Ruben der Kinderen

Department: Man and Leisure
Website: www.rubenderkinderen.nl

Memories of a Landscape

The Noordwaard, a polder landscape near the Biesbosch, will soon be returned to nature to serve as a washland and overflow zone for the Nieuwe Merwede river. Ruben der Kinderen wants to preserve the history of the area and the farmhouses still standing there. In his manifesto entitled Memories of a Landscape he proposes not to knock everything down but to retain some plants and parts of the buildings. The stone ruins could become a breeding ground for the distinctive vegetation that is normally found in rocky, mountainous areas. He wants to leave the rows of trees and hedges that have been planted here as a new set of traces in the landscape, to remind people of what used to be here. The strict arrangements will grow wild, allowing the unnatural to become natural.