landscape
3d
00:20
2022
Ryan Koopmans (BA, MFA) and Alice Wexell are an artistic duo whose practice explores the intersections between architecture, nature, and collective memory. Ryan, born in Amsterdam in 1986 and raised on Vancouver Island, studied geography, art history, and psychology at the University of British Columbia before earning a master’s degree in photography, video, and related media at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Alice, based in Stockholm, honed her skills in animation and coding at Lund University in Sweden. Their collaboration combines Ryan’s photographic eye, fascinated by urban structures and their relationship with nature, with Alice’s digital expertise, driven by a passion for creating surreal environments through innovative technologies. Together, they transform abandoned spaces into animated works of art, where digital vegetation, light, and movement breathe new life into places steeped in history, creating a visual poetry that bridges the past and the future. Their flagship project, The Wild Within, launched in 2021, marked a turning point in their careers by reinventing forgotten buildings through a digital rebirth. Their approach, both conceptual and visually striking, has established them as leading figures in contemporary digital art.
Their works, exhibited from Beijing to Miami, including stops in Seoul, Stockholm, and Montreal, have been featured in prestigious institutions and galleries such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s, the Leila Heller Gallery, and the Swedish Pavilion, and highlighted in international media outlets such as Vogue, GQ Middle East, The National, and WIRED. Their work, collected by digital art funds and private collectors, has also been the subject of collaborations with renowned brands and institutions, such as Mercedes-Benz, BOTTO, and SuperRare.

Once Upon a Time is a digital artwork that brings new life into an abandoned building by combining photography with animation to create a surreal, meditative and moving architectural space. The pictured building, built between 1890-1920, is the interior of an old decaying house in the Dannawi neighbourhood of Beirut, Lebanon. A custom musical score has been added by Swedish composer Karl-David Larson.
Koopmans and Wexell’s work captures the unrelenting and permanent qualities of nature. By juxtaposing wild and vibrant natural elements with a derelict, built environment, this work invites the viewer to meditate on nature’s resilience relative to human creation.
The piece was premiered at the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague Castle during the exhibition Non-Fungible Castle from October 27 - November 13, 2022.
3d
landscape
00:20
2022