The floating Otterdam garden in the main pond of Amstelpark celebrates the return of the otter after a 50-year absence. Other iconic water animals like the moose are still missing.

In her thought-provoking book, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet: Ghosts and Monsters of the Anthropocene, Anna Tsing describes how we live among ghosts in late industrial landscapes – the shadows left behind when animals disappear or even become extinct.

When animals like the #moose disappear from our landscapes, we lose not only their presence but also the unique behaviours and connections they share with us. It is also a cultural loss.

The experiment:

In #GhostGardening we explore the lost world of the moose through the art of ensemble puppetry.

A small team embodied the spirit of the moose, an incredible creature that once roamed these lands and waters.

With intern Kim van der Sman, Theun first built a cartboard life-size sketch of a moose, but because Moose are water-animals the second version is waterproof.

With a small team we had a first test in Amstelpark exploring what happens when a (ghost) moose returns. Not just how people react, but more importantly how the entire environment responds to its presence, including the ducks, dogs, and all kinds of other beings in the park.

Team reflections on the experiment:

• What do you learn when doing this?
• Could ecological puppetry be a research tool?

Dealing with this large body with a group of people is not easy, but you quite quickly get a feel for a moose’s gait, its rhythm and how it moves through the world, because you need to navigate it physically. You get a sense that it might actually be quite hard for a moose to be agile, maybe they can’t even go backward?

When we moved around with the moose, you just automatically find it is drawn to the leaves of trees and herbs. That just happens. It makes you wander about motivates a moose, what forces drive it to do things.

We were all in charge of different parts of the moose, which also makes you wonder about the significance of its different organs. As the back-legs you mostly just follow, as the head you seem to be the instigator.

What senses would be dominant for moose? What would a homunculus (representation of the relative importance of the senses in humans) look like for moose? When we reached the leaves, we realised it misses lips. Those are probably very important for a moose.

By walking through an environment you get an appreciation of the moose’s senses, even when we didn’t yet go into the water. That might be a great second experiment. Also since most of the birds are around the pond.

We didn’t yet encounter dogs, but the children really loved the moose. (Their first guess was cow, then horse, and then yes!! moose.)

The experiment was on the same day as a pokemon event. So there were lots of people working with ghost like presences.

Overall the experiment felt very intuitive. Even when you are not a skilled puppeteer, it can help you get a sense of the world of moose.

Otterdam is supported by:

Otterdam, the floating garden in the main pond of the Amstelpark, attracts many beings. Watergardening brings you in close contact with a highly varied community of creatures above and below the water surface.

The world underwater is mysteriously hidden behind the reflective surface of the large pond, but working in the water you encounter this world physically. The massive carp are quite imposing, when you enter their realm it feels like they are in charge. Sholes of tiny fish drift by like nervous clouds. Dragon flies rest on the tips of the plants that float, making it a perfect vantage point for these hunters. When I tie a plant into place a tiny frog swims by, or a spider runs across the water surface, these little floating islands of vegetation are its home and with it live several kinds of caterpillars that eat the crunchy leaves of the irises.

Workshop:

Whenever I finish the work I can’t resist capturing this world, and today a small group of participants are joining me in exploring this world through video.

We have three set-ups to test:

• a Wolfgang GA300 action camera, with underwater casing
• a Montzys flexibel endoscope / HD inspection camera (that fits to a smartphone)
• a Phreeze waterproof smartphone pouch

To avoid just an instrumental interaction with this world, we first take 20min to reflect on our relationship with water. Since participants are from a wide range of backgrounds this gives us a rich tapestry of histories, relations, impressions, and it is nice to share how this submerged world speaks to each of us.

Each participant chooses a set-up to test and we spend an hour and a half testing various methods and locations.

The Wolfgang action camera feels solid, but has a fish-eye lens. The smartphone has way more advanced image software, which makes its footage look more colorful and adjusts better to darkness and brightness. The endoscope can reach into tiny places and it has a light, but its image quality is much lower than the other two.

So each tool has advantages and drawbacks, personally I prefer the smartphone option, because you have that with you anyway, and this kind of underwater pouch works really quite well; the images remain clear and touchscreen still works.

Otterdam is supported by:

Otherwise

I’ve been looking forward to todays workshop, because the group looks exiting. Otherwise is a group of Wageningen University students exploring themes beyond regular academic curricula. Otherwise explore other directions and the overcoming of a single realism; instead fostering an openness to different ways of living and experiencing. By organizing events small and big their aim is to create a space where to imagine other lives and ways of being.

Such student groups have a long history at Wageningen. I have close friendships and collaborations with people who were part of such networks at Wageningen reaching many decades back. People who have been at the forefront of ecological practices. So I’m excited to meet this young generation.

Animal wisdom

We meet at Zone2Source’s Rietveldhuis in Amstelpark on a cold winter Saturday morning. After a general getting-to-know-each-other, I start the workshop by introducing some of my work also beyond Otterdam. Including a small underwater device (see image above) that can play the sound of whale’s voices. Especially the Harbour Porpoise (Bruinvis), which is the most numerous whale in our waters. We each try the device, by holding it against our foreheads; porpoises make their vocalizations with an organ in their foreheads we don’t have, weirdly called the melon.

I used this device in the Westerschelde to feel what that voice feels like under water. It was a stunning experience. Underwater hearing and feeling (tactile) is much closer related than above water. It made a deep impact on me to feel just how overwhelming the experience of human noise must be to these whales. It is so physical under water.

Totemic garden design

Otterdam is a structure, a floating garden with rare and indigenous waterplants, but more importantly it is a practice. Somehow the Dutch with our rich history in dealing with water, have no real history in wetland or floating gardens, unlike south American, Asian and other cultures worldwide. By watergardening we enter the realm of the otter, and might learn something from the experience. Fundamentally the aim of Otterdam is not to change the landscape, but to change ourselves. The animal as a guide to more pluriversal ways of being.

I’ve brought a deck of cards and we each pick one. Bear, Spider, Skunk, Dragonfly, Mouse and Owl. (The deck of cards is Turtle Island oriented, with a book that shares indigenous perspectives of the medicine these animals embody). We talk about these animals, their wisdom and their appearance in dreams. The workshop question is: what kind of garden does your animal inspire in you? We each take a small card and sketch/write for about 20min.

The results are simply stunning.

Bear garden.

This Chilean student has picked the bear card. In Chilean culture bear is associated with many qualities. This bear garden is seasonal. A summer and winter garden that fits the bears rhythms. In summer many plants grow that are part of bear diets.  In winter there is a central area in the garden, a burrow, for the bear (us) to retreat into; “to go to the darkness, to the parts of yourself you don’t see often.” This can be scary, so this garden is a protective space, with herbs inside the burrow, including the Chilean Boldo herb, which is used when rage is making you sick, to let go of rage.

Spider garden

Spirals are central to this garden, spirals interconnecting everything, like the spirals seen in permaculture. The spider is seen as a being that gathers, and also gathers stories. A main strength of the spider is its way of persistence, if the web is broken, it rebuilds it. Fail and try again. Its web enables it to collect. Catching things, allowing them to fall like dewdrops onto the soil is an important cycle in this garden. The spider garden is a deeply interconnected and cyclical garden.

Skunk garden

This student is from the US and has seen skunks often. They are curious, inquisitive creatures always rooting for things. Fall must be such a gratifying season for skunks, with all the leaves to rummage through, searching for small treasures. The Skunk garden aims to be a space where humans and skunks can cohabit, with skunk and person hiding places. Creating the opportunity for distance between them when needed. This is a garden where humans and skunks can be comfortable with each other.

Dragonfly garden

This garden is inspired broadly by dragonfly qualities. Perhaps more dragonfly energy and like its glistening rainbow wings, evoking worlds beyond. Seeing everything as an illusion, how do you build something within that? This may need a stony, rocky environment that cools and from which new realities can spark.

Mouse garden

Mice are so alert to the world. This Chilean student feels really akin to them and describes a garden populated with bamboo like plants native to Chile. Plants that are the first to grow after fires have come. They create moist climates that help forests to regrow. Many mice are there. The mouse garden is a restoration garden. The mice eat the fruits, spreading the seeds of native plants.

Owl garden

The owl is active at night. This night garden is populated with trees but relatively open, for the owl to fly through. It has lots of dense groundcover for its prey to thrive in. Climbers include night-fragrant species like Kamperfoeli that attract night-butterflies. This is a garden to be seen in the light of the moon. With subtle greys, oranges and purples. The garden reminds us that many forms of life are nocturnal, the species humans may be less aware of. It is a garden linked with the moon and with dreaming.

I wasn’t sure this drawing exercise would work, but it was soo amazing to see the poetic ideas that came out. Really stretching beyond our human focus and resulting in gardens with wonderful thematic depth. This was one of my favourit workshops I’ve hosted. Thank you to all participants for an inspiring get-together.

Theun

Otterdam is supported by:

Early in 2025 we were asked to participate in the Wild, Untamed and Spontaneous at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, curated by Paisanaje (a collective based in Madrid that combines curatorial work with artistic practice, and aims to address the growing ecosocial crises facing the world today).

Paisanaje have been invited to curate the part of the exhibition that will focus and reflect on “weeds” and on their potential from different perspectives. In this edition, they have proposed a study of contemporary artistic and landscape practices which imagine community gardens as spaces for learning, experimentation and cohabitation with other spaces.

This was a great moment to take stock of our own garden practice at Amstel Park (with Zone2Source) and reflect on our activities and what organisms are present. Three questions Paisanaje asked us were:

A. A SIGNIFICANT SPECIES: We’d love for you to tell us about a plant in the garden that you find characteristic or emotionally significant.

B. CULTIVATED PLANTS: What plants have you cultivated in your garden?

C. OBSERVED ORGANISMS: What organism have you observed in your garden?

Luckily we are currently co-developing a biodiversity accounting tool with NiceTrails as part of a MUSAE project, and we have had a chance to put that into action with two recent workshops called “Agroecology Accounting in the Garden (AAG)”.

One workshop was held for the BioArt meet-up Group from HKU led by Martijn van Gessel and the other was for the Green Office VU sustainability platform at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Here are responses to the curators questions. The third list is from the Biodiversity Accounting that the workshop participants have been helping with.

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A. A SIGNIFICANT PLANT:

We recently planted a sea buckthorn (Hippophae rham) as part of our foray into edible perennial species. This is not a taste I grew up with, and was first introduced to it while we were collaborating with the scientist Dr. Wendy Russel in Scotland a decade ago. Now, whenever I taste this unique berry it brings me back to a moment not so long ago when the delight and pleasure of agricultural biodiversity started to resonate at a sensual and not only intellectual level.

IMAGE: Food Phreaking Issue 01

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B. CULTIVATED PLANTS:

Bay Laurel, Laurier, Laurus nobilis
Blackcurrant (Ben Sarek), Zwarte bes, Ribes nigrum x Ben Sarek
Blackcurrant (Titania), Zwarte bes, Ribes nigrum x Titania
Blueberry, Blauwe bes, Vaccinium corymbosum
Blueberry (Pink Lemonade), Blauwe bes, Vaccinium
Cornelian Cherry (Dublany), Gele kornoelje, Cornus mas
Cornelian Cherry (Szafer), Gele kornoelje, Cornus mas
Creeping Saltbush, Strandbiet, Atriplex halimus
Cucumber Shrub, Blauwe worstboom, Decaisnea fargesii
Daylily, Daglelie, Hemerocallis
Dune Thorn (Leikora), Duindoorn, Hippophae rham
Dune Thorn (Pollmix 2), Duindoorn, Hippophae rham
Elderberry, Vlier, Sambucus nigra
Eternal Cabbage, Eeuwige kool, Brassica oleracea var. acephala
Fig (Brown Turkey), Vijg, Ficus carica
Golden Raspberry, Gele framboos, Rubus idaeus
Hazel (Cosford), Hazelaar, Corylus avellana
Hazel (Red Zellernut), Rode hazelaar, Corylus
Honeysalt Bush, Zeevenkel, Crithmum maritimum
Hosta (Elegans), Hosta, Hosta sieboldiana
Hosta (First Frost), Hosta, Hosta
Japanese Ginger, Japanse gember, Zingiber mioga
Japanese Quince (Cido), Japanse kwee, Chaenomeles japonica
Jostaberry, Jostabes, Ribes nidigrolaria
Kiwi Berry (Ken’s Red), Kiwibes, Actinidia arguta
Kiwi Berry (Weiki), Kiwibes, Actinidia arguta
Lemon Balm, Citroenmelisse, Melissa officinalis
Lemon Mint, Citroenmunt, Mentha x piperita f. citrata
Mint (Apple Mint), Appelmunt, Mentha x rotundifolia
Mint (Moroccan Mint), Marokkaanse munt, Mentha spicata var. crispa ‘Moroccan’
Mint (Peppermint), Pepermunt, Mentha ×piperita
Mint (Strawberry Mint), Aardbeimunt, Mentha arvensis ‘Strawberry’
Medlar, Mispel, Mespilus germanica
Mulberry (Illinois Everbearing), Moerbei, Morus alba x rubra f. Illinois Everbearing
Olive Willow (Amber), Olijfwilg, Elaeagnus umbellata
Olive Willow (Sweet ‘n Tart), Olijfwilg, Elaeagnus umbellata
Pineapple Sage, Ananassalie, Salvia rutilans
Red Sage (Hot Lips), Rode salie, Salvia microphylla
Rue, Wijnruit, Artemisia abrotanum
Salt Cabbage (Jacob’s Blue), Zeekool, Crambe maritima ‘Jacobs Blue’
Seaberry / Sea Buckthorn, Duindoorn, Hippophae rham
True Sage (Blue Sage), Blauwe salie, Salvia officinalis
Valse Chistusdoorn (Honey Locust), Valse Christusdoorn, Gleditsia triacanthos inermis
Walnut (Common Walnut), Walnoot, Prunus dulcis
Wayfaring Tree, Wollige sneeuwbal, Toona sinensis

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C. OBSERVED ORGANISMS:

Alder, Els, Alnus
Blueberry, Blauwe bes, Vaccinium corymbosum
Bryophyte, Bladmossen, Bryophyta
Common Hazel, Hazelaar, Corylus avellana
Common Nettle, Grote brandnetel, Urtica dioica
Common Oak, Zomereik, Quercus sp.
Common Yew, Gewone taxus, Taxus baccata
Dandelion, Paardenbloem, Taraxacum officinale
Didymo, Rotslijm, Didymosphenia geminata
Diplopod (Millipede), Miljoenpoot, Diplopoda
Ephemeroptera Nymph, Eendagsvlieg nimf, Ephemeroptera nymph
False Nettle, Valse brandnetel, Boehmeria cylindrica
Field Pansy, Veldviooltje, Viola arvensis
Firebug Beetle, Vuurwants, Pyrrhocoris apterus
Garlic Mustard, Look-zonder-look, Alliaria petiolata
Gold Dust Lichen, Goudstofkorst, Chrysothrix chlorina
Golden Shield Lichen, Goudschildkorst, Xanthoria parietina
Goosegrass, Kleefkruid, Galium aparine
Ground Ivy, Hondsdraf, Glechoma hederacea
Groundcover Strawberry, Wilde aardbei, Fragaria
Groundsel, Klein kruiskruid, Senecio vulgaris
Herb Bennet, Geel nagelkruid, Geum urbanum
Holly, Hulst, Ilex aquifolium
Lawn Grass, Gazon gras, Poaceae
Lichen (Flavoparmelia caperata), Geelgroene korstmos, Flavoparmelia caperata
Lichen (Golden Shield Lichen), Goudschildkorst, Xanthoria parietina
Lichen (Hypogymnia physodes), Blaaskorstmos, Hypogymnia physodes
Lichen (Unidentified), Korstmos, Lichen sp.
Lichen (Xanthoria sp.), Gele korstmos, Xanthoria sp.
Marsh Pennywort, Waternavel, Hydrocotyle umbellata
Mayfly Nymph, Eendagsvlieg nimf, Ephemeroptera nymph
Moss (Bryophyta), Mos, Bryophyta
Orange Algae (Trentepohlia aurea), Oranje alg, Trentepohlia aurea
Patella Limpet, Gewone lympet, Patella vulgata
Peacock Spider, Pauwspin, Maratus
Pirate Spider (Pisaurina mira), Piratenspin, Pisaurina mira
Planktonic Algae, Planktonalgen, Chlorophyta
Ranunculus, Speenkruid, Ranunculus ficaria
Red Slime Mold, Rode slijmzwam, Fuligo septica
Rove Beetle (Paederus spp.), Oeverkruiper, Paederus spp.
Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle, Aziatische lieveheersbeestje, Harmonia axyridis
Strawberry, Aardbei, Fragaria
Terrestrial Earthworm, Regenworm, Lumbricus terrestris
Veronica Speedwell, Veldereprijs, Veronica persica
Wood Cricket, Boskrekel, Gryllidae
Wood Formica Ants, Houtmier, Formica spp.
Wolf Spider, Wolfspin, Lycosidae

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Menselijke parkbezoekers kennen het park vooral vanaf het droge. Misschien hebben nog weinig mensen het park onderwater gezien. Deze beelden geven een indruk van het perspectief van otters, vissen, water-insecten, en andere aquatische dieren. En laat zien hoe Otterdam er uit ziet voor hen (die ogen hebben).

Otterdam is supported by:

When the otter came back to our city in winter of 2021, I was quite exited. It seemed like a messenger at a time of extreme drought.

Around that time I was watching ‘The Mandalorian’, a Star Wars series, and in it many planets are visited. As a spaceship tore through the clouds of a distant planet called Sorgan, piloted by the Mandalorian, the audience of this Star Wars tv-show was treated to an impressive feat of worldbuilding.

(Planet Sorgan drawing by Theun)

Immediately striking was the bioregional approach through which this world was envisioned; materials, structures, activities, cultural expressions all were directly derived from intimate connections to a swampy, forested biome. It looked as if the design team had taken the swamp and created an entire swamp culture, including means of living for all kinds of creatures, including people, frogs, fish, algue, shrimp and swamp-robots. This – I thought – is ‘otter-world’, in the sense that the otter seemed like it’s totem animal.

Planet Sorgan appeared here – in a way- as an alternate Netherlands, a reimagined Amsterdam, as a total overhaul of what a contemporary human settlement in a wetland-area might look like. This connected in my mind directly to the return of the otter to our city and eventually resulted in otterdam as a floating garden, not a structure made for otters, but a practice inspired by these iconic waterbeings and their kinship relations. To live in a more active relationship with the waters of Amsterdam. Can’t wait to start on a swamp robot!

Otterdam is supported by:

We gained access to the GGGarden site in May of 2024. We were encouraged by our neighbor art-gardeners de Onkruidenier to be okay with spending a lot of time observing (and not intervening) the first season.

This was good advice, especially since May is a bit late in the growing season to make any extensive plans for going crazy with annuals from seeds or perennials. We decided to put a few plants in the soil, build out some infrastructure (raised beds, a willow dome, etc.) and get to know the conditions, rhythms and patterns of the site.  

The beans grew well along the fence despite the pretty poor soil conditions, and hopefully their nitrogen fixing is one small step forward for that section of the land.

We started to identify the range of volunteer plants that had inhabited what was overall a very marginal site in terms of soil health with lots of recent disturbance. We also started to notice how much plastic there was in the soil, and document that as well.

We tidied up the artificial pond early on, and when it warmed up, got to see frogs and salamander and a range of water insects.

Most of the frogs looked pretty healthy and happy, but last week (THU OCT. 10, 2024) we managed to take a photo and noticed something in or on the frogs mouth. Did the frog manage to find some food or was this some kind of massive growth on its face? Perhaps it was a very small bird hatchling? Otherwise, maybe it was some kind of growth or infection? If anyone knows frogs and can identify this situation, let us know. 

Right around the large tree, and near the treeline in the rear of the site, the soil was slightly richer, but towards the entry the soil consisted of a a lot of white sand and shells, a remnant of its use as a seal enclosure, and possibly because we had heard (unconfirmed) rumors that the initial site infill was dredged from the North Sea.

At our most recent public workshop on Saturday Oct. 5, 2024 we did a few kinds of DIY soil testing including using pH paper and counting worms. The site pH was neutral to slightly alkaline. However, much more concerning was the lack of worms and insects in the soil. Two of our test spots yielded no worms, while a third spot had only 1 worm. 

Now that the season is coming to a close, we have begun a process of soil remediation in preparation for next year. In 3 locations we dug trenches, added leaves from offsite and covered this in hay (which was stored in the shed on site), and possibly used by the Wallabies which used to be housed here until 3 years ago. 

We are also making some plans to plant some cover crops in the new year, and perhaps revisit our research into “Cover Crop Cuisine” that we conducted in Ireland back in 2016. 

Shadow is the place where the light does not shine. What processes take place while we do not see them? In the Shadow Garden, we as humans literally move in the shadow of the plants, organisms, the soil, and earth systems. We delve into twilight, shadow, mist, and the grey area of ​​hidden knowledge that we bring to light. How can a garden be a place where people can reshape their connection with their living environment?

With the Shadow Garden, De Onkruidenier is developing a test garden for Future Gardening; a paradigm shift to reframe preconceived ideas about gardening. Since 2022, we have been leaving traditional expectations of gardens and gardening behind. What attitude do we adopt when we learn to be open to instructions given to us by organisms beyond human resources?

2022 ~ learning to listen to an ecosystem
In 2022, De Onkruidenier and Zone2Source receive the keys to the former monastery garden of the Belgian entry for the 1972 Floriade. The lock is rusted through and must be cut open before we can enter.
The garden is completely overgrown; hardly anything remains visible of the original design and the rigid structure laid out by architect René Pechère. The first steps feel disorienting: Where have we landed?

What begins as a plan to garden with tools and plants brought along quickly shifts. The question is no longer what we are going to do, but how can we learn to listen to the garden’s ecosystem, and how can we understand our own role within it? We decide to return weekly as observers in a process that is already underway without us.

2023 ~ break in management
In 2023, the garden slowly becomes a permanent part of De Onkruidenier’s artistic working practice. The collective meets regularly in the garden, as a place for observation, inspiration, and knowledge exchange.

At the same time, this also becomes the year of an insurmountable rift. Without our knowledge, twelve of the thirteen boxwood shrubs are removed. These shrubs were originally part of the garden’s design in 1972 and supported the garden’s spatial structure.
The intervention confronts us with what one might call institutional gardening: a form of management that intervenes without alignment with the ecological or relational field that has developed. The question that surfaced was: were these boxwood shrubs not carriers of botanical heritage rather than maintenance logic?

2024 ~ archaeology of gestures
In 2024, the collaboration with philosopher Samar Nasrullah Khan begins. Together, we develop the research project ‘archaeology of gestures’.

Instead of approaching the boxwood as an object, the focus shifts to new forms of care: to touch, movement, and repetition. In that context, the boxwood begins to speak to us.

Samar develops a way of presence in which he lends his body and his gestures, as it were, to the plant, so that Mrs. Buxus can appear through him as a form of expression. These encounters and collaboration with Samar lead to an essay that is later included in Queer Flora, Fauna and Funga, compiled by Frances Cannon and published by Valiz.

2025 ~ spiritual ecology and Japan
In 2025, inspired by archaeological research into pre-medieval forms of nature religion in North Holland, Jonmar delves into the spiritual dimensions of nature perception, and into historical views in which the divine could manifest itself in a flower, a phenomenon, or an experience in one’s immediate living environment.

During a residency at KKARC in Kyoto, he travels to Japanese gardens strongly influenced by Shinto thought. These gardens become an important reference as a way of perceiving in which nature and spiritual presence are not separated. In the same year, conceptual artist Jacqueline Heerema is also in Japan. This leads to an unexpectedly rich correspondence and an invitation to collaborate in the garden in Amsterdam later on.

2026 ~ nocturnal ecologies
In 2026, the realization emerges that the garden, despite years of regular presence, has never been systematically observed in its nocturnal state. Yet the box tree moth is a moth, and many processes take place outside of daylight.

Within the framework of nocturnal ecologies, the focus shifts to moon phases, nightlife, soil processes, and the role of lime as a medium between history, ecological memory, and transformation.
In this context, guest artist Jacqueline Heerema develops her project Shadow Porcelain, a quest for the relationship between materiality and emptiness.