Contemplating on the Dutch landscape. Hulshorsterzand, 2008 – 2010

When asked to design a monument for the Dutch landscape, we were interested in how landscape politicians and policy makers personally remember the landscape they grew up in, lived in and were surrounded by. What qualities come to the surface when you don’t speak out political terms, but personal experiences and memories? The Monument de Souvenir, in the shape of an archetypical memorial monument, coated with the same sand as its surroundings, appears and disappears like a mirage. Passers by can use the penny presser inside the monument to transform a regular coin into a souvenir coin, displaying a personal memory written by a politician or policy maker, ‘a penny for your thought’.

Commissioned by Provincie Gelderland and Natuurmonumenten. Project guidance, Wout Hoogendijk