exhibition view • Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam (NL), 2015 [photo: Klemen Ilovar]

exhibition view • Burgerweeshuis, Amsterdam (NL), 2015 [photo: Klemen Ilovar]

exhibition view • Marres Currents #3: sightseeing, Marres aan de Maas, Maastricht (NL), 2016 [photo: PH. GP. van Rooij]

film still • 20:27

film still • 07:34

film still • 10:57

The Dutch Mountain
two-channel video installation
16:9 full HD 50p, 40:00 min
2015

Imagine: a mountain, smack-dab in the middle of a polder, within the landscape of the Netherlands. The horizontal interjected with the vertical. Flatness disrupted by height. It is an amalgam of landscapes we see before us, of flora and fauna. This fantasy is not as delirious as it might seem, given how the Dutch are continuously re-designing and shaping their environment, working with and against the ever-present water. The Dutch Mountain is a realistic work of 'science fiction' that plays with the fine line between fiction and reality. It is assembled through fragments of inhabited landscapes and conversations with experts in the field. Their detailed descriptions of how the mountain will look, how it will be maintained, and the influence it might have on the surrounding environment does in fact materialize the mountain in the mind of the viewer, makes it come alive.

Cinematographer and Film editor
Mirte van Duppen
Text editor
Lotte Lentes
Text translation
Anneriek van Laarhoven
Sound
Benedikt Wöppel
Voices
Ben Apeldoorn, Emiel Schäfer, Ewout Eggink, Fred Dekker, Gijs de Heij, Hennie Spronk, Kees Oudheusden, Robert Jan Peters, Peter van der Weij

Text based on interviews with Ernst van Alphen Professor of Literary Studies – Department of Film and Literary Studies – Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society, Johan Greve Technical Government official & Head official housing corporation Almere, Niels Kreuk Vertically cultivating farmer, Maatschap Kreuk, Els Molenaar Leisure specialist, Blauw Research B.V., Jan Nagel Birdwatcher, Landschapsbeheer Flevoland, Jeroen Reinhold Biologist/ ecologist, Landschapsbeheer Flevoland, Dr. Stephan de Roode Climatologist – Assistant professor – Research themes: Clouds, Atmosphere, TU Delft University of Technology, Jan Willem Farmer, NoordOostpolder

Landscapes Amsterdam (Amsterdamse bos & Decathlon & NS station), Andijk (Maatschap Kreuk), Biddinghuizen, Delft (TU Delft), Dronten, Groningen (Bjoeks), Leiden (de Bult), Lelystad (Landschapsbeheer Flevoland & Lelystad Airport), Mierlo (Gulbergen Golf), Rotterdam (Blauw & ZOO Blijdorp), Tilburg (Tivoli Garage), Wassenaar (Meijendel)

Clouds in a box TU Delft
Climbers Elsa Foskea, Misha Martinovic
Gulbergen Golfclub Manager, Rachel and Marshall, Mimi

Special thanks to Rob Schröder, Daniel van der Velden, Astrid Vorstermans, Chris Keulemans, Ivo van Stiphout, Jan Kees van Kampen, Frans Damen, Giada Fiorindi, Hein van Duppen, Jan van Duppen, Johanna Nocke, Mirjam Damen, Rebekka Fries

Sandberg Instituut, 2015