PALENOPROER 2025
Mixed media I Created by PJ Roggeband & Fanja BoutsThe group show 1en1is1 (1 and 1 is 1), was a 6 month project ending with an exhibition in Arti & Amiciteae. In this project emerging artists were coupled at random with unknown established artists. Four 6 months I worked together with PJ Roggeband, an artist who by chance also considers nature as a central theme in their work. Through intensive studio days and long discussions we created the work: Palenoproer 2025, including a series of guided tours through Amsterdam.
The title ‘Palenoproer’ refers to the so-called palingoproer, a riot from the oppressed working class in 1886, which occured on the doorstep of my current place of residence in Amsterdam. 2025 marks the 750 year existence of Amsterdam. In this work we dive into the forgotten existence of Amsterdam’s most fundamental resident, it’s entire foundation: The building’s ‘palen’, the poles on which the city is built in a swamp-like landscape. In a humoristic approach to the foundation issues of Amsterdam, in which poles are shaped into characters, we touch upon humanity’s problematic relationship with its natural surroundings, both historically and now. Through deep archival research and analyses of Dutch soil, we look into Amsterdam’s tradition of shaping nature to its will, at the vast expense of all other living species. With climate change causing the city’s base to rot at increasing rates, we pose the question: When will humanity start living with nature as a part of it, rather than fighting against its forces?
The ‘tours’ through Amsterdam, starting from the exhibition location, would take visitors to historically relevant locations around the city, such as to spots where houses have sunk away significantly, or to the old peat market where peat, now understood in the muddy landscape as an important carbon sink, was taken to ships, but also little spots where the streets break open because of the trees’ roots fighting force.
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The title ‘Palenoproer’ refers to the so-called palingoproer, a riot from the oppressed working class in 1886, which occured on the doorstep of my current place of residence in Amsterdam. 2025 marks the 750 year existence of Amsterdam. In this work we dive into the forgotten existence of Amsterdam’s most fundamental resident, it’s entire foundation: The building’s ‘palen’, the poles on which the city is built in a swamp-like landscape. In a humoristic approach to the foundation issues of Amsterdam, in which poles are shaped into characters, we touch upon humanity’s problematic relationship with its natural surroundings, both historically and now. Through deep archival research and analyses of Dutch soil, we look into Amsterdam’s tradition of shaping nature to its will, at the vast expense of all other living species. With climate change causing the city’s base to rot at increasing rates, we pose the question: When will humanity start living with nature as a part of it, rather than fighting against its forces?
The ‘tours’ through Amsterdam, starting from the exhibition location, would take visitors to historically relevant locations around the city, such as to spots where houses have sunk away significantly, or to the old peat market where peat, now understood in the muddy landscape as an important carbon sink, was taken to ships, but also little spots where the streets break open because of the trees’ roots fighting force.
24–09–2024