PIER + HORIZON | after the storm

Pier+Horizon

The seventh landscape artwork for Flevoland is located in the Zwarte Meer, on the border between the Noordoostpolder and Overijssel.

More than a century before the Noordoostpolder was reclaimed, a 6 km long breakwater, the “Zuiderkrib”, connected the shore of Overijssel with a lighthouse keeper’s house in the middle of the Zuiderzee. Now a national monument, the former lighthouse keeper’s house “Oud Kraggenburg” stands on a mound in the middle of the fields of the Noordoostpolder. A straight concrete path, almost a kilometre long, connects the Zwartemeerweg with the Zwartemeerdijk and reminds us of the line of the former Zuiderkrib.

This land art work is bringing the former Zuiderkrib back to the surface. A 135-metre-long pier extends from the concrete path into the Zwarte Meer. In an area with a diameter of more than 250 metres around the tip of the pier, 36 poles are arranged in a strict pattern. 24 conifer trunks are attached to the poles with rope, allowing them to float and rotate freely in the wind and current.

The trees come from the Kuinderbos in the Noordoostpolder, where they were blown over during the severe storms of recent years. Wood that floats in water for a long time naturally becomes more durable, so as part of PIER+HORIZON, the tree trunks have been given a long second life.