©Tanja Smeets
In my sculptures, large structures grow along walls, floors, and ceilings, into the space.
I explore these growth processes and the tension between the natural and the artificial. An artificial landscape, growing and branching out, consisting of plant-like structures made entirely of everyday materials such as ceramics, textiles, or metal. Like parasites, they find their way and lay a poetic layer of organic forms over the hard surface.
During the construction of the installation, I interweave these structures with the environment, until the work seems to occupy a seemingly natural place and appears to grow autonomously.
With my proposal for the Hortillonages, I want to create a landscape within a landscape. Where productive gardens were once constructed by the inhabitants of Amiens, I now want to create a landscape, built entirely from structures that appear to have emerged directly from nature, but which consist of materials from the hardware store, everyday objects, Leaf catchers, Tie raps, Felt. The plants and grasses from the landscape will grow through this work, causing it to raise questions about the original landscape, the natural processes that take place and partially overgrow the work. Can we, with our way of life and our use of materials, coexist with nature?