Collaborations
The project remains open to interdisciplinary collaborations that continue to expand its scope and impact.
We actively welcome cultural institutions, environmental organizations, ocean conservation initiatives, partners, sponsors, and funding bodies to join this journey and support the realization and international expansion of this project.
What becomes of the world when nature collapses beneath the weight of human pollution?
Blurring the boundaries between ecological collapse and human presence, this work explores the entanglement of nature and waste in a world shaped by overconsumption. Transparent coffins made of synthetic materials contain fragile ecosystems, soil, water, cactuses, plastic, and industrial debris, functioning as both monuments of decay and symbols of resilience.
The installation expands across sculpture, video, performance, and sound to create an immersive and emotional experience. Through this interdisciplinary approach, visitors are invited to engage with the work on both a sensory and reflective level.
Premiere 2026
The Coffin Project will premiere in a natural outdoor setting at Spoorpark, a public urban park in Tilburg, on September 4, 2026, at 15:00 and continues through September 6, with the support of the Municipality of Tilburg together with various sponsors and partners, and is freely accessible to the public.
Expansive landscapes evoke both timelessness and desolation, providing a powerful context for the work and allowing visitors to experience it in direct connection with nature. The environment itself becomes an integral part of the installation, offering a natural stage for live performance.
In this first presentation, the focus is placed on a single coffin, creating a more concentrated and intimate encounter with the work while emphasizing one manifestation of the larger evolving project. Following its premiere at Spoorpark, The Coffin Project will be presented on November 7 and 8 during Kunstscène Tilburg, as the second public presentation of the work, before continuing toward future international presentations in museums, galleries, ecological institutions, and public spaces
This interdisciplinary work is developed in collaboration with an international team including: Chara Palaiologou (music composition), Maria Sartzetaki, (choreographer), Maddie Thomas, (performer), Nancy Papakonstantinou (Soprano), Eleni Kitaroudis (digital strategy), Ezra Schizzeti (artistic advisor), Ilias Karapanagiotis (production support)) Maarten Maas (project coordination).
Collaborations
The project remains open to interdisciplinary collaborations that continue to expand its scope and impact.
We actively welcome cultural institutions, environmental organizations, ocean conservation initiatives, partners, sponsors, and funding bodies to join this journey and support the realization and international expansion of this project.
Press & Media
For detailed information and project specifics, please download the official press release below.
Explore a curated selection of works and visual documentation related to the evolution of this project.
PULSE the echo of human consciousness
PULSE the echo of human consciousness within The Coffin. Awareness and rhythm persist as the last traces of life.
PULSES, where nature’s resilience and human consciousness coexist as parallel signals.
My artistic practice lies at the intersection of the human condition, ecological realities, and existential transformation. The Coffin is not a static artwork but an immersive environment where the boundaries between life and death, nature and artifice, decay and rebirth blur.
The coffin, traditionally a vessel of farewell, here becomes a symbol of transition: a transparent monument that forces us to look directly at what we normally hide. Each coffin holds a microcosm of human impact plastic, rusting machines, fragile organic matter and off course with the sculpture Pulse confronting us with the legacy of our choices.
Where my earlier project Still Humans examined the silent conformity of people within oppressive systems, this project shifts the focus to a wider urgency: nature itself, trapped within the remnants of our consumption. It is an emotional call to stop looking away, and to acknowledge both the destruction and the possibility of renewal.
What remains of Nature
The work unfolds through a modular structure, allowing for different site-specific presentations:
• Natural environments such as dunes and forests, where coffins are partially buried and transformed by weather and light.
• Museums and galleries, where the work takes on a monumental or clinical presence, echoing ritual and scientific observation.
• Urban interventions, where individual coffins appear in public space, disrupting daily life and provoking reflection.
Each presentation responds to its surroundings, allowing The Coffin Project to function both as an artwork and as an ecological barometer, addressing local realities while contributing to a broader dialogue on planetary fragility.
The Coffin Project is developed through a strong international and interdisciplinary collaboration:
- Concept, Direction & Video Installation – Athanasia Iris
- Music Composition – Chara Palaiologou
- Choreography – Maria Sartzetaki
- Performer – Maddie Thomas
- Soprano – Nancy Papakonstantinou
- Digital Strategy & Communications – Eleni Kitaroudis
- Artistic Advisor – Ezra Schizzeti
- Production Support – Ilias Karapanagiotis
- Project Coordinator – Maarten Maas
Together, we create a synthesis of visual art, sound, and performance that transforms the installation into an immersive and emotional resonant experience.
Supported by sponsors, partners and grants
The project engages a diverse audience:
- Art institutions and galleries, encountering a visually and conceptually layered installation
- Environmentally engaged communities, where the work resonates as a reflection on human impact
- A wider public, drawn in by the immediacy and sensory experience of the work
- Educational contexts, where the installation fosters ecological awareness and critical dialogue
In a time of overconsumption and ecological exhaustion, this project is more than an artwork. It is a call for awareness, dialogue, and change.
By exposing the tension between decay and resilience, it transforms mourning into movement, and absence into presence.
The Coffin Project is not an end, but a beginning. An invitation to reflect on what we leave behind, how we relate to nature, and the future we create.
What remains when only consciousness and the pulse persist?
For more information about the Coffin Project please send an email to:
With Each Creation, Athanasia Iris Invites You to Explore the Infinite and Embrace the Mystery of Being Human.
Location
The Netherlands
Studio Carré 13,
5017 JE, Tilburg