Standplaats Vlieland
Artist residency hosted by Into The Great Wide Open, Hi-Lo and Museum Tromp’s Huys
My research on Vlieland focuses on the relationship between humans and nature in a landscape entirely shaped by the tides. The Wadden Sea shows us, every day, the cyclical character of the world: water recedes and returns, sandbanks appear and disappear, birds and people follow each other in temporary patterns. At the same time, this landscape is under pressure from human decisions: climate change, gas extraction, fisheries, tourism, and pollution alter its ecological balance. The Wadden Sea is always in motion, but that movement is not always self-evident or positive. By working with real-time tidal data from Rijkswaterstaat, I aim to translate these rhythms and transformations into an installation that not only embodies the cyclical nature of the Wadden but also makes the vulnerability of this ecosystem tangible.
A short note about this page: I’m using it to document and share my process. Everything I do, research, create, or discover is collected here. The page runs chronologically from top to bottom. It may feel chaotic, but that’s what the process is like on the way to creating this work.
For the next six weeks I will be living on the island, carrying out my research directly on site.
In humans, the biological clock mainly follows a circadian rhythm of about 24 hours, tuned to the cycle of day and night. This clock, located in the brain, regulates processes such as sleep, alertness, and hormone release. In marine animals like shrimp and cockles, however, there is also a tidal clock, which runs on the rhythm of the tides (around 12.5 hours). This allows them to adjust feeding or protective behaviors to changes in water levels. It shows how biological rhythms adapt to the specific environment of each species.
A sequence of images shows the shoreline shifting seaward, revealing mudflats, sand ridges, and winding channels.
Tap above to read research article about human-nature relations
Running a first test with motors triggered by real-time waterlevels
Real-time tidal data from Rijkswaterstaat, measured in the harbor of Vlieland. For now, I'm using this source.
These observations have led me to consider the tide itself as a kind of clock. My aim is to create an installation that is guided by the circatidal cycle. The work will breathe with the sea, responding to forces beyond human control, and in doing so, propose another way of experiencing time: fluid, adaptive, and inseparable from the environment that sustains it.
A first test made of cardboard and thread.
Anthropocentrism places humans at the center, turning nature into backdrop and resource; a worldview driving both climate crisis and our growing sense of disconnection. Yet the tidal rhythms resist such separation: the flow of water reminds us that we are not apart, but always already entangled in larger forces.
Jellyfish embody an alternative way of being: they live almost indistinguishable from the water around them, ‘like water in water’. They suggest a mode of existence where the boundary between organism and environment dissolves, an image that contrasts sharply with human fantasies of separateness and control.
A first test of my wave mechanism worked best as a horizontal piece, seen from above. To bring the wave vertical, I drew on my animation background and explored how to “animate” a flat surface in the physical world. The result is simple: twelve wooden planks hang from threads, their other ends fixed to a rotating latch on a small motor. As the latch turns, it pulls each thread in sequence and creates the illusion of a moving wave.
WIP of a model made of wood (a bit sturdier material than cardboard). A small motor drives the pointer. Next challenge: I have to find a way to attach the threads to the tip and still be able to rotate freely.
I like how the circle with the latch recalls the clock we are so familiar with. Since I want to use the circatidial rhythm for this installation, the mechanism inspired a new idea: a tidal wave that reveals and conceals parts of the work. In the simple animation on the right, you see crosses appear and disappear within the black surface, just as the tide hides and reveals sandbanks in the Waddensea.
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