Soundings

A large-scale art project that, by means of temporary installations in the Groninger Wadden landscape and the city, a bicycle route and a participation program, strengthens the connection between the city and the surrounding countryside and lets you experience the landscape in a special way.

Soundings – listen to the land

The land behind the Wadden coast in Groningen is an area created by the interplay between man and the sea. In the salt marsh, new clay washes in every day and the land grows. At the same time, time after time, the sea reclaimed the reclaimed land. This created the typical mounds and mound landscape. This is the area where the Netherlands was created. An area that wants to tell you something.

To reveal the unique features and beauty of this Groningen mudflat landscape to the public, Joop Mulder asked three renowned artists to develop an art project in 2020: Robert Wilson, Theun Mosk and Andreas Oskar Hirsch.

With Soundings we want to take you on a journey of discovery through the Groningen wadden landscape. By constantly building new dikes, farmers here have for generations land conquered from the sea. Over hundreds of years, this has created a unique and vast landscape with a special, almost literal beauty. A vast and empty landscape that makes you silent when you stand in the middle of it.

Soundings is a project that strengthens the connection between city and countryside. It combines a 75 km bicycle route with installations by internationally renowned and (emerging) local artists in the landscape and an installation in the city. Each installation increases your perception and amplifies the sounds from the area by taking away the other sensations. It creates an opportunity to pause, reflect, dream and be proud of what is and imagine the future.

About Theun Mosk
Theun Mosk was born and raised in northern Friesland. The Wadden landscape has shaped him and is part of who he is. In 2003, he was one of the young artists who attended a workshop at The Watermill Center. As a recent graduate of the Rietveld Academy, he was introduced to the methods of Robert Wilson. Mosk is known for his theatrical staging and exhibition design. He also works as an autonomous artist. In 2008, at the invitation of then-Oerol director Joop Mulder, he created the aforementioned performance Walking, with Robert Wilson and theater maker Boukje Schweigman. Using Walking as inspiration, Mosk is now once again creating a route with Wilson that enhances the sensory perception of the landscape. “I like working with Theun because we think alike,” Wilson says of Mosk. “We come from a theater background with a strong interest in architecture and design. Most visual people in theatre are decorators. Theun is not; he thinks in a completely different way. His work is architectural.”

Realization: together we aim for an opening in spring 2026.

Soundings is made possible in part by Stichting Beringer-Hazewinkel, Stichting De Versterking, The Northern Cultural Fund, Municipality of Het Hogeland, the Wadden Fund and the National Program Groningen. The project is in collaboration with Groningen Province, Groninger Landscape, Landscape Management Groningen, Municipality of Het Hogeland, Groninger Museum, and Noorderzijlvest Water Board, among others.