Press Release Daan Zuijderwijk | De aarde willen ontmoeten

You could call them the results of experiments—the images Daan Zuijderwijk captures at night. In the most remote and inhospitable landscapes of Europe—from Scotland and Norway to France, Italy, or Spain—he climbs into the darkness with his camera, tripod, and equipment, searching for the promising spot he had in mind. Then he chooses the frame, the angle, and opens the shutter. Usually for about eight minutes, but sometimes for an hour. During that time, he works his magic in the darkness, using colored lights and laser pointers that he sweeps along trees and boulders. The forest, the mountain, the cliff, the valley reveal unprecedented and strange images, changing shape. This is how his images come to be, through an inspired and well-thought-out performance in the night.

If this work is an experiment, what is Zuijderwijk trying to discover? What is at stake? We are witnessing the results of a sincere attempt to connect with the forces of nature that are truly foreign to us as humans. A longing to encounter the connections between earth, plants, and animals—from which we as humans originated and on which we still depend. Nature holds the entire human world in its grasp, surrounded by the black, cold universe. But most people live in systems that revolve exclusively around what humans know, want, must, can, and build. With all the disastrous consequences that follow.

The effort that produced this work is anything but casual. For six years now, Daan, along with his partner Maaike and their daughters Fenna, Alba, and Isolde, has distanced himself from most human systems. They travel through the mountains and forests depicted in Daan’s images, living in a caravan. Even during the Swedish winter, so that they can experience the migration of the reindeer herds alongside the indigenous Sami herders.

For Daan and Maaike, it makes sense that their choice of this way of life stems from a deep longing for discovery, for that encounter with the more-than-human. It’s not easy; it also requires practical concerns like warmth and light, water, food, and hygiene. Caring for the children and their education, for the emotional balance within this close-knit family. And interacting with the people and communities they encounter on their journeys. All these things go hand in hand, along with creating art and seeking to restore our relationship with nature.

Daan’s work thus also turns our gaze inward, toward our dependence on technology and our struggle to see beyond the human scale. His way of life shows that the loss of convenience also yields more intense experiences and plenty of time. He conducts empirical research through action and living—by opening up all his senses and faculties to what he is experiencing. Merely registering what you see is not enough. An encounter is interaction, a give-and-take. It requires that you respond with imagination to who and what you encounter.

That is why Daan Zuijderwijk ventures into the night, like a modern medicine man, connecting with the forces that dwell in animals, forests, and mountains—but just as much in our dreams, myths, and works of art. We are invited to look over his shoulder and take a step closer.

Text: Dirk van Weelden (translated from Dutch)