The Ultraperipheric

I’m invited to respond to The Ultraperipheric in Drenthe in The Netherlands. (supported by the Mondriaan Fund)

Artists: Jasmijn Visser, Susanne Kriemann, Jeremiah Day, Paloma Polo, Marjolijn Dijkman
Curators: Anne Reenders (LAC), Theo Tegelaers and Nils van Beek (TAAK)
Locations: Peripheral areas around the world
Partners: Land Art Contemporary (LAC), SKOR | Foundation for Art and Public Domain, Province of Drenthe, European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas (LEADER), City of Coevorden, City of Emmen, Cultuurfonds BNG, and the Sanders-Ten Holte family.

The Project
Within the project ‘The Ultraperipheric’ contemporary artists respond to the ideas of land artist Robert Smithson (1938–73). Smithson created the famous art work Broken Circle/Spiral Hill in Emmen just over 40 years ago, in 1971. Exhibitions and an extensive side programme part of the project so far provided insights into the history and the influence of this work and its creator. In 1971, Smithson started to work on a film about the project, but it was never completed because of his untimely death. Nancy Holt and a Dutch film crew completed the film. A series of art assignments relating to the peripheral areas started in 2012.

The Art Works
The artists have been asked to produce a work (in which the relation between the work and its documentation can be played out) that will somehow define the central or peripheral qualities of the location, be it from geographical, political or social perspectives. They will research the socio-political, legal, economic, psychological, historiographic and representational conditions of the site to expose and counter the mechanisms that are responsible for its current precarious condition, and possibly come up with different interpretations and ideas for land use.

See for more information:
The Ultraperipheric
TAAK