Pillow Verhoeve (Obbicht, 2005, he/they) is a visual artist with creative technology, graduated and working as all-round stagetechnician. They make immersive and interactive installations with projection, light and audio, and pre-existing or handmade surroundings. He tries to make people think and imagine a world where people may live an autonomous and respected life. With their art, he tries to achieve a world where people are willing to learn and allowed to make choices, simultaneously accepting technology as a tool and rejecting it as an obligation.
My creativity originates mostly from a conflicting feeling about the space in want to occupy in this world. I live in my own small bubble with little bad news and high control over what does and does not enter. I would love to live in a cottage in the woods, to make, grow and repair my own things. However, I have grown up and integrated into a heavily technological world where you can not live without a metal brick in your pocket and where you can find someone to do anything for you. In addition to that, my hobbies and work are a meetpoint of human crafts that are impossible without technology.
In my projects i use technological soft- and hardware to tackle subjects from a playful or dreamy perspective; I want to discuss and handle subjects through immersion and interactivity. I mean for people to not want to walk around it, and to dare to open up a conversation. I like to broach subjects that are close to my heart; when identity, nature or technology touch and influence eachother I try to find a way to sneakily bring different properties together in way that’s beautiful and playful, yet does not hide anything when you go deeper.
I want to combine handmade art with projection, light and audio to bring an impossible experience to life.
I studied stage- and event technology at SintLucas in Eindhoven. During this period I have been taught the basics of stage technology and figured out my talents and passions in the field through multiple projects.
I did an internship at Het Laagland - a youth theater facility. Here I learned to create a lightshow fitting to the the play, through communication with colleagues, actors and producers. Furthermore, I acquired basic knowledge of decor building and built experience in touring as a theater tech.
My second internship was at Light-Up Collective. They are a collective in Utrecht focused on interactive and immersive projects using projection and videomapping. There I was able to join on projects and see how they worked, and I could spend a lot of time working on an individual project with access to all materials.
Outside of this I have also worked on external projects as a freelancer:
- Building and breaking Festival Circolo.
- Building Rowwen Heze - De Wei In
- Building and breaking + tech break at Theaterfestival De Parade
- Lighting Tech and Operator at Nieuwe Nor
- Build and break of Zwembadjaren at Het Laagland
- Haunted House - Personal project
- Sound Designer for Mappington - GLOW Eindhoven 2025
- Assistance for new Audio System Kazerne Oirschot
- Visuals for a band; Abyss
- Technical and Productional support for Zuidzone at Het Laagland