Art-Residence *Het Lage Noorden 2026 (part1) >>
Art-Residence *Het Lage Noorden 2026
(part 2)
Flexible planning:
Nature reserve, people, animals, objects,
exploring,
gathering new notes, bringing artworks
from the studio (The Hague) to Het Lage Noorden,
with the intention of introducing the
works to a new environment and viewing myself as the
initiator/facilitator/witness.
The lived reality:
the
Wadden Sea region, while walking, on site, with people, through language,
with animals, with objects, with plants,
Question:
What is the purpose of this stay?
What is the purpose of the work?
What does this require of me as a person
and as an artist?
Photo: HET LAGE NOORDEN
Unfinished work brought along.
This accordion-folded drawing was created
during a previous art-residency in Andalusia in 2025.
Here in The Low North, it now lies draped
over a drying rack.
I hang the green bag in which the work
was packed on a string that happened to be hanging there by chance.
After a walk through the salt marshes of
the Wadden Sea region,
I add new sketch notes to these ‘Aide-Mémoires’. Photo: Maartje Meerman
(detail) Among the sketch notes from other
places in another time,
there is now also a sketch made with
Wadden clay
(detail) I created a second sketch as an
Aide-Mémoires
inspired by bird footprints in the clay
and mouse tracks in the grass.
Jeu des Aide Mémoires
Stills from a video in which I try to
move with the accordion fold shape.
One day, I tested this idea.
A ‘Jeu de Aide Mémoires’
Filed under: aide_memoires_homo_ludens_erf
Drawing brought along and hung in the project space
of Lage Noorden
Breathe in – breathe out 7-2020 - 2025
Filed under: aide_memoires_portrait_erf
In the foreground (photo top right) the cut-off section 7A of 7- 2020 –
2025
‘Held in place’ by 2 work gloves and a piece of
driftwood I found.
These two pieces, 7 and 7A, were part of an
installation in a display case in Berlin in 2020, in a different form.
(See the earlier installation: I FeMaler,
Berlin 2020.htm)
Detail 7A-2020-2026
During the walk through the salt marshes, I scraped
some mud from the ground
and carved lines into the clay with my knife.
One of the many bird found
carcasses lying in the field.
A rhythmically pulsating accumulation in one of the
flowing streams.
The sheep in the HLN yard (with their fur patterns)
An online festival featuring a short video recording of
the sheep from Het Lage Noorden.
‘Observers dilemma’ (An attempt to be present yet absent) will be available starting
26.4.26.
https://thesmallest.222lodge.nl
More animals in the yard.
Patterns in the clay of the salt marsh
The rubber boots from Het Lage Noorden were hanging
there, waiting to be used.
For example, as “resting in place” holders for the
still-wet clay paintings.
Or:
In a spontaneous moment of collaboration,
Katharina Langer and I took the boots out of their
waiting position and placed them in the space,
keeping in mind the unpredictability of a flock of
birds. The arrangement kept changing
due to our interventions or something unforeseen.
Hanging on the wire is a new work that is still
unfamiliar to me.
Thinking of flowing patterns, undulating formations,
and half-decayed carcasses I saw
during walks across the salt marshes of northern
Friesland.
I added patterns using salt marsh clay over the
existing paint imprints.
This work is going back to the studio in The Hague to
enter the next phase.
I painted the back with paint, marker, and oil pastel
chalk.
The shirt_erf_line
A final “ongoing” work that I brought along to
explore this place,
I see more as a growing collection (of wearable shirts)
with a strong personal connection.
I embellished one of the shirts with a
Wadden-inspired pattern.
In these photos, they’re hanging on the bookshelf at
Het Lage Noorden; they’ll be given a permanent spot.
The shirt_erf_line
collection
Came about in a playful way.
I had the first shirt printed with a car tire tread
pattern by the artist Denis Oudendijk from The Hague
during a festival.
I then further embellished the shirt with symbols and
paint prints and wore it during Platforms Project in Athens in 2019.
I began altering other white shirts.
But after my son outgrew his white dress shirts and
gave them to me, the collection grew.
He wore these shirts professionally in the culinary
world (including as a sommelier and later as a certified wine expert).
I wore some of the altered shirts during performances
and gave others away as gifts.
For the past two years, the shirts have been
available for purchase during special occasions.
In Madrid in 2024, during the Hybrid Art Fair, I
found the art fair’s venue suitable for displaying
and offering the shirts as part of a site-specific
installation.
At the Petit Palace Sta. Barbara, over the course of
4 days, 2 et
The Ant Question
Finally, everyone was given an archive box, which was
returned once it had been refilled.
For more about “The Ant Question,” see the previous
page. <<
These “ants” are somewhere
.
At the end of these four days, I gave the ants
(explorers) shown above to the other
residents.
This has happened quite often over the past few
years.
I collect photos of their new (temporary) homes.
Below are photos of the ink-painted ants and their
new locations.
The ant in this photo by Connie Snoek is here.
The ant in this photo by Katharina Langer
is here.
To be continued…
Photos by Ellen Rodenberg,
Unless otherwise noted, such as:
Katharina Langer, Maartje Meerman, Het Lage Noorden