Vertel me its over jou Zuyderzee (tell me about your South sea)

I started walking around Zuiderzee with my two feet. There was no clear target. I just had to put myself there in order to see what I found. Before going I became completely drawn into the vast amount of information about Zuiderzee through media, the museum and the internet. This is a very high speed and practical way to reach to certain information about what they want me to know. In the 20th century it is said that people get more freedom and independency by having mobile phones, e-mail, community sites, free internet information, hacking, truth and transarency etc etc. The information is quick to find but at the same time I am not sure if these sources can give me what I want to know. I began to get the sense of the gap between reality and media. And as I thought about it my legs were slowly making steps towards the direction of the north of Amsterdam. I heard a call from the lake the kind of which I had never heard before. I decided to follow my intuition. I should be willing to find something I have never before found. I start to feel excited about the Dutch nature, made by the Dutch.

I made two walks, the first one was

from Durgendam to Marken, about 21km, 27.Nov (cold but less wind)

 

The second one was

from Aandijk to Medemblik about 10km 30.Nov (windy, snow)

 

The first walk; my emotion was changing all the time while walking. Before finding my location on my map , I had big worries about being in an unknown place. When I reached Durgendam , I started to feel very excited as if I was a little explorer walking towards the middle of the water. I was next to the lake, it was very calm and everything felt to be in a very large scale. It was like being inside of mothers belly. It is only me and nature. I felt very relaxed. After a couple of hours I was passing by Uit dam the sun is getting low and I still have to walk 10 km more, there is only one way to reach home. I don’t know if I can make it. The sky becomes completely dark and my path is in complete darkness, muddy and wet. There is no light to brighten up my way home. I don’t know if I can make it but I don’t have any other choice. ….. I felt fear for the first time in the Netherlands against an unknown nature. I never had this feeling before here. Then I see a small small light running from west to east, the rest of my view is completely dark, it is running fast, but from this distance it looks as a film in slow motion. It’s a bus to Amsterdam! I can go home I thought!

The second walk was on the snow I almost felt I could fly by the strength of the wind from the North sea. I was excited in the beginning with all my protection against the weather. But after one hour of walking, I could not stand the coldness anymore and decided to smoke. This was the worst decision. I tried to light the cigarette over and over again but the wind never allowed me to. I became more and more stubborn and kept trying for 10 minutes. I failed. All the waters around this area were frozen. This was a beautiful part of the walk but was also a very tough one.

During the two walks, I faced to the wildness of nature. Dutch nature. I discovered a Dutch Scenery of the heart. My journey to Zuiderzee has just started and I would like to continue it. I don’t know when it will be finished but I prefer to keep it open without limit. I am quite excited to find more scenery of the heart here and discover myself in the Netherlands. At the end of this trip I would like to return all of my experiences to Zuiderzee. This is one way to meet Netherlands, I believe.

Sound installation

Sound was collected in the Netherlands

 Commissioned by Zuiderzee Museum  Enkhuizen  The Netherlands

2011

 zuider zee museum zuider zee vertelsuider zee