KAMP VUUR

2022 - ongoing

In 2022, Judith Reijnders and I initiated Kamp Vuur (Camp Fire), a weekend-long workshop engaging with pit-firing: an ancient ceramic technique dating back over 30,000 years. Historically practiced across cultures, pit-firing extends beyond material process; it is a situated, ritual act entangled with land, collective memory, and modes of storytelling.

The process involves placing hand-built vessels into a pit layered with organic matter and combustible materials. Through the unpredictable interplay of fire, weather, airflow, and mineral agents, each firing inscribes a unique transformation; surface traces that register time, material agency, and environment.

Our introduction to pit-firing came through Judith’s grandfather, a practitioner who transmitted his knowledge across generations. This initial encounter formed the basis for an ongoing inquiry into pit-firing’s contemporary potential; as a relational practice that foregrounds exchange, interdependence, and situated knowledge-making. Kamp Vuur operates as a space to critically reflect on artistic production, challenge anthropocentric frameworks, and explore how embodied practices can reconfigure our relation to material, land, and community.