Site specific for Grote Kerk Veere, Zealand
From 4th September to 26th October, 2025 and from April to May 2026.
Diving into Zeeland’s entanglement with water, and the climatic phenomena of tides and floods, this site specific work was conceived as a time travel vision woven into this 600-year-old monument. ‘Buoyants’, created together with Mike Rijnierse, comprises a kinetic installation, spatial sounds, and landing spots that provide a physical-sonic experience, as well as a vertical perspective of the space.
Context
Invited as ‘Kerkmeesters’ (church masters), we studied the entanglement of Zeeland; its inhabitants, human and other-than-human, with water. Thinking about water as a continuum; through the tides, floods and the flow of time, we looked into the far-past, our oceanic beginnings, as well as into the future, observing how human activity impacts climate, causing the rise of sea level.
We envisioned a large-scale intervention featuring a kinetic sculpture that echoes the church’s former gothic ceiling, accompanied by a vertical soundscape to draws the public into an underwater landscape. Further olfactory and tactile elements are spread throughout the space.
Photos by Benjamin van der Spek
Concept: Ludmila Rodrigues & Mike Rijnierse
Soundscape: Ji Youn Kang
Motion engineering: Rob Bothof
3D rendering assistance: Sofia Chionidou
Sound engineering: Dario Giustarini
Seamstress: Tessa Bekker
Wood work: Bas de Boer
Intern: Norah van Lith
Drone footage: Wilbert Calhouw
Photos: Benjamin van der Spek
Commissioned work by Grote Kerk Veere in cooperation with CBK Zeeland. Made possible with support of the Gemeente Veere, Provincie Zeeland, Mondriaan Fonds, Familiefonds Hurgronje, Hoogwerkt, and AutoHopper.
Our deep thanks to Natasja van Kampen, Suzanna de Sitter, René Kopmels, Louis Braddock Clarke, Zahar Bondar, Caro Verbeek, Quartair, and The Embassy of Brazil.
The architecture
As many of the (late) medieval churches, the Grote Kerk Veerehas gone through many phases and transformations. One could say that with the constant process of construction, re-construction, restoration and renovation over the centuries, it is practically impossible to establish one original plan. This uncertainty intrigues us and motivated us to re-imagine the former gothic ceiling, with its pointed arches and ribbed vaults, that form a rich geometry guiding the gaze upwards.
Historians have often compared the experience of entering a gothic church with that of walking through a forest. In a typical gothic church, the elegant pillars draw our eyes upwards, ribbed vaults function like branches, enhancing the feeling of a canopy, while light is filtered through the narrow windows. With Buoyants we blend the element of water in Zeeland with the rocky geometry of the Grote Kerk Veere, adding motion and fluidity to the hanging sculpture in the main nave.
The sculpture
The hanging sculpture created specifically for the Grote Kerk Veere’s main nave, brings new air and fluidity with a light weight green voile. The motion is choreographed in such a way that is in constant flow, always in a different position. While the sunlight travels through the space, it highlights the sculpture at various points throughout the day. The sophisticated pulley system was developed in collaboration with creative coder and designer Rob Bothof, who engineered the six machines that control each section of the sculpture. Bothof then designed the choreography that animates the sculpture in a ever changing rise and drop of the fabric.
Sound
For this work we invited sound artist Ji Youn Kang, known for creating spatial sound compositions, to imagine a vertical soundscape. The multichannel sound system was installed over the 17 meters height-span, enhancing the monumentality of the space. 8 channels at 7 meters high, plus 4 more at 17 meters, under the wooden ceiling. On the ground level, 3 subwoofers located under seating “islands” were reinforced by bass shakers that add a physical dimension to the listening experience. The sonic experience immerses the public into a slow-motion journey through the monumental nave.
Touch
While sitting or lying down on the furry islands, one experiences the sound in a different manner. Under these “islands” there are tactile transducers or “bass shakers” which transmit sound as vibration. The lower frequencies from the soundscape created for the Grote Kerk become here a tactile experience. Next to the sound, the soft surface of these “islands” invites one to slow down, play with its sensual materiality and find a new bodily relations within the monumental space.
Smells
While sitting or lying down, visitors may notice new smells floating in the air. There are different combination of smells which the artists prepared to intensify the presence of water; whether sea, moist or rain, inside the church.
