Jacqueline Heerema – Aardtijd / Dagzomen (Earth time / Outcrops)

Participant of Our Living Soil

Jacqueline Heerema continues the research work on Land in Wording that she previously carried out at Zone2Source in the summer of 2020 as part of the Exploded View exhibition (2019 – 2020). In front of the public, a 10-metre deep soil drilling took place, and she invited a geologist, philosopher and historian to tell stories about earth layers that span thousands of years. During a residency at ECKW, she is investigating Aardtijd as a possible outdoor sculpture on Land in Wording (land in the making) as part of a sensitive investigation into our relationship with Earth as a living climatic archive.

Jacqueline researches the phenomenon of ‘time’ and images of nature-culture and climate in the underground landscape. She brings a layered narrative landscape to light and shows the soil as a living climate archive. Her work occurs at the intersection of art with palaeontology, geology, archaeology, ecology and climate. She questions the value we assign to the soil and the role of art and heritage in giving value.

Jacqueline continues her artistic research project, Land in Wording, which she initiated earlier for Zone2Source, during a residency at our Park Studio. Land in Wording goes back into history. It locates and maps a place in the Amstelpark where we can find original soil from the Floriade 1972. As part of her participation in Exploded View 2020, Jacqueline invited a geologist to drill a 10-metre-deep hole in the park in the presence of guests. The geologist, a philosopher and historian, told stories about the Earth’s strata, covering tens of thousands of years. 

During her residency at ECKW in 2021, Jacqueline developed the first steps of an outdoor sculpture about Land in Wording, named Aardtijd. Aardtijd is presented alongside performative research into our relationship with Earth. For this research, she invites people from all backgrounds during public events to investigate the Earth as a living climate archive and cultural memory. The title Dagzomen (outcrops) refers to the revealing or surfacing of underlying earth layers. Dagzomen is an installation with a series of tactile objects that brings the Earth’s surface to eye level and thus elevates it to the iconic origin from which all life and art originate. Jacqueline is curious how sensations such as touch can contribute to a different view of something as self-evident as the soil. Visitors are invited to touch and discover a deeper relationship with the Earth, time and climate.

Park Studio (Orangerie) | 5 July to 31 July 2022: Moerasmiddagen (Swamp Afternoons)

Jacqueline will also work in Zone2Source’s Park Studio with Moerasmidddagen, a participatory public programme of sensory research about experiencing the fragility of the Earth’s surface. Read more here.