Biography

Schscht is an artist collective founded by Koosje Schmeddes (The Netherlands) and Dirk Schellekens (Belgium). Working across installation, visual art, performance and light sculptures, we adapt our medium to the concept.

Our work infiltrates daily life, creating moments of reflection, pause, doubt, and curiosity. Using a poetic and surreal visual language, we present razor-sharp observations wrapped in subtle layers of humor. We relish and deal in improbable images—bringing together domestic elements and influences from the larger outside world. We create work that looks like it shouldn't exist.

Art, for us, is a direct dialogue with society. We blur the line between artist and audience, often placing our work in unexpected public spaces where passersby become participants. The interaction—intentional or accidental—shapes the work itself. Without it, the piece remains incomplete.

As individual artists and since 2020 with Schscht our work has been exhibited internationally at institutions such as Tate Liverpool (UK), Museum Victoria (Australia), Berkeley-University (USA), Ilulissat Art Museum (Greenland), Bozar, S.M.A.K., WIELS, KMSKA (Belgium), Noordbrabantsmuseum, Bonnefanten (The Netherlands), Ardhi-Gallery (Kenia), Vejle Museerne (Denmark) and many others. Whether in museums or public spaces, our art challenges perceptions, inviting audiences to reconsider their surroundings and their role within them.

Artistic project

Step onto the treadmill, into the moment—move without moving, meet without speaking, and experience connection in motion. Redefine the space between each other in an impossible encounter. Walking may seem mundane, but it holds deep significance. Inspired by Matthew Beaumont’s How We Walk, we see walking as more than a physical act—it is a deeply social and political gesture, revealing the ways in which race, class, and privilege shape our ability to take up space and to move freely through the world. In Walking Distance, two treadmills face each other. One performer walks on one, while a spectator steps onto the other. They appear to move toward each other but remain in place—a metaphor for life’s constant motion without certainty of direction. In a fast-paced world, true connection is often lost. This work invites a serene encounter, a moment of truly seeing one another. By stepping onto the treadmill, participants enter a space of silent interaction, where presence itself becomes a dialogue. 

Format: participative installation

Size of audience: one to one and/or two to two as particpants, audience flexible

Specific location: can be set up anywhere, from crowdy to deserted places, such as markets, squares, white cubes, busy streets, on the beach, natural environments like deserted national parks

Timing / duration: depending on the location, it can go on for hours (night and day)