In the seaweed lab on Vlieland, visitors can experience the wisdom of seaweed: taste, feel, listen to, and reflect upon these explorations and become entangled along with them. Amidst the seaweed, experience an awareness of the endless entanglements with our environment. Discover their survival strategies and ecosystems, and contribute to the Seaweed Manifesto and our ode to the sea.

The program of Verstrengeld (Entangled) consists of various components, including both ongoing and scheduled programs that (partially) align with the tides. Participation is possible at the Noordestoek location (D6 on the map), unless stated otherwise. Below is an overview per day.

Ongoing: Ode to the Sea & Seaweed Library

Thursday
17:59 - 19:29: Seaweed Portrait
20:30 - 21:30: Seaweed Bath (gather at 20:15 at the Art Desk)
00:06 - 01:06: Seaweed Incensing (gather at 23:50 at the Art Desk)

Friday
13:02 - 14:32: Contribute to the Seaweed Manifesto
13:02 - 14:32: Seaweed Orchestra Pit
15:00 - 15:15: Ode to the Sea - performance
01:29 - 02:29: Rituals for the Sea - lecture (gather at 01:15 at the Art Desk)

Saturday
14:17 - 15:57: Contribute to the Seaweed Manifesto
15:00 - 15:15: Ode to the Sea - performance
20:30 - 21:30: Seaweed Bath (gather at 20:15 at the Art Desk)

Sunday
13:00 - 13:30: Seaweed Procession

About the creators
Research collective Verstrengeld explores how we can learn from and coexist with seaweeds. To find out, they immerse themselves among the seaweed, study the intertidal zone, interview farmers, researchers, and scientists, conduct tactile fieldwork, wrote a first Seaweed Manifesto, and develop sound sculptures. They bring this together in the podcast Verstrengeld, among other things. Verstrengeld is part of Platform DIS, which explores ecological issues through artistic practices, and is collaborating for this project with Miek Zwamborn, Herman van den Muijsenberg, Ellen Schoenmakers, and Johanna Weggelaar.

Wouter Engelbart (he/him) is the founding director of Platform DIS. Wouter has a background in visual arts (BFA), socio-artistic projects, and education (MEd). He is also a lecturer at ArtEZ University of the Arts and works as a freelancer in the field of visual arts and art education. Wouter creates 'spare time' to rediscover the world through artistic research.

Miek Zwamborn is a writer, translator, and visual artist. Landscape and history play an important role in her work. Since 2017, she has been mapping the southwestern coastline of the Scottish Isle of Mull, where she lives and works and where she established the collective study space KNOCKvologan. Her publications include several novels and the essayistic nature book Seaweed.

Herman van den Muijsenberg is a curator and sound artist (amongst other things). His installations and compositions are created by mixing field recordings, synthetic sounds, and electro-acoustic machines. In his installations, he explores the relationship between sound and meaning. Can they become a bridge to the unknown? How can sound guide us in shaping a relationship with the other; whether it be solid, liquid, living, or spiritual? 

ellen schoenmakers is the owner of WildWier, one of the few official seaweed harvesters in the Benelux. Every week, she and her partner harvest seaweed in the Eastern Scheldt, the North Sea, and Lake Veere. Summer and winter, come rain or shine. They supply restaurants, host workshops, tastings, and more.

Johanna Weggelaar draws on her background as an engineer as well as in cultural history to focus on projects that create a dialogue between different areas of expertise, cultures, and practices. For seven years, she worked as a project leader for the Algae Platform at Atelier Luma in Arles, which develops new ways of material development—mostly bio-based—and uses them to shift thinking and action; she has also edited various publications on seaweed.

The Into The Great Wide Open arts program is made possible with the support of the Creative Industries Fund NL, the Mondriaan Fund, and De Versterking.

Image by WildWier