About the Artist
Silke Riis (1998, Copenhagen) is a sculptor and installation artist who works with transformation and mortality at the core of her practice, currently based in the Netherlands.
Using natural latex in experimental ways, she creates slowly decaying sculptures that mimic the fragility of life. Her work belongs to the science-fiction subgenre ‘speculative evolution’, blending evolutionary science and biology with fantasy to imagine new plants and animals from speculative futures. Her sculptures can be seen as hypothetical species, envisioning a future beyond our timeline. To Silke, the future is both scary and exciting, reflected in works that are at once creepy and beautiful, dystopian and utopian.
Through her sculptures, she reflects the fragility of ecosystems while offering alternative ideas for the future. Rather than educating on climate change, she seeks to provide composure in the fantasy of our demise. Inspired by rainforest plants, marine invertebrates, mould formations, as well as mythologies, paracosms, and science fiction, her work has an otherworldly aesthetic.
Projects
In 2026, Silke became on of Mediamatic's first artist residencies of the year where she further developed her fascination of aquatic speculative creatures. In her Simple Adult Forms, central focus is reverse metamorphosis, in the midst of present day's obsession of constant growth and strike for perfection. The installation suggests that regressing is not a defeat, but a strategic and beautiful adaptation. Over the course of the year, the installation itself will undergo its own slow metamorphosis. They will breathe, sag, and transform, mirroring the fluid nature of the ecosystems they represent.
Simple Adult Forms installation in the Plantkamer, Silke Riis 2026 February - 
Simple Adult Forms installation in the Plantkamer, Silke Riis 2026 February - 
Her previous work for Mediamatic, Some Breathe Through their Butts, draws inspiration from cucumber curvatures and the fascinating life of sea cucumbers and their poop. An uncharming brainless creature whose every-day life plays an important role in the ocean’s nutrient cycles and calcium carbonate availability in coral reefs.
Some Breathe Through Their Butts - Sculpture by Silke Riis. Photography: Romy Kerkman
Her previous work such as Pre-Post Human Botany in 2022 consists of series of sculptural models of imagined organisms form the decade right before human extinction. All of the sculptures from the series slowly decayed due to their materials and were
the first pieces Silke made with clay and latex, each representing a milestone in the development of her sculptural method.
Epibiosis, Sculpture by Silke Riis, Photo by Aariyan Sinha, 2022 - 
