"Life Compensation Lottery" is an art project by artist Suzie van Staaveren and curator Robbie Schweiger, which draws attention to the unsustainability of commercializing land through carbon offsets.
About "Life Compensation Lottery"
The project revolves around organizing a free postcode lottery among residents of the Municipality of Waterland and Amsterdam Landelijk Noord, with the grand prize being lifetime CO₂ compensation for the winner. The compensation will take place in the Volgermeerpolder, now a unique nature reserve, on top of a heavily polluted area bordering Amsterdam and Broek in Waterland. Peat development in the rice paddies will sequester CO₂ in the soil, which can be used for CO₂ compensation.
Veenmos © Lou-Lou van Staaveren
"Levens Compensatie Loterij" questions the idea of CO₂ compensation through nature reserves. Who is this compensation actually intended for? Where is it permitted? And where is pollution permitted? The project emphasizes that true environmental responsibility isn't about money or global calculations, but about local engagement with the landscape. Through art, conversations, and research, the project aims to encourage people to think differently about how we can interact with our environment. Not by buying off debt, but by building relationships with and caring for the places where we live.
Award ceremony
On Saturday, September 6, 2025, the festive awards ceremony for the "Life Compensation Lottery" will take place in the Volgermeerpolder and the Broeker Kerk, in collaboration with Buro Stedelijk. Further information about the program will follow later this summer.
The Swamp Potential
In December 2024, following the Life Compensation Lottery, the publication Kunstlicht - The Swamp Potential was published.
Residents of the Volgermeerpolder landfill protest at Amsterdam City Hall, 1985.
For questions, please contact Robbie Schweiger, the project curator, at robbie.schweiger@gmail.com
About us
In her work, Suzie van Staaveren seeks compromises between her artistic vision and the environment. For her, compromises are not a sign of failure, but a recognition of the agency of (more-than-human) others. With humor and playfulness, she stretches contradictions and questions a worldview that revolves around dualism, competition, and appropriation. Instead of seeking control, she mediates between material, audience, the real, and the imaginary. With her sculptural, often interactive work, she explores how art can become an inseparable part of public space and consciousness.
Robbie Schweiger is an art historian, Slavist scholar, and curator. His projects focus on questioning dominant narratives of cultural imperialism, exploring the space between fact and (science) fiction, and imagining alternative physical and ethical relationships with the more-than-human world. Since 2022, he has been a researcher at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, focusing on art from the post-socialist space. In addition to his work at the museum, he is the founder of "Equal is Unequal," a project space for local heritage and contemporary art on the former island of Marken. Schweiger also curates, writes, and presents regularly within and outside institutional frameworks, and he is a member of the advisory committee of the Mondriaan Fund.
Partners & sponsors
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Julian Sirre Developer: Alper Cekinmez PHOTOGRAPHY: © Lou-Lou van Staaveren (2025) TEXT: Suzie van Staaveren & Robbie Schweiger
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Julian Sirre Developer: Alper Cekinmez PHOTOGRAPHY: © Lou-Lou van Staaveren (2025) TEXT: Suzie van Staaveren & Robbie Schweiger