Shadow Floriade

Testing ground for art and ecology & 50 years Amstelpark | 22 April – 16 October

On 22 April, Earth Day, the Shadow Floriade started at Zone2Source in the Amstelpark. The extensive artistic, public programme, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Amstelpark (Floriade 1972), consists of exhibitions, excursions, workshops and new art installations in the park.

The Shadow Floriade runs parallel to the Floriade 2022 in Almere, but unlike the horticultural exhibition, in the Amstelpark the public is invited to experience new imaginings and experiences of nature, especially its lesser-known shadow side. In the shadow side, we seek the intimate, the vulnerable, and explore what it means to be human on a multi-species planet.

The 1972 Floriade took place in the same year that the report by The Club of Rome (founded by European scientists), The limits to growth (1972), was published. For the first time, it became widely known that there is an expiry date on the earth and global environmental awareness rose. At the Floriade of 1972, the largest international horticultural exhibition up to that time, there was little evidence of this. Now, fifty years later, a lot has changed and Zone2Source wants to highlight this with the Shadow Floriade.

In times of ecological crisis, can a park be a place to forge new relationships with nature?

Find all Shadow Floriade events below:

Soil Talks

Lectures, conversations and interventions about soil Friday Sempteber 16, 14:00 – 18:00 start at Het Glazen Huis. SOIL TALKS takes place in the context of Our Living Soil, with lectures …Read more

The Amstelpark: The trees narrate their story by Elmo Vermijs

Orangerie | September 4– October 16, 2022 | Part of the Shadow Floriade
The trees of municipal park Amstelpark take centre stage in this project. Initially planted for the occasion of the 1972 Floriade, the trees have been the silent witnesses to global warming. The project consists of a LivingLab and the Parliament for Trees.

Eureka!

EUREKA! by The Warp is a tour on October 1st and 2nd through the dark of the Beatrixpark presenting eight unique works by Joost Rekveld, Matthijs Munnik, Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand, Vladimir Grafov, Zalan Szakacs, Daniela De Paulis, Mint Park, BMB con: Justin Bennett & Roelf Toxopeus.

Building as Being – Animal pavilion workshops by ZOOOF & Esmee Geerken

For the Shadow Floriade, Zone2Source invited ZOOOF (Zoo of the Future) and Esmee Geerken to give a series of workshops on 29 May, 10 July and 2 October about building for and with the animal inhabitants of the Amstelpark. Together we will investigate the history and future of the Amstelpark, where animals find a semi-temporary and voluntary place to live in growing pavilions. Listen, research and build with us!

Our Living Soil, exhibition about our relationship with soil

Exhibition from 10 July –  18 September, 2022 as part of the Shadow Floriade. With projects by masharu, Kate Foster, Miek Zwamborn & Rutger Emmelkamp, Jasper Coppes and Esmee Geerken, Jacqueline Heerema & RePeat, Debra Solomon en De Onkruidenier.

Shadow Garden with the Onkruidenier

Collective the Onkruidenier (consisting of Ronald Boer, Jonmar van Vlijmen and Rosanne van Wijk) will begin the development of The Shadow Garden in the walled Belgium Cloister garden – put …Read more

Universe by Robbert van der Horst

Universe is a research machine, an observatory, that rotates and from which we take in new perspectives on the environment. The outdoor work is next to the pond. We are invited to reflect on the surrounding social, physical and historical landscape and to anchor our sense of place. Universe is an existing work that Robbert will adapt especially for the Shadow Floriade and the Amstelpark.

Contemplatorium: area for unknown rituals by Rob Sweere

The Contemplatorium is a combination between sculpture, landscape design and experiential art that is modular and can continue to evolve and manifest itself in the natural environment of a park. The outdoor work is placed deep in the Amstelpark, next to the Amstel river, past the Stadshout Pavilion and next to the Vlindertuin.

Camera Obscura by Rick Abelen

The Camera Obscura is a darkened space where the outside world enters upside down through a hole in the wall. As a precursor to photography – but a technique where there is still a direct connection with the environment – the installation takes the form of a folding camera. The outdoor work stands near the conifer garden on the north side, next to the footpath, overlooking the pond. The pond plays a role as well: the reflection of the landscape on the water is part of the artwork.

Future Gardening workshop

16 July 2022, 14.00 – 17.00 hrs | Rietveldhuis | Part of Our Living Soil Peat soils forms very slowly but it is still exploited for the horticultural industry faster …Read more

Perfect Nature: Amstelpark Test Site

Exhibition in and around het Glazen Huis from 22 April –  19 June, 2022 as part of the Shadow Floriade. With Neal White, Tina O’Connell, Uriel Orlow and a film programma by May Adadol Ingawanij and Julian Ross.

Opening Shadow Floriade

On Friday, April 22 from 16:00 – 19:00 is the opening of Shadow Floriade. On this day the new exhibition Perfect Nature: Amstelpark Test Site will open, the launch of the Schaduwtuin …Read more

Ode to the gardener by Irene Fortuyn

Videopresentation Ode aan de Tuinman / Ode to the Gardener by Irene Fortuyn in the windows of het Rietveldhuis, daily from 22 April 2022 as part of the Shadow Floriade programme. The video connects the viewer to the often invisible part of the park. Central figure is Nico van der Ree – who was garderer in the Amstelpark from 1971 until his retirement in 2016.