thing that can spark your creativity? 🍋

Meet the team — Aron Fels, Technical Director Aron finds inspiration in the constant movement of the city—moments, sounds, and scenes passing by. Because to him, immersive experience is an attempt to capture a feeling or vibe using technology, or as composer Asa Horvitz once said: “a lot of times it’s just light coming at you.” 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀? His computer keyboard – with its wonderful shortcuts and satisfying click sounds. Also, the coffee machine, of course. 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗽? Get dragged by the immersive, endless sentences of Jon Fosse’s Septology – a book about faith, memories, making, and looking at art. As a technical director, the digital world is a constant presence on Aron’s life. This leaves him wondering: “What would have become of me if I were born 100 or 200 years earlier? What would I have done without all this technology? Whom would I have been? ⚡What about you? What shapes the way you create? ⚡

Meet the team — Celine Daemen, Artistic Director Celine finds inspiration in the most unexpected places: even an old phone contact can become a portal to another version of herself. She says that she recently found her phone number from when she was living in New York. The “Celine America” contact triggered a reflection on how environments shape who we are – and who we could be. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀? Post-it notes and a lot of duct tape. 𝗛𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗽? Sit down with proper headphones and listen to Asa Horvitz’s newest album, GHOST. Lately, she’s been questioning reality itself—especially in the current world of AI-generated videos and endless doomscrolls. Inspired by the parable of the Butterfly Dream by the philosopher Zhuangzi, she wonders “if we are ever truly standing on solid ground, or if we are always, in some way, dreaming ourselves into existence." ☎️ What about you? What version of you would you call if you could? ☎️

In the middle of a busy train station, you pause to peer into a peepshow-like object 👁️ You see yourself on that station, with your head on the box and surrounded by the other travellers. But the pigeons, the scattered plastic litter and the wolfhound were not there just now, were they? A man puts his hand on your shoulder, but when you look up, no one is standing there. This is Nothing to see here by director @celine_daemen and @studionergens : a mobile immersive installation using live 3D images, fictional characters and spatial sound to question your perception of reality 🌀 The project was supported through our Immerse\Interact Grant Scheme, with the next deadline on 31 March 2026, 16:00 CEST. 'Fragmented truths in endless doomscrolling, AI videos of cute but non-existent cats, fake news — reality is not one fixed fact, but something relational that comes into being in the interaction between our body, the other and the space,' says Daemen. By literally placing someone opposite themselves, she hopes to force the audience to rethink that relationship for a moment. When the installation is present in a public space, something happens that Daemen describes as social choreography: people who would normally rush past pause out of curiosity, and strangers of different ages and backgrounds end up in conversation about the nature of reality. Big philosophical questions become accessible without the work losing its complexity. After its world premiere at @idfadoclab and stops at Heerlen-Centraal Station (@culturanovafestival ) and @muziekgebouw , you can experience the installation at @festivalcement in 's-Hertogenbosch (20–27 March). Read more about the project and the Immerse\Interact Grant Scheme on our website (link in bio)! Video: Nothing to see here teaser #nothingtoseehere #studionergens #immersive #installation #interactiveart

The computer says no 🤖en dat vindt VR maker @celine_daemen van @studionergens eigenlijk niet zo erg. Kom Nothing to See Here spotten op Cement tussen 20 en 27 maart. Also pspspsps naar de kat!!

Nothing to see here has also become a case study! 📚 Students from the Media department at UvA went to our Nothing to see here special to study the our work. After analysing and writing about the concept of immersive estrangement, they went a step beyond and designed a blog to share the results of their work. "The installation invites the experiencer to dwell on and find meaning in the liminal spaces of daily life, such as stations and lobbies, they would otherwise simply pass through without a second thought." Have a look at these students insights and get inspired! Link on bio

We are excited to announce that Studio Nergens is joining forces with a broad consortium of creators and institutions at the Heritage for the Future (HEFT) project. Within this two-year project, the consortium is investigating how Immersive Experiences (IX) can be sustainably preserved as cultural heritage. With the HEFT project, we aim to contribute to a future-proof immersive experience ecosystem. Together with our partners, we will experiment with new forms of dramaturgy and audience engagement while testing methods for preserving and archiving our work. HEFT - Expanding the IX ecosystem for embodied cultural experiences is part of the ADRIE-programma from the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie within the Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition (CIIIC). The consortium is led by Beeld & Geluid and also includes Eye Filmmuseum, Nederlands Film Festival, Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht and the Universiteit van Amsterdam. The other participating creators and colleagues in this adventure are Studio ZZZAP (Nienke Huitenga Broeren), Richard Vijgen, Nullshima Studio (Anne Fehres & Luke Conroy) and Satore Studio (Tupac Martir).

We started 2026 in a brand-new space. With plenty of office but also studio space, the Lauriergracht is our new home. This is not only good news because we will be at the heart of Amsterdam, but also because it will allow us to experiment and explore our artistic visions even further. We hope to fill the walls with plenty of inspiration and reflection throughout the new year!

Did you know that we used a stereoscope to develop our viewing box? We also designed custom hearing tubes to immerse you in the soundscape. The process around Nothing to see here brought new challenges to our team. But the results were worth the research! Dive into the Making of Nothing to see here! Link in bio #studionergens #nothingtoseehere #behindthescenes