The woods that see and hear
30 May – 11 July 2010
Opening: Saturday, 29 May, 4 pm
Opening hours: Thurs – Sun, 1 – 6 pm
Meerstraat 22, Heeswijk
& CBK ‘s-Hertogenbosch
Boschveldweg 471, ‘s-Hertogenbosch
The Netherlands
Eduardo Abaroa (MX) / Eve Armstrong (NZ) / Melanie Bonajo (NL), Kinga Kielczynska (PL) and Emmeline de Mooij (NL) / Marjolijn Dijkman (NL) / Bright Ugochukwu Eke (NG) / Tue Greenfort (DK) / Jonathan Horowitz (US) / Ives Maes (BE) / Tea Mäkipää (FI) / Nick Mangan (AU) / Heather and Ivan Morison (GB) / Overtreders W (NL).
On Saturday 29 May at 4 pm dertien hectare opens its 2010 exhibition The woods that see and hear, curated by Sarah Farrar (NZ).
The exhibition responds to the immediate surroundings of dertien hectare, in the south of the Netherlands, an area that has gone through significant social, economic and ecological changes in recent decades. The exhibition takes place at two locations: at dertien hectare, a former farm that is now a regenerating forest area, and in a former factory in the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
As archaeologists demonstrate, we can learn a lot about a society by paying close attention to material remains and environmental data. The dertien hectare site captures many layers of history and provides an accurate record of human activity and changing values. The woods that see and hear highlights the land as a living form of archaeology; it registers the impact of human migration, prosperity, technological developments, changing environmental values, governmental policy, commercial interests and the shifting boundaries of urban and rural areas.
Prompted by the dramatic change of land use at the dertien hectare site and its associated environmental impact, the exhibition addresses notions of sustainability, social responsibility, pollution and regeneration from a post-environmentalist approach. Where the historical environmental movement isolates the environment from other aspects of life, post-environmentalists contend that climate change and the ecological crises that we face today can only be addressed if we consider their intrinsic connection to wider social, political and economic forces. The exhibition connects the dertien hectare site to a former cigar factory in the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, examining the near and far reaching consequences of industrial processes.
Using the two sites as a research terrain and platform, The woods that see and hear exhibition aims to activate a conscious engagement with, and curiosity about, our relationship with the land and the world we occupy — as individuals, as members of a community, and as global citizens.
About the curator: Sarah Farrar (New Zealand, 1980) is a curator and art writer based in Amsterdam and London. From 2007-08 she participated in the Curatorial Programme at De Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam. Before moving to the Netherlands, Sarah was employed as a curator at City Gallery Wellington, a contemporary art museum in New Zealand, where she worked from 2003-07. Sarah has curated over thirty exhibitions of contemporary art, design and architecture and has contributed texts for international art magazines including Frieze (UK), Metropolis M (NL), Artlink (AU), and art publications in New Zealand, the Netherlands and Belgium.
dertien hectare is a Dutch art organisation that presents an outdoor exhibition every two years in the rural area of Heeswijk-Bernheze, outside the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the south of the Netherlands. The exhibition site is a former farm that is being transformed into a regenerating forest, influenced by changing national and European environmental policies. In this shifting landscape, dertien hectare presents work by international contemporary artists.
EVENTS
Saturday 29 May 2010, 4 pm
Opening reception
Sunday 6 June: 3 – 5 pm
The forest as witness – panel discussion
Saturday 19 June: from 8 pm
Midsummer night’s dream – special late night event with film screenings and performances
More information about the events programme is featured on www.dertienhectare.nl
Press contact: Nathalie Hartjes, e: nathalie@dertienhectare.nl / t: 0032 499 705 116