These questions are central to the work and life of Miek Zwamborn and Rutger Emmelkamp. Since 2016, they have been living on the island of Mull on the Scottish west coast, and this year they are the Island Artists of Into The Great Wide Open. For their research, they invite specialists and generalists, local residents, and overseas strangers to collaborate in and with the landscape. In this way, they try to arrive at a summation of the positions of the fisherman, the poet, the farmer, the biologist, the composer, the artist, and the philosopher. 

For the festival, Miek and Rutger are building an observation post in the dunes. In this observatory, a collection of works and samples that they have initiated in Knockvologan will be displayed. Together with artist Lotje van Lieshout, a periscope will be developed that will show not the Wadden Sea area but the landscape of Tireragan. The works displayed in the observatory are direct offspring of the issues, opportunities, materials, and resistance presented by the rugged Scottish coastal landscape. The people invited for collaborations not only generate new input but also bridge the gap between the mainland and the island. One of the collaborating artists is Sae Honda, an artist who works with found plastic debris and makes special stones from it.

About Miek Zwamborn and Rutger Emmelkamp

Since 2016, Miek Zwamborn (1974, writer, poet, visual artist) and Rutger Emmelkamp (1975, visual artist and designer) have been living and working in the southwestern part of the Scottish Isle of Mull. They have established *Knockvologan Studies*; a study place without walls. *Knockvologan Studies* aims to create a polyphonic and sensory portrait of the rugged coastal landscape through various collaborations, contributing to a fruitful relationship with that landscape that hosts us.

Miek Zwamborn & Rutger Emmelkamp - https://knockvologan.net/about-us