Public space constitutes both the receptacle of common experience and a realm for encountering difference. Its spaces are both banal and delightful; both everyday and filled with contingency. Such spaces form the primary field of action for Krijn Christiaansen and Cathelijne Montens, whose practice explores the ways public spaces and landscapes are made by, used by, lived in and transformed by human and non-human species. Their attention is directed not only to the physical forms of the built environment, but also encompasses the stories, myths, habits and gestures that suffuse it. Christiaansen and Montens’ research and interventions have taken them beyond their native Netherlands to Serbia, Romania, Indonesia, Morocco and Japan.

Text by Julian Worall