Sanne Slagman (born 1986) founded Studio Overvelde as an independent, multidisciplinary artist. Sanne invites spectators to play and engage with her kinetic artworks. As a result, they may become a part of the installation; like performers in a play, narrating the story.

Sanne previously co-founded Transversal Theater Company, an international theater company with its headquarters based in the USA. As an artist, she produced several plays and as its financial leader, she was in charge of the business side of the creative enterprise through development, coordination of international tours and communication and accounting. This experience amplified her academic background in the performing arts.

Sanne received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Arts and Culture from the University of Amsterdam. Furthermore, she obtained a Law degree. Previously, she worked as a diplomat at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as a teaching fellow at Harvard University.

Bas Overvelde (born 1986), director of the Soft Robotic Matter Group at AMOLF, an academic institute for fundamental physics with high societal relevance in Amsterdam, is a Dutch scientist who works at the crossroads of metamaterial design and the field of soft robotics. His scientific work has been published in top-tier journals such as Nature, Science, PRL and PNAS.

Pioneering his field of research, Bas works collaboratively with art institutions, inventors, designers and architects. Among others, Bas worked with the Harvard School of Industrial Design, the Science Museum Boerhaave in Leiden and innovators such as Chuck Hoberman and Neri Oxman. His work has been showcased in the interactive art exhibit “10 degrees” at Le Laboratoire in Cambridge (US) and the documentary “The Origami Code”, that was aired on international TV.

Bas received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering cum laude from the Delft University of Technology. He received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.  Bas co-founded Studio Overvelde, to spark the creative process and fuel his scientific work.