Imagining Science

Eddo Hartmann

The Collective Landscape (2018)

Noorderlicht and the University of Groningen (RUG) continue their collaboration in the ‘Imagining Science’ series. Each year they commission a photographer to depict a scientific research field in relation to the Noorderlicht festival-theme of the year. Thus, a multifaceted and autonomous artistic image of scientific life will be created over the years. The assignment for 2018 was given to Eddo Hartmann. From 28 September 2019 through 5 January 2020, his series ‘The Collective Landscape’ is exhibited in the Natuurmuseum Fryslân in Leeuwarden (NL).

The Dutch landscape is under heavy pressure from the various claims on its limited space. It’s very challenging to protect the landscape as a collective value, and prepare it for the future at the same time. Changes usually conjure up serious resistance. And it is easy to look away from responsibility, when consequences of choices are less visible in the short term.

From migratory birds to agriculture

At the RUG, from various disciplines research is being conducted into landscape, nature, agriculture and ecosystems. Hartmann portrayed the specific research areas of professors Theunis Piersma (migratory bird ecology), Han Olff (ecosystems and nature-inclusive agriculture) and Henk Folmer (environmental economics and agricultural diversity) and the people with whom they collaborate. Hartmann was inspired by the concept of ‘Collective Landscape’ by British landscape architect Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, who saw the landscape as a common art form of humanity. To emphasize this, in a number of cases Hartmann himself placed additional lighting at locations where the scientists were conducting field research.

Eddo Hartmann (The Netherlands, 1973) studied at the Royal Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague. Earlier projects were among others the photo books ‘Hier Woont Mijn Huis’, a personal series about the house of his parents, and ‘Setting the Stage - North Korea’, on the life of North Koreans in capital of Pyongyang.

2019 - Nick Hannes

The third assignment in the 'Imagining Science' series has been awarded to the Flemish photographer Nick Hannes, who is currently working on a series on corporate culture and corporate lifestyle. During TAXED TO THE MAX, the 26th Noorderlicht International Photography Festival, a preview of his work will be shown.

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Eddo Hartmann
The Collective Landscape (2018)
28 sep 2019 - 5 jan 2020

Natuurmuseum Fryslân
Schoenmakersperk 2 | Leeuwarden | NL
tue - sun| 10 am to 5 pm
website (in Dutch)