What Do Landscapes Say?
'What Do Landscapes Say?' explores how art and critical artistic research might inform the development of diverse urban environments by looking at landscapes.
3 September 2020 11:00 - 15 October 2020 18:00
Whether we quantify and confine our environment in shaping it to our will, leave it to its natural processes, or flatten and exploit it to satisfy our needs, our approach to the landscape trickles down into the development of the cities we inhabit, the industries we work in, and the societies in which we live.
The categorising frames which dominate approaches to inclusivity are often at odds with the true diversity of an environment, making it questionable whether we can ever come to really know a place through such methods of generalisation. The art of noticing and reflecting on relevant details outside such common frameworks can be a valuable resource for learning about diversity. Through various media, Nomaos probes questions such as: does the design of specific public structures reinforce the socio-economic divide between large cities and the periphery? And in what ways are 'natural' landscapes re-arranged so as to represent a certain identity?
About Nomaos
Research collective Nomaos is a cross-disciplinary group of architects, artists, illustrators, designers, urbanists and writers who, in their individual practice or background, navigate disciplines as divergent as geology and sociology, mathematics and history. In their method of working, the encounter with the landscape is a form of collaboration - just as in artistic expression, where disciplines, identities and ideas meet and work together.
For a research period of one year_, _Nomaos sought encounters with places in Russia and the Netherlands. Rich in boundless stretches of land, Russia's landscape looks, on the surface, nothing like that of the Netherlands, where every inch of the environment is optimised. Yet individual stories can uncover those areas where utilitarian approaches to these vastly different landscapes share a common ground.
Opening talk
View the opening talk of What Do Landscapes Say?, broadcasted on Thursday 3 September, via the video below. On this evening, research collective Nomaos gave an onine panel discussion about the research process and collaboration behind the project, including a small virtual walk through the exhibition. Research coordinator Yue Mao and curator Naomi van Dijck moderated the discussion with 9 contributing artists.
What Do Landscapes Say?_ is made possible by Creative Industries Fund NL, the Mondriaan Fund and Stroom. The closing exhibitions take place in Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam and Na Peschanoy Gallery, Moscow._
Het Nieuwe Instituut and Landscape
Het Nieuwe Instituut has a rich history of projects related to this topic, within the theme Landscape and Interior. Click here for an overview.
Curator
Coordinator
Polina Veidenbakh, Yue Mao
Producer
Naomi van Dijck, Yue Mao
Exhibition designer
Maria Kremer
Graphic designer
Maria Malkova, Daria Nikulina
Contributing artists
- Rachel Bacon
- Ksenia Kopalova
- Maria Kremer
- Nataly Lakhtina
- Maria Malkova
- Yue Mao
- Vera Mennens
- Radha Smith
- Polina Veidenbakh