Waterwolf’s
Revenge
*Nieuwe Meer meets what
once was Haarlemermeer;
water has dug into the shore
once was Haarlemermeer;
water has dug into the shore
Haarlemmermeer is one of the most iconic polders in the Netherlands and the first Dutch lake drained by steam engines, as opposed to windmills.
It was nicknamed "The Waterwolf", a term used to describe bodies of water in low-lying peatland, that hungrily expand by flooding.
Yet, it was humans and their inability to coexist with water that ultimately villainized Haarlemmermeer. Decades of peat extraction collapsed three lakes into what soon became the biggest inland sea of the Kingdom. And it didn’t take long until entire villages were swallowed by its newfound strength.
My work is inspired by a walk I took where Nieuwe Meer meets what is now a 60-kilometer-long stream. This is the only remaining trace of Haarlemmermeer. There, I noticed how the water was eroding the shore, unsuccessfully reinforced with wooden pillars.
Zooming out, in attempts to grasp the scale of the former lake, questions around mapping water arise. Conventional linework cannot accurately portray shores, shifting millimetrically each day. Water requires time-conscious representations.
Reviving the legend of the Waterwolf, I imagine the ground hasn’t forgotten it used to be seabed and is still trying to create crevices where water could resurface. Embodied, alternate maps start to gain contour through documenting artefacts, tactility or movement.
**selected body of research
(from left to right):
site measurements & plan,
sections from historical shorelines of Haarlemermeer,
1700s map of Amsterdam with surroundings,
prototype of a water screw
***still from short clip documenting the site;
wooden pillars used to reinforce the shore are now in the water
overlaped onto current-day areas
of Haarlemermeer polder
*****abstraction of historical maps documenting
the evolution of Haarlemermeer as a lake,
across decades
******unbaked clay tile with earth, sand
and shells from the site
*******
(on the wall)
artefacts found in the vicinity
of water, historical maps, measurements,
drawings & tracings
(on the floor)
clay islands forming puddles
on top of a transparent map
of Haarlmermeer today
(from left to right):
site measurements & plan,
sections from historical shorelines of Haarlemermeer,
1700s map of Amsterdam with surroundings,
prototype of a water screw
***still from short clip documenting the site;
wooden pillars used to reinforce the shore are now in the water
overlaped onto current-day areas
of Haarlemermeer polder
*****abstraction of historical maps documenting
the evolution of Haarlemermeer as a lake,
across decades
******unbaked clay tile with earth, sand
and shells from the site
*******
(on the wall)
artefacts found in the vicinity
of water, historical maps, measurements,
drawings & tracings
(on the floor)
clay islands forming puddles
on top of a transparent map
of Haarlmermeer today
clay experiments, 3D printed object
January - March 2025