Ecotoon
(click for more information)2026
Sound & Installation
Bewaerschole
OPENING ECOTOON 15/08 14:30
The Bewaerschole invited me to spent a month on Schouwen-Duiveland for their programme ‘Moving Along with the Environment’. This programme is about the moment of disruption we are currently experiencing: climate change, epidemics, migration flows, and the energy transition. Artists are invited to reflect on these themes, shifting from seeing humans as the central actors to seeing humanity as part of the fabric of all living things—not as a separate entity, but as part of nature.
For a month, I lived and worked on Schouwen-Duiveland. Walking, sitting still, listening. To the wind blowing , seagulls diving for fish, sand scraping, water that sometimes sounds loud and then soft again. Listening with my ears, with my feet: to the ecotone: the places where water and land meet. This resulted in a sound work featuring sounds from soil and water. Grevelingenmeer, the creeks, the front row of a morning concert at Plan Tureluur. And, of course, members of choir Zilt from Burgh-Haamstede.
During my residency, Maike Hemmers came by several times. We walked together across the island and had long conversations about how to listen with the body. These conversations led to a new, independent work by Maike, developed especially for this exhibition: a textile sculpture that serves as a soft surface for listeners to sit or lie on.
The work is inspired by Polaris (1987) by Martin Wong, a painting depicting a group of children playing marbles in a circle on a map showing a constellation in the night sky. The sculpture translates this image into a physical place—a surface where visitors, like the children in the painting, gather and turn toward something together.
The fabric is dyed with indigo and plants, most of which come from the garden of Youri Guepin in Nesse, Terneuzen. The patterns were created by wrapping the textile around stones. The surface has been treated with clay and soil from Schouwen-Duiveland.
You are very welcome to come and listen. The opening is on 15 August at 2:30 PM, and the exhibition will be on view until 11 October. During this period, there will also be a number of special concerts and listening sessions. Keep an eye on De Bewaerschole for the programme.
Photo by Annelies Verhelst