residence project on Vlieland, initiated by Into The Great Wide Open, Museum Tromp’s Huys, and Hi-Lo. The project has a focus on the entire Wadden area, but from one beautiful location: the island of Vlieland.
residence project on Vlieland, initiated by Into The Great Wide Open, Museum Tromp’s Huys, and Hi-Lo. The project has a focus on the entire Wadden area, but from one beautiful location: the island of Vlieland.
Location Vlieland
residence project on Vlieland, initiated by Into The Great Wide Open, Museum Tromp’s Huys, and Hi-Lo. The project has a focus on the entire Wadden area, but from one beautiful location: the island of Vlieland.
The location of Vlieland is a collaboration between the festival Into The Great Wide Open (ITGWO), Museum Tromp's Huys, and Hi-Lo. Since 2009, ITGWO has been organising its festival on Vlieland every year at the end of the summer holiday. Alongside music, visual arts are also a significant thematic pillar. Since the first edition, the festival has developed a special bond with Museum Tromp's Huys.
This museum, located in the oldest residential house on the island, was the home of Norwegian sea painter Betzy Akersloot-Berg from 1896 to 1922. It is one of the few remaining artists' houses in the Netherlands. Hi-Lo is a relatively young organisation that emerged in 2020 from the arts programme of Into The Great Wide Open, with the ambition to exhibit visual arts for longer and in a more prominent way - not only in Vlieland, but throughout the entire Wadden region.
Together, ITGWO, Museum Tromp’s Huys, and Hi-Lo have taken the initiative to enable artists to make optimal use of the unique opportunities that Vlieland can offer them, an artist in residence project under the banner of Standplaats Vlieland. Into The Great Wide Open is taking the lead in this.
Highlighted
artists
Anne Fehres & Luke Conroy
‘Bottled Up’
Anne Fehres and Luke Conroy are collaborating on the project Bottled Up. As an interdisciplinary duo, they will work together during all phases of the research and production, drawing on their specific expertise – Anne in film and audiovisual design, and Luke in sociology, visual arts, and education.
Bottled Up will be an audiovisual and interactive installation in which plastic water bottles engage in a fictional and playful conversation. The bottles share their 'life stories', addressing current themes such as climate change, water management, and the impact of waste on the ecosystem of the Wadden Sea area. The installation combines digital collage techniques, video, sound, and performance, and is informed by conversations with scientists and experts.
Jikke Lesterhuis
‘The Cycle of the Wadden Sea’
Jikke Lesterhuis is a Dutch artist who focuses on puppet theatre and animation, two art forms in which transformation is central. Her work breathes life into the lifeless, transforming everyday objects into characters that think, feel and connect.
During her residency, she explores the cyclical nature of the Wad in her project The Cycle of the Wad. Inspired by her own experience as a sailor on the Wadden, she creates a performance in which humans are not just spectators of nature but are inextricably linked to it. Using stop-motion animation and puppets, she brings the stories of the Wad to life, with an eye for the interaction between humans and nature.
Mels from Zutphen
‘Sound of the Wadden Sea’
Mels van Zutphen focuses on film, photography, and audio-visual installations. Nature and science are a significant source of inspiration for this Dutch artist. By observing, documenting, and staging, he seeks to challenge our perception of ‘reality’. With this, he wants to showcase both the beauty and absurdity of the human urge to explain the world around us.
During his project Sound of the Tides, he focuses on the science and natural processes of the Wadden area and translates the continuous process of erosion, sedimentation, and tidal movements into a sound work. Using field recordings and data, he creates a dynamic sound sculpture, complemented by a live performance and video recording, through which he makes the hidden rhythms and patterns of the Wadden area audible.
