What Do Landscapes Say? | 2020
What Do Landscapes Say? was a collective of 9 artists and makers based in Russia and the Netherlands with backgrounds in architecture, visual and sound art, writing, urbanism and graphic design. Using diverse media, we aimed to create speculative landscape narratives in multiple locations in Russia to challenge human-centered perceptions of landscape. The multiplicity of viewpoints reflects the need for new approaches to landscape, ones that are not based in an exploitative, property-based view of the land as a workshop for human endeavors. Instead, our intention was to initiate more intimate dialogues with landscapes by using local contexts as starting points. Through creating alternatives to established landscape narratives, we aimed to build a platform of research, exchange and public engagement.
Throughout a research period of a year and a half , we sought out encounters with places both in Russia and the Netherlands. Rich in boundless stretches of land, Russia’s landscape may on the surface look nothing like that of the Netherlands, where every inch of the environment is optimized. Yet individual stories can uncover those areas where utilitarian approaches to these vastly different landscapes share a common ground.
The cross disciplinary group included: Ksenia Kopalova (illustrator), Maria Malkova (graphic designer), Mascha Kremer (architect), Nataly Lakhtina (sound artist), Polina Veidenbakh (architect), Rachel Bacon (artist), Radha Smith (writer), Vera Mennens (artist) and Yue Mao (urbanist).
What Do Landscapes Say? was made possible by Creative Industries Fund NL, Mondriaan Fund and Stroom Den Haag; final exhibitions were held in Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam in September 2020, and Na Peschanoy Gallery, Moscow in November, 2020.
