“After thirty years of working with light, I began to investigate what light makes us forget.”
Diana Ramaekers is a visual artist, light artist, lecturer and researcher. For more than three decades she has explored how light shapes our perception of space, time and place. Through site-specific installations, public artworks, video and artistic research, she investigates how light influences the way we experience and understand our environment.
In recent years her practice has shifted towards a growing fascination with darkness. Confronted with the ecological consequences of artificial light and increasing light pollution, she began to question the role of light itself. This led her to approach darkness not as the absence of light, but as a presence with its own qualities, rhythms and meanings.
As a researcher within the What Art Knows research group at Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Ramaekers develops projects that combine artistic inquiry, fieldwork and making. Her work unfolds at the intersection of art, ecology and sensory experience, inviting audiences to slow down, look differently and rediscover what often remains unnoticed.
Recent projects and residencies, including research in Lauwersmeer Dark Sky Park and Station Ellecom, have strengthened her commitment to understanding and communicating the value of darkness in contemporary society.
Today, Ramaekers works from an apparent paradox: advocating for darkness through the medium of light.
BIO
EDUCATION
- 2002 Rijksakademie of Visual Arts Amsterdam, Prix de Rome Film&Video
- 93-96 Academy of Visual Arts Düsseldorf, MA in light-art from Prof. Nan Hoover
- 88-93 Academy of Visual Arts Maastricht (NL) BA
GRANDS
- 2014 Special Award | Light-Design Volme Generations Parc Schalksmühle, Germany
- 2002 Prix de Rome | Film and Video Rijksakademie Amsterdam
- 1998 Public Prize van Bommel van Dam Museum Venlo, NL
- 1994 Joseph- and Anna Fassbender Prize | the City of Brühl, Germany 1st Graphic Award
RESIDENCY
- 2025 Station Ellecom, National Park Veluwe Zoom, Netherlands
- 2024 National Park Lauwersmeer, Netherlands
- 1996 Lanzarote, Canary Islands
- 1995 Trondheim, Norway
- 1993 Bern, Switserland
- 1991 Györ, Hungary
ART IN PUBLIC SPACE
- 2026 Zeitadern Bedburg Lighting- and facade design for the new bicycle station Bedburg in collaboration with archigraphus Aachen, Germany.
- 2021 Light for Locht Permanent light-choreography for the historic iron railway bridge in Kerkrade, de Locht, NL
- 2020 River of Words Permanent Gobo-projections market square Waubach, Landgraaf NL
- 2019 Mijn Berg Museum Energeticon Alsdorf, Germany
- 2017 I and Thou Digital light-installation stairs Buber Square, city of Kerkrade
- 2016 A long history Wall-carpet artwork for Retirement Home, Kerkrade NL
- 2016 Corona Color Gobo projections city parc Kerkrade
- 2015 Musing Meadow Light-installation Atrium MC Hospital Heerlen
- 2015 Volme Light Light objects for the Generations Parc, Schalksmühle Germany
- 2014 Inter-Act Sketch assignment National Music Centre Calgary, Canada
- 2014 Perpetual Abertawe Concept Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, Wales, UK
- 2012 Floating Sphere Sketch assignment Karolinksa Hospital Stockholm, SE
- 2011 Thoughts of Light Concept St.Trinitatis church Leipzig, Germany
- 2010 Light Graffiti Light-installation Margraten, NL
- 2010 Neon-E-Scape Neon-installation Tax-department Eindhoven, NL
- 2009 Sky-Light Light-installation Entrance Parking-loft Venray, NL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 2026 Einsam, Gemeinsam, Mut zum Sein, Marktkirche Essen, Germany
- 2025 Kleur in de schemering, een aards palet, Station Ellecom
- 2021 Lichtwelten Lichtkunst, Galerie Art Engert Eschweiler, Germany
- 2021 Plateaukunst, Plateau van Margraten, NL
- 2020 International Exhibition de l’Art Actuel France et Japon, Tokyo National Art Centre
- 2020 And… Light, Saarbrücken, Trier, Krefeld, Düsseldorf Germany Evang Kirchen Ev
- 2018 Kunst & Kohle, Centre for International Light Art, Unna
- 2017 Resonate Art & Technology Festival and Conference Belgrade
- 2016 Interference Tunis, International Light Festival Tunis
- 2016 Churches, from purple to… Schunck Collectors House, Heerlen, NL
- 2015 ¡ DARK ! Centre of International Light Art, Unna Germany
- 2015 Lichtungen Hildesheim, Festival of Light, Germany
- 2014 Light! – Museum aan het Vrijthof, Maastricht
- 2014 Time, Space, Silence, Light / The Influence of Nan Hoover, WG Amsterdam
- 2013 Lichtrouten Lüdenscheid, Germany
- 2013 Glow Festival of Light, Eindhoven, Nl
- 2011 1st New Expression of World Art, Henan museum Zhengzhou, China
- 2010 Biennal for International Light Art Ruhr 2010 ‘Open Light in Private Spaces‘
- 2007 Deep Space, Centre for Artificial Light in Art, Eindhoven
- 2004 The European Fine Art Fair Maastricht Art Company Eindhoven
- 2003 Museum Art Palast Düsseldorf Germany
- 2003 Luxtheatre Nijmegen
- 2003 Museum am Ostwall Dortmund Germany
- 2003 Institut Neerlandais Paris
- 2003 Kunstadapter Wiesbaden
- 2002 Monte Video Time Based Arts Amsterdam
- 2002 Filmfestival Rotterdam ‘Other than Film’
- 2001 World Wide Video Festival Amsterdam
PUBLICATIONS
- 2026 BK-Informatie 26#2 Magazine for Visual Artists: Column Residencies
- 2026 Wayfarers Publication ’31 Jahre Reisestipendien’ :
- Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen Düsseldorf & Kunst- und Kulturstiftung
- 2025 Nieuwe Veluwe – 3/25 Nature, Art and Culture: Residency Ellecom
- 2025 Podcast ‘Een Nacht op Lauwersoog’
- 2016 Licht Magazin 1-2 2016 Lichtnet
- 2012 Tush Magazine # 27 – Lichtgestalten: interview von Kay
- 2010 1.BIENNALE FÜR INTERNATIONALE LICHTKUNST – Open Light in Private Spaces – Matthias Wagner K
- 2010 BUILDING PASSION – The International edition – Laura Stevens
- 2010 OVER KENNIS EN KUNST – Scholingsfonds voor Kunst en Cultuur – Marion Beltman
- 2002 PRIX DE ROME FILM & VIDEO – Prix de Rome – Sandra Smallenburg
- 2001 WORLD WIDE VIDEO FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM – Rob Perrée
SECUNDARY ACTIVITIES | SKILLS
- 2023 – present Researcher Lectorate What Art Knows
- 2018 Cambridge English Grade B in Level C1 Certificate in ESOL
- 2006 – present Lecturer Artistic Research, Maastricht Academy of Visual Arts
- 2015 Guest Lecturer Light Campus, University of Applied Sciences Hamburg
- 2015 Guest Lecturer Lighting Design, University of Applied Sciences Hildesheim
- 2015 Mentor at Summerschool Fontys Hogeschool Tilburg
- 2014 – 2019 Mentor Cultuur en Ondernemen, Amsterdam
- 2004 Jury Henriëtte Hustinx Prize Maastricht, the Netherlands
- 2000 – 2002 Committee member Cultural Affairs, Province of Limburg, the Netherlands