GEO-METRY | Geo-Metrie

“Raakpunt-N34” (Tangent-N34) is the only place along the N34 provincial road where this straight line in the Overijssel landscape touches visible at the meandering Vecht river.

In geometry, a “tangent” is the point where a “straight line” touches a “curved line”.
The original meaning of “geometry” is “measuring the earth”.

Military engineer Pieter de la Rive (1694-1771) mapped the river basin of the Overijsselse Vecht very precisely in the early 18th century. The defense line that he planned was never built, and all that remains is a beautiful 18th-century map.
It is instructive to superimpose such historical maps on today’s topography and see where things coincide or diverge. It turns out that one of the strongholds in de la Rive’s line coincides exactly with the “Raakpunt N34”.

If La Rive’s plan had been realised 300 years ago, we would now have found a “stage” here where all the hidden qualities of the “Raakpunt-N34” would have been concentrated. By creating a contemporary landscape artwork here now, this omission can, on closer inspection, be rectified in one fell swoop.
Geo-Metry is inspired by the 18th-century bastion type, with dimensions based on the Rhineland measurement system (in rods and feet), as Pieter la Rive would have applied it; “de la Rive revisited”.