Under the Pavement: Tanja Smeets on Materials, Collaboration & Growth

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A conversation with Dutch artist Tanja Smeets, whose site-specific installations employ diverse and industrial materials (concrete spacers, leaf catchers, textiles, ceramics and 3D-printed steel) to create large scale works that appear to grow organically from architecture and cityscapes.

Guided by her catchphrase “Under the pavement the roots are whirling,” Tanja's practice reveals what it takes to work at the intersection of art, craft, technology and collaboration.

Key insights from this episode:

• Why art school felt like failure

• Finding and transforming unusual materials

• Residencies at TextielLab and European Ceramic Work Center: pushing porcelain through frying sieves, learning embroidery and more

• The volcano eruption: teaching an assistant to knot lentils into lycra via Zoom when flights were grounded

• Miami airport interrogation: five suitcases, a letter and threatening border patrol agents with a lecture on art

Tanja Smeets is a Dutch artist based in Utrecht. Her work has been exhibited internationally including Manifesta and Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. See her work in person at