I AM THEY ARE

Amsterdam - they/them

Noël Sebastiaan Keulen (1978) grew up in the south of the Netherlands in the poetically named Simpelveld, Echt and Sittard. The local dialect and the presence of German culture in the region, gave them a bilingual upbringing of Dutch and German. Their fascination for television (as a child of electronics salespeople) added English to the mix. Their wide palette of interests journeyed them along Architecture, Design and Communication, for them to land on their first passion, (theatre) acting. They graduated as Bachelor of Performing Arts in 2006 at the ArtEZ Toneelschool and have worked successfully as an actor till present day. In 2019 they embarked on a new path, applying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, where they graduated as Bachelor of Visual Arts in July 2025.

Their practice focuses momentarily on the act of human connection, where the investigated themes dictate the media, not the other way around. This can result in an architectural intervention in a building's facade (I AM WELCOME HERE), baking a cake (ALLES IS OK NU) or a loaf of bread (BREAK/BREAD/CONNECT) or a seat for a person recieving a compliment.