Aarden in de PolderNL
Aarden in de Polder can be translated into English as Rerooting in the Polder - a new multi-year cycle of works by Wapke Feenstra and collaborators explore the re-rooting in the Dutch polder, beginning with a pilot year in 2025.
To land again, to find ground—not only beneath our feet, but within. Where do we truly live? After leaving, drifting, or being pulled away—how do we return?
The central theme for Myvillages in the coming years is rerooting for everyone. Where do we actually live? Unstable peat and sticky clay, sand ridges and rivers. Sink or swim. It doesn't always feel safe here. How can we find a footing, both figuratively and mentally, amid the sometimes polarizing turmoil in this delta? Landing here and taking root in the polder is a desire because you were gone, had to leave, and now want to put down roots (again).
A polder is land reclaimed from a body of water and protected by dikes. The word originates from the Netherlands, where this type of landscape is very common. Polders are kept dry through a continuous system of pumps, canals, and dikes. This makes a polder a carefully managed collaboration between humans and nature, requiring constant maintenance to prevent flooding.
This project is supported by VriendenLoterij and Mondriaan Fonds.
| Region | Dutch Polders |
|---|---|
| Local partners |
|
| Population | Multi-species |
| Common fruit, vegetables, animals | Cows, water birds, meadow plants |
| Tradition | Pumping Water |
| Scent | wet soil |
| Distances from Aarden in de Polder | Distances |
From September 27 to November 16, Aarden in De Polder / Rerooting in the Polder will be presented at Casco Art Institute. Alongside the exhibition, there is also a program of public events. Learn more about it HERE.
In early June, Rotterdam residents from RSoE went on a day trip to the island of Voorne-Putten. The visit was organized by Inez Dekker, who grew up there. For most of the group it was the first time setting foot on the island, despite it being so close to Rotterdam.
Our tour took us along the northern and western parts of Voorne-Putten, where we listened to personal stories from locals, including a 101-year-old former dune gardener and a part-time arable farmer. Digging through the island's various layers, we learned that peat was once dug for salt, heard snippets of the Rockanese dialect, and experienced the island's dynamism and the enthusiasm of its inhabitants.
The day left us inspired, and we’re eager to keep exploring and learning more about the island.
Potatoes are on our minds! On May 3 the first public event of the Lieve Aardappel (“Dear Potato”) project took place near Axel and Hulst. Wapke Feenstra, along with Sophia and Julia van der Putten (artistic directors of the @zeelanding.festival ), co-organized this gathering with farmer Martin Dekker. They invited artists, friends, and local residents to learn more about the region’s potato culture through barn visits, field walks, and conversations with farmers at both organic and conventional arable farms.
Potatoes are among the most widely grown crops in this Dutch-Flemish border region. As Wapke notes, if you're familiar with potatoes, you can speak about them as you would about fine wine; some people can even taste the differences between soils.
In early April, Indra Gleizde and Zoé Crevoisier were invited by Wapke Feenstra to Meta Knol's farm. They were given just one instruction: connect with the landscape and film whatever caught their attention.
What and how do artists and academic researchers see? How can we work together?
In early April, following an earlier visit from researchers at WUR to the Soils exhibition at Van Abbemuseum, Inez Dekker and Wapke Feenstra organized another rich day of dialogue. This time inviting members of our network to visit the researchers.
Early in the day, during a visit to the experimental strip cropping fields, we learned that the greatest diversity of insects and animals is found at the meeting points between different crops. It illustrated how resilience can emerge through experimentation with the edges.
Throughout the day, we explored ongoing research in crop diversification, forest gardens, animal wellbeing, and insect-based experiments. The day concluded with presentations from both social scientists and artists, who shared insights into their working methods. Intuition, narrative, and attentiveness to interactions - something we all use to explore our respective fields, even if enacted in different ways.
The event brought together creatives involved in the Aarden in de Polder/ Re-Rooting in the Polder project: including Wapke Feenstra, Inez Dekker, Indra Gleizde , Charles Esche, Meta Knol,Casco Art Institute. And special thanks to Animal Production Systems Group, Knowledge, Technology and Innovation group, Lab of Entomology and the CropMix project in Wageningen University.
Why Do We Want to Re-Root in the Polder?
The current Dutch landscape reflects Dutch culture and has been shaped primarily by those who had the power to intervene. What they deemed "good" was decisive. Thinking that that we were "doing well" by producing large quantities of food at a low price has shaped our landscape.
It's time to develop different visions of "the good life" and more diverse relationships with the landscape. In the pilot year, Myvillages will give a voice to other stakeholders, such as the soil and water, and the many people and animals. Driven by imagination, we will bring together newcomers and native Dutch people in polder landscapes. Our multidisciplinary team will use artistic methods to actively explore for a year how holistic and migrant worldviews, among others, can also play a role in new landscape visions and future designs for environmental visions. What will we learn if we allow more viewpoints, and how will it change our landscape?
In 2025, it is imperative to move beyond the central vision of modernity (and the idea of progress) and to develop diverse perspectives on culture and nature in the polder landscape, precisely by engaging with culture, agriculture, and nature in a multivocal way. This project aims to create (fragile) shared spaces where city and countryside, from here and from far away, art and science, etc., develop a layered vision of the Dutch landscape. So, not opposition, but stacking, overlapping, and commoning . The goal is to develop artistic methods that, through gaining new experiences in the polder, will create multivocal future visions of the envisioned "good life." To generate critical reflections on our current self-images together, by learning to see what the Dutch landscape was, is, and can be. With Re-Rooting in the Polder we aim to intensify the intrinsic connection between culture, agriculture, and nature for everyone involved.
| Region | Dutch Polders |
|---|---|
| Local partners |
|
| Population | Multi-species |
| Common fruit, vegetables, animals | Cows, water birds, meadow plants |
| Tradition | Pumping Water |
| Scent | wet soil |
| Distances from Aarden in de Polder | Distances |