Marte Mei van Haaster’s work explores the relationship between ceramics, the landscape, and water as part of a wider ecosystem. Two examples of this – Will Water Want and Artificial Earth pt. II – are displayed in or near the recently excavated pond at REST, with both works reflecting on human interventions in nature and the possibility of collaboration with natural processes. Will Water Want is a series of glass sculptures that react to the river currents and fluctuating water level: depending on the height at which they are placed, water either flows through the glass bubbles or leaves them untouched. Artificial Earth pt. II, a work created specifically for this exhibition, is a ceramic object made from clay obtained from the edge of the pond. It takes its shape from an Olla, a traditional porous ceramic jar used for irrigation by burying it in the soil and filling it with water, which in this instance occurs automatically whenever it rains. Buried in the driest spot on the site, this Olla functions as a silent ally of the landscape. Both works are part of Van Haaster’s broader investigation into the ways in which ceramics – as hardening earth – can contribute to the recovery and well-being of the beyond-human world.

From the performance Grond by Joeso Peters, Illustere Figuren:

Steps out of compost bin, to piano. MUSIC D–GM–A. Diminished a/c/d etc.

‘Strange feeling that, in a place where you’ve never been and where you don’t speak the Frisian language, you can still feel so grounded. Feel connected.
That I feel the urge to understand what lies beneath my feet and how to navigate it best.

Warns has water, farmland, nice and stupid people, windmills and godwits. Two and a half churches, a school, a gym, a community center, a cultural center,
a village garden, a general practice, two little harbors, a pub I’ve never been to and that always seems closed, an online store.

Those are always closed too. A campsite, a gym, a garage, and a whole lot of farmers. In summer, groups of motorcyclists ride past every day and there’s
what we call the German invasion. In winter, it’s deserted and windy.

And all of that on a patch of cover sand from a glacier, washed-up clay from a vanished sea, and a partly self-made layer of earth.’

MUSIC GROND Blackout END

— Joeso Peters, theatre maker

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