Esther Polak and Ivar van Bekkum work together as the artist-couple PolakVanBekkum. Their work focusses on landscape and mobility.

Routed in the history of the Dutch realistic landscape depiction, they embrace new technologies to express personal experiences of spaces of the contemporary city and countryside. Their projects are often informed by collaborations with participants, be it humans, objects, or even the rays of the sun.

They have worked and exhibited internationally, at Transmediale Berlin, Ars Electronica Linz, ZKM Karlsruhe, London, IMAL Brussels, Rento Brattinga | Gallery Amsterdam, Museo for Image and Sound Sao Paolo, Nairobi, Lagos, Marrakech, Paris, Philadelphia Percent for Art program, Los Angeles and Queensland.

In 2016 they were granted the first prize in the category Netweork Cultures at the Stuttgarter Filmwinter Festival for Expanded Media and in 2005 Esther Polak received the prestigious a Golden Nica for interactive Art at Ars Electronica together with Ieva Auzina, for their MILKproject.

Their work hes been generously supported by numerous governmental, non-gouvernmental and privat organizations like The Mondriaan Foundation, ZKM Karlsruhe, Stichting Liedts-Meessen, STROOM The Hague, Stichting kfHEIN, European Cultural Foundation, Digitale Pioniers, Royal Netherlands Embassy (several countries), Education et Culture, Culture 2000, Ministery of Agriculture The Netherlands, NIMk, NCDO, NWO, Friesland Foods and many more.

WG-plein 31
1054 RA Amsterdam