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CITIES - sculptures and land art
Dordrecht|Merwelanden
The work’s full title, Merging Grids – Tribute to Cor Noltee,
honored the late artist who dedicated his life to capturing the essence of the
Dutch delta. Noltee’s evocative paintings of the Biesbosch wetlands and its
griendwerkers (osier workers) had deepened my understanding of the region’s
cultural and ecological layers during our exploratory trips together. His
depictions of laborers weaving willow into functional armatures—for art, craft,
and flood defense—resonated in my installation’s conceptual core: a gesture both
ephemeral and enduring. Though my work stood in Merwelanden rather than the
Biesbosch, it echoed Noltee’s reverence for the symbiosis between human labor
and natural cycles.
I anticipated that local workers would later prune
the installed grid to a uniform height during routine osier harvests, blending
my structured intervention into the pragmatic cycles of cultivation. Today, the
system persists subtly within the osier bed—its geometric logic absorbed into
the totality of the terrain, much like the dikes and ditches that quietly shape
the Dutch delta’s identity.
Though temporary by design, the installation
mirrored the ethos of osier culture itself: a dialogue between ephemeral
artistry and the enduring patterns of the land.
merging grids - tribute to Cor Noltee - pollard willow project - 200x35m - 1990 - Dordrecht NL
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