During the preparation of a working period of students and teachers of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam in the porcelain city of Jingdezhen, China, we developed the project ‘Vertical Landscapes’, which deals with differences in viewing and representing a landscape in the East and the West. The project consists of eight porcelain columns of 2.30 m. in height.

On the left the column I did for this project.
At the moment our worldwide landscape is often viewed and photographed from above by satellites. These vertical landscapes I used as a contemporary variant on the well known Chinese piled up landscapes.
I interpreted the column as an advertising pillar, on which I attached screen printed pamphlets with satellite landscape and urban conglomerate pictures. Different slogans make ironic comments on our ‘use’ of the landscape. Next to each pamphlet are affixed the degree of latitude and longitude of each of these locations on the world map.

Here and there parts of the signs are damaged and glue traces are simulated with on glaze in order to enhance realism.

 

'God's own country' , h. 230 cm, w. 50 cm, porcelain with screenprinted decals, concrete, 2011. De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam

more pictures of this work