Astrid Nobel

A day after my mother had had a cerebral infarction and was just able to talk a little again, she pointed somewhere under the ceiling in the hospital room and suddenly said resolutely: "They broke through the Wadden dike there." It seemed as if the hemispheres of her brain had separated and were sliding past each other to be readjusted to reality. That same morning I had read an article about the plan to let the Wadden Sea into Holwerd. But no one could know that. According to the article, the idea of consciously breaking a dike required a different way of thinking.

photo: Sander van Wettum

photo: Sander van Wettum

photo: Sander van Wettum

photo: Sander van Wettum

photo: melklokaal

Next to the cycle path and on a dune edge, two fixed bronze monoculars on pedestals are aimed at the two towers of the village, both former beacons for seafaring. The monocular with a lens made from a lighthouse prism gives a dreamy rainbow-colored image of the lighthouse's body that changes with the amount of sunlight. This prism was part of the optic of the lighthouse of Hollum that was destroyed in the Second World War. The other monocular enlarges a detail in the head of the church tower; from this position the two upper windows are directly opposite each other so it is possible to see straight through. The work emphasizes how the lighthouse as a 'Watcher' and the church tower as a 'Guardian' refer to night and day, past and future. As long-standing witnesses to changes in the area, in conjunction to each other they function as renewed beacons.

photo: Gert Jan van Rooij

detail

detail

video, 2m23s, loop

Credits to the animals I know, have known and remember who populate the dream world. Dedicated to the animals known, unknown and forgotten who are vanishing or have disappeared forever.

photo: melklokaal

photo: Gert jan van Rooij

photo: Csilla Klenyánszki

photo: melklokaal. works: ‘Key to Sier’ and ‘Uncertainty report’ (video at former NAM drilling location, 06m27s, loop)