We are delighted to have been able to commission Edinburgh based writer Tom Jeffreys to create this new article interweaving the three different artist projects as part of Deluge.

The post Between land and sea by Tom Jeffreys appeared first on Art Walk Projects.

Connecting three tidal wetland saltmarshes

Artists: Linde Ex (Groningen, Netherlands), Dana Olărescu (Barrow-in-Furness & London, England), Oscar Van Heek (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Deluge is a collaboration between three artists and three saltmarsh habitats (UK/Netherlands) exploring tidal wetland ecosystems across the sites of Aberlady, East Lothian, Scotland; Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England; Schiermonikoog, The Wadden Sea, Netherlands. 

First begun in 2022, commencing with a relay-style travelling residency the three artists took turns to visit and spend time in each of the saltmarshes, through which a series of events has since developed and been produced, culminating with an exhibition in 2025 hosted in Barrow-in-Furness created in partnership with Art Gene. 

Deluge takes its name from a landscape constantly under the threat of water, being flooded twice a day by salt or brackish water; a habitat that helps to protect our shorelines from erosion and slows down flooding. 

This three-year project seeks to embrace the ecological value of these rare, often overlooked habitats with each artist creating works in response.

Each artist tells a story of their different engagements with these fragile landscapes and their communities, of their journeys between each locality crossing land, coast and sea, and of their different methods of enquiry.

In this exhibition at Art Gene the saltmarsh is considered as a wasteland, a space historically without use; a landscape initially underwhelming in its features, in which human presence has been largely absent and reimagined into a realm of shapes, speculation, and imagination; or, a land required to continually adapt to provide shelter, emblematic of our resilience at a time of increasing climate change. 

Collectively the exhibition considers how to value, engage with and take care of these precious landscapes, largely forgotten and unnoticed, yet vital transitional zones between land and sea.

Deluge was initiated by curator Rosy Naylor, Art Walk Projects (Edinburgh), and created in partnership with Art Gene (Barrow-in-Furness) and curator Anna-Rosja Haveman (Art & Environment, University of Groningen, Netherlands). 

About the artists

Linde Ex (b. 1983, Nijmegen, The Netherlands) is a visual artist, artistic researcher and teacher. She works as an artistic PhD candidate at the University of Groningen and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, the Netherlands. She is also a core lecturer at the Fine Art and Design Master MAPs (Materials in Artistic Practices) Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen.

Linde is drawn to topics that whisper and murmur. Entities like flying insects, saltmarshes, peat and bristle worms. Entities that tend to be neglected by humans or have an understated beauty. Her artistic research consists of attempts to relate and interact with these others. This results in a variety of collaborations (with natural scientists, farmers, sorcerers, dancers, insects, etc.) and outcomes. Linde makes installations, drawings, books and videos.

In her artistic PhD, Linde develops distinct artistic ways to connect the research to broader environmental processes and challenges. She published articles in the international journals Journal of Artistic Research (JAR) and Forum+. Linde was awarded the George Verberg Grant (2020) and the Noordenaars Young Talent Artist in Space Grant (2021). Her work has been showcased in leading arts institutions and platforms.

Dana Olărescu (b. 1985, România) is a London-based socially engaged artist working at the intersection of installation, performance, and social design, whose practice challenges minority exclusion and environmental injustice. Through participatory methodologies that democratise access to art and knowledge, she aims to give under-served migrant groups and people habitually excluded from decision-making processes the agency to become active co-producers of culture. 

Her work has been showcased by leading arts institutions and platforms, including Tate Modern, the London Short Film Festival, the National Maritime Museum, the Low Carbon Design Institute, Art Gene, ArtHouse Jersey, x-church, in-situ, Pier Projects, Incheon Art Platform (South Korea), and Tanzhaus NRW (Germany).

Oscar Van Heek (b. 1965, Weesp, The Netherlands) is an Edinburgh based fine art photographer, film maker and writer. He has written and directed the film Dark Water a unique experimental collaboration with Scottish Opera and composer Malcolm Lindsay, exploring new ways to create narrative structure. Dark Water opened at Palm Springs festival.

This was followed by The Iron Harvest, a video installation and series of fine art prints, detailing the detonation of live world war one ammunition on the former battle grounds of Ypres. It was nominated for the Scottish Landscape Awards and shown at the Edinburgh City Art Centre 2024; at Sonica Glasgow 2022 and Somerset House in London and nominated for the Sony world Photography awards 2020.

In 2023 Oscar had a major exhibition at the Scottish Poetry Library entitled –Waterfalls – a unique collaboration with authors and poets, including; Kathleen Jamie; Jen Hadfield and Cal Flyn.  Current work includes The Wastelands and Color Flora.

Oscar regularly shows at Royal Scottish Academy’s Annual Exhibition.

Artist Dana Olarescu leading walking workshop at Aberlady Saltmarsh (2023), with contributions from Helena Simmons (Green Shores)

Artist Camille Aboudaram leading walking workshop session around billboard sites of Portobello 2023 (in association with Dana Olarescu)

Curator Anna-Rosja Haveman (University of Groningen) talk at Art Walk Hub 2023

Artist Linde Ex leading walkshop at Aberlady Nature Reserve (January 2025)

Drawing workshop with Linde Ex (January 2025)

2025 Events & Exhibition

DELUGE – Exhibition at Art Gene, Barrow-in-Furness
Artists: Linde Ex, Dana Olarescu, Oscar Van Heek
with writing commissioned from Tom Jeffreys – Read Here
Fri 28 February to Fri 28 March 2025, Opening: Thu 27 February 6.30-9pm

DELUGE – A conversation and community conference
that concludes two years of research and work focused around the Deluge project, featuring a series of conversations and presentations from artists, ecologists and salt marsh experts
Fri 28 February 2025, 1-5pm at Art Gene, Barrow-in-Furness

REVIEW Corridor8: written by Simon Sylvester – Read Here

DELUGE is supported by funding from Creative Scotland.

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