1/2026 - Greetings from the holes, the forest and the clouds
Greetings from the holes, the forest and the cloud explores open-pit mining in the Rhenish Revier region in western Germany and questions how human impact on landscapes can be remembered.
Through a personal perspective, the project unfolds through three non-human entities: the holes, the forest, and the clouds. As Germany exits coal energy by 2030/38, the region enters a decades-long in-between phase in which the mines will be transformed into lakes, while processes of control and alteration continue. Through a publication and three experiments, the project reflects on visibility, memory, and forgetting, asking how we can remember what disappears from view.
A_ THE HOLES
In around 2080 years, the holes will be filled with water and be lakes; people will go swimming, sunbathing, and relaxing. This will blur the memory of the holes into a recreational landscape. These landscapes should not be romanticised, should not become just beautiful postcards to swim in and enjoy. The constant altering and controlling of the land will not stop. The parasol, made out of a coal-like material and presented as an artefact of a beach day, reflects on the future of the holes.
B_ THE FOREST
The forest is a complex being in the Rhenish region — a being that has been, and will continue to be, forced to change. The story of the forest is told through the documentation of the current state of the new forest on the Sophienhöhe. By documenting the now though photgraphs and informations, the act becomes a form of care. The postcards created from this documentation invite people to take these memories home.
C_ THE CLOUDS
In the area of the holes, clouds from the power plant in Weisweiler are visible from many points. They are a symptom of danger happening in the big cloud machine. Sometime in the 2030s, they will disappear and the sky will stay blue. But the consequences connected to the clouds will not disappear and should not be forgotten.
The installation consists of 37 photographs of the Weisweiler clouds coloured red, one image for every two years of clouds, followed by a 38th image representing the moment between 2030 and 2038, when the sky remains blue.