The North Sea, our neighbour who constantly pushes the boundaries, leaving behind a line that reveals who lived here thousands of years ago, but also shows what is wrong at this moment. Anyone who regularly walks along the tide line, finds fossil bones and trees, but also plastic, paraffin, oil and dead animals.
Currently, the North Sea is quickly being transformed into an industrial area. To maintain the habit of ever-growing consumption and extraction, while attempting to become more sustainable at the same time. Furthermore, drastic technological plans are being developed to eventually stop the rising water. And it was already busy.
Four artists–Tanja Engelberts, Sheng-Wen Lo, Astrid Nobel, and Laura Schippers– show how they are connected to the North Sea and how they deal with the pressure on the sea.
See you at Hoogtij #71 this Friday, 25 November, from 19:00 to 23:00.
Opening Neighbour North Sea: Friday, November 4 at 19:00
Exhibition: from November 5 to 27, Fridays to Sunday, 13:00 – 17:00 and by appointment.
Tanja Engelberts investigates how to document landscapes that are no longer visible. These landscapes range from artificial islands to the endless North Sea, and are often related to the fossil fuel industry. She immersed herself in the industrial landscape of the North Sea by traveling along with maintenance ships and speaking with offshore employees. The landscape takes shape by means of films, prints, sound and texts in which the atmosphere and experience of these places is recorded. www.tanjaengelberts.eu
Sheng-Wen Lo’s work investigates the relationships between non-humans and contemporary society, often taking daily experiences as points of departure. In 2021, he attempted to become a seaweed farmer, as the practice is being hailed as the most sustainable form of farming in many parts of Europe. During the process, he began to wonder if the collective passion towards expanding ocean farming has a problematic outlook. www.shengwenlo.com
The work of Astrid Nobel consists of paintings, sculptures and installations. Time, consciousness and nature are recurring themes. Recently, she has been working on topics related to the North Sea and the Wadden Sea area (Waddenzee) and how dreams and thinking about the landscape are evolving in the midst of the climate crisis. For this exhibition she has transformed North Sea materials she found herself, such as fossil bones and washed up oil, into works in which the sea, its inhabitants, pollution and the house in which we live and dream are interwoven. www.astridnobel.nl
In the run-up to the exhibition, Laura Schippers collected special observations and experiences of people at sea and continued to work on the rebuilding of her ship Atlas in preparation for the self-sufficient and nomadic project Atlas Initiative. Ultimately, these paths crossed and together formed the installation: ‘Potential material for a change of mentality’. Which is about both the possibility of change and the paradox of using materials for sustainable purposes. www.atlasinitiatief.org
Workshop Cooking Local Seaweed by Sheng-Wen Lo on Saturday, November 5 at 14:00 (approx. 2 hrs).
Rights of Nature Lecture by international environmental law expert Jessica den Outer
and
performance by Tanja Engelberts and Marcel Imthorn on Thursday, November 17 at 19:00. Lecture will be in English. Free entrance.
Guest speaker Jessica den Outer works as an independent consultant, writer and speaker on the rights of nature. She has been involved in the rights of nature movement since 2017. In 2019 she was recognized as one of the youngest Earth-centered law experts within the United Nations’ Harmony with Nature Network. In 2020 she obtained a place in the ‘Duurzame Jonge 100’ (the top 100 most sustainable young pioneers in the Netherlands). She has since set up various campaigns advocating for the rights of nature. Her first book with Laura Burgers: Rights of Nature: Case-Studies From Six Continents (Embassy of the North Sea) was released in September 2021. www.jessicadenouter.com
Neighbour North Sea is made possible thanks to Mondriaan Fonds, Stichting Stokroos, Pauwhof Fonds, Stroom Den Haag, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten and Productiehuis Plaatsmaken.
