Marika Vandekraats (she/her) is an artist from the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, also known as Vancouver, Canada. Her research focuses on the human entanglements tied between nature and capital to frame extractivist processes that have irreversibly affected the climate. Her work takes shape through video, sculpture, text, and performative installations that utilize archival research to challenge its context. Marika regularly collaborates with friends in performance, video, and workshops to form solidarity and collective resistance against structures of oppression with the exaltation of kinship.
Since 2023, Marika has been organizing a nomadic library called Reading Room Rotterdam. RRR is working in partnership with London based publisher Pluto Press and is a part of a larger network of Reading Rooms located in cities across the UK. The library functions as a gathering agent for communities to entangle with one another, and for knowledge to be disseminated. Through public events and the library service, RRR offers an exchange of mediums of knowledge, be it through shared dinners, workshops, gardens, or text. To follow more on RRR’s updates, the instagram can be found here.
Marika has a MA in Art Praxis and Critical Theory from the Dutch Art Institute (2022, NL) and a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art and Design (2016, CA). She is currently based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.