THUMBNAILS

Thumbnails is an investigation into the chances for integrated land art in spirit of the broadening of the A465, also known as ‘The Head of the Valleys’.

This route of approximately 40 kilometres at the foot of The Brecon Beacon’s links the Valleys of South Wales. The research period has led to the report Thumbnails, in which the landscape has a ‘physical’ dimension.
By translating the relief in the landscape from fingers of a scratching hand to fingers of a blessing hand, the landscape can be viewed in a whole new way.
“The scratching hand vs the blessing hand / the scratched land vs the blessed land”.
At the same time, new themes around the A465 ‘Heads of the Valleys’ are created.

Commissioned by: SAFLE, Cardiff (previously known as C-BaT)
Research period in South Wales April 2007.
Click here to read more about this project.

FOSSIELE REGEN (FOSSIL RAIN)
Commissioned by the county of Apeldoorn

“About the origins of the seepage water: The water that rises from the ground in the Ugchel brook can be thousands of years old and originate from great depths (approximately 150 metres). In context, it might be interesting to picture the landscape of the Veluwe some thousands of years ago, when a single raindrop lowered into the ground to start its long journey through the soil…”

In spirit of the project ‘art along Sprengen and Beken’ some forty silver drops have been placed in the catchment of the Ugchel brook in Apeldoorn. The drops are placed in various manners, sometimes in small groups, sometimes alone, close together or far apart. They are placed at the source, at a fork, a watermill, a waterfall, a weir, or an overpass. Each drop carries the water rings of the ‘fossil rainstorm’ on its surface. “We can see the surrounding landscape being reflected in the shimmering surface of the drops, or are we merely remembering the landscape where a drop of rain fell thousands of years ago…?”

Design: 2003
Completion: 2005
Click HERE for a film about the origins of this project

DE STELLING VAN RONDEHOEP (THE RONDEHOEP POSITION)

In spirit of Strategisch Groenproject De Venen (i.e. Strategic Greenproject De Venen), the project ‘Zangsporen’ (i.e. ‘Singing tracks’) is a search of artists and residents of De Venen for places with a special meaning.

The form and structure of the polder De Rondehoep (1000 ha), close to Amsterdam, is very similar to an (oak)leaf and has thus become the metaphor for the organic material its made of; the fen. “The system of ditches of the Medieval parcelling pattern branches out like the nerves of a leaf in a green oasis. But instead of feeding the polder, the water is extracted from the thousands of seasons and gets stored in the memory layers of the fen”. Like an advanced post of the Groene Hart* and surrounded by the defence line of Amsterdam (Stelling van Amsterdam), the Rondehoep polder spies on the capitol. But the enemy is no longer situated in the polder, it is the polder itself that is in danger. So; “with nature nota’s as weapons, recreational users as forces and the zeitgeist as ammunition, the defence line of the Rondehoep flips the bird to the economical violence of the delta metropolis. But it is this economic activity that allows us to occupy ourselves with this ‘new nature’.” These vulnerable landscapes should be cherished as cultural heritage, but ignorance is its biggest enemy. With the defence line of the Rondehoep, I’d like to hum the melody of a story, the special pattern in the landscape as a singing track; “land-art avant la lettre”, the polder as a metaphor. “If ignorance can be dispelled this way, does the Rondehoep still need a fort?”

Design: 2002, the project ‘Zangsporen’ (SONGLINES) continues until 2020.
Click HERE for more information about DE STELLING VAN RONDEHOEP.

*The Groene Hart is a sparsely populated peatland area located in the Randstad of The Netherlands.

THE MANDERCIRCLES

The town of Tubbergen, county Overijssel owner: Landscape Overijssel in collaboration with Kunst and Cultuur (Art and Culture) Overijssel.

A work of art on the tracks of an agricultural experiment from 1929. In that year, textile manufacturer Jannink constructed two circular fields with a diameter of approximately 378 and 343 metres in the northern Manderheide. The fields were treated in a spiralling motion, this way the plough did not need to turn around again and again. In 1991, the Foundation Landscape Overijssel bought the area with the intention to give the circles back to nature. As MANDERCIRCLES the forms are etched into the landscape permanently. A trail of 2,5 kilometres etches the circles in the landscape. A ditch and shore mark the perimeter, and a hill with juniper bushes and a large labyrinth accentuate the centre-points. These interventions remind of the image of the helical furrows and the sowing and reaping in the consistent cadence of the seasons.

Click HERE to watch a video of a flight above the Mandercircles.
Click HERE to see a booklet about this project. (English)
Design: 1993
Completion: 1999
Revelation: May 2000
At the revelation of this project in 2000, the book TOPOS was published, edition Esselink foundation: isbn 90-6947-01-8