Flashforward
year: 2017
dimensions: 3 hectare
duration: 2017 to 2020
technique/materials: landart/grass seeds, agricultural foil
location: Oosterhoutsedijk, future city district Hof van Holland, Nijmegen/Lent
Nijmegen has a rich history of development and devastation, thanks to its strategic location on the Waal river. Nearly every urban renewal and expansion reveals subterranean archaeological finds. During the development of the forthcoming Hof van Holland district perhaps traces will be unearthed again, saying something about the changes this area has already undergone throughout the centuries. It might possibly encounter the remnants of dwellings and graves of farmers who settled around the Griftdijk during the Stone Age.
Flashforward is a piece of landart initiating reflection on the past, present and future of the landscape at Hof van Holland. The artwork looks forward to the distant future, when the yet to be realized building plans for Hof van Holland have long been relegated to history. The houses, flats and their inhabitants will have long disappeared by then, and plants and animals will have taken over the area. Anything still remaining of the district will be subtly visible in the landscape: building foundations and the sewerage system stand out, because the vestiges of subterranean buildings influence the way grass grows. The outlines in the landscape - a phenomenon termed 'crop marks' in archaeology - is caused by artificially applied differences in the pasture's soil. Flashforward shows that each change, however rigorous it may now seem, is a part of a cycle of flowering and decay. Communities come and go, nature and culture alternate.
Flashforward was commissioned by the municipality of Nijmegen, for the art route along the Waal river.
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