Single channel, ProRes, 1920×1080, 24fps, Stereo sound,13’40”, 2015
Poem: Jan Kleefstra (NL)
Sound: Romke Kleefstra (NL), Anne Chris Bakker (NL)
Hayama stayed in Friesland, a province in the northern part of the Netherlands, and created this video poem through conversations with experts/musicians and poets involved in the natural environment of the place and local conservation.
In the Netherlands, where most of the land is below sea level, the history of the battle between humans and water is symbolize the relationship between humans and nature. But is the relationship between man and nature only one of conflict? There is a huge “wall” between man and nature, like the Afshlitdijk, that tries to keep the balance.
When Hayama was in Friesland and attempted to glimpse the relationship between human society and nature() in the far-reaching horizon and its vast landscapes, somehow her perspective became microscopic. Leaves falling at his feet. A snail hovering above it. Which side of the “wall” are we really standing on when we look at them? Or some other place not on either side of it? (For example, the problem with grassland monocultures, called “green deserts” by nature lovers in Friesland, is that they destroy a small world of previously rich grassland ecosystems. The impact will eventually continue larger creatures.)
This work was produced in collaboration with Friesian artists for the art project Klanklanskippen, which took place in Friesland, the Netherlands, in November 2015. It was screened in a live sound performance with Friesland-based musicians Romke Kleefstra, Anne Chris Bakke, and a beautiful Friesian poetry reading by Jan Kleefstra’, and later completed as a one-channel video.