Three new 'Portscapes' projects: Fucking Good Art's broadcasting from their 'base camp' in Maasvlakte until 21 September; Paulien Oltheten billboard and forthcoming exhibition at Futureland and Ilana Halperin's scripted audio field guide available in English and Dutch from 18 September

Project website: www.portscapes.nl

Rotterdam-based artists Rob Hamelijnck and Nienke Terpsma, editors of the printed and online magazine FUCKING GOOD ART, have been living and working in a ‘base camp’ on the Maasvlakte from 20th August and will be there until 21 September producing Portscapes ON AIR – Station Maasvlakte. Comprising a series of audio walks, field recordings and conversations with guests from different disciplines including scientists, archaeologists or landscape designers, Portscapes ON AIR – Station Maasvlakte will be periodically broadcasted on Portscapes' website (www.portscapes.nl). Inspired by the proximity of Portscapes ON AIR – Station Maasvlakte to the pipeline transporting sand from the Yangtzehaven to the future Maasvlakte 2, FGA approach their endeavour both as inhabitants of an industrial and man-made territory and in relation to the redistribution and displacement of knowledge.

Guests include: Frank Bruggeman (designer and editor of 'Club Donny'), Hans Aarsman (photographer and columnist for the Dutch newspaper 'De Volkskrant'), Remko Andeweg (Rotterdam-based biologist and author of 'Exotic Plants in Rotterdam'), Lino Hellings (Founder of the press agency P.A.P.A), Gijsbert Korevaar (Industrial Ecologist), Aurélie Barbier (urban planner), Martin Blum (farmer and artist), Marjolijn de Kok (theoretical archaeologist), John Lonsdale (architect), Achilleka Komguem (artist and editor of the journal 'Diartgonale', Duala) and the Center for Land Use Interpretation, a research organisation based in Culver City, Los Angeles, involved in examining land and landscape issues.

Images of FGA's 'base camp' here.
Radio interview on RTV Rijnmond here

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On 14 August 2009 a billboard by Amsterdam-based artist PAULIEN OLTHETEN was placed along the A15 on the Maasvlakte. Oltheten made use of the lack of reference of natural elements, such as trees, bushes and people by arranging meetings. These stagings mostly take place in locations on the Maasvlakte that will soon disappear or be displaced and often involve variations of the theme ‘one becomes two’, referring to the Maasvlakte, of which there will later be two. This has resulted in a series of photographs and two video pieces, which will be seen during October in and around the visitor centre Futureland.

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As her contribution to Portscapes, New York-born Glasgow-based artist ILANA HALPERIN has created an audio field guide available online and on MP3 players which visitors will be able to pick up at Futureland and experience through wandering the nearby area of the port edge. ‘A Brief History of Mobile Landmass’ is inspired by a perception of Maasvlakte 2 in terms of formidable geophysical phenomena and a geological sense of time. The artist has assembled a compelling narrative divided in 10 chapters which draws on fact, fiction and personal fieldwork – as well as site surveys by volcanologists, geologists and the experts involved in the construction of Maasvlakte 2. This 'book on tape' offers echoes, speculations and interpretations surrounding both the artificial and natural processess whereby new land is created. Recalling Jules Verne’s ‘Voyages Extraordinaires’, Halperin couples a wealth of scientific information with wonder and vivid description.

Audioguide available online and at Futureland from 18 September 2009 until 2013.
Narrated in English and Dutch. Duration: 45 min.

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'Portscapes' is an accumulative series of art commissions taking place throughout 2009 alongside the construction of ‘Maasvlakte 2’, a 2,000 hectare area of reclaimed land that will extend the Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest seaport and industrial area by 20%. Projects of variable scales will be produced under the leitmotif itineraries and destinations comprising tours, audioguides, performances, radio programmes, interventions, for example. + info...

Artists involved in Portscapes: Lara Almarcegui, Bik van der Pol, Jan Dibbets, Marjolijn Dijkman, Fucking Good Art, Cyprien Gaillard, Ilana Halperin, Roman Keller & Christina Hemauer, Paulien Oltheten, Michael Rakowitz, Jorge Satorre, Hans Schabus and Jun Yang. Website collaborators: Maria Barnas (poetry) and Markus Miessen (interviews).

Read more on completed projects and on projects in production.
Press coverage here.

'Portscapes' is commissioned by the Port of Rotterdam Authority with advice and support from SKOR (Foundation for Art and Public Space) and is curated by Latitudes.