Shifting Dunes (2022)
Video essay, one-channel video, 12.35


The video essay Shifting Dunes is the third video chapter of The Three Stages project (2017 - ), a project in which Mennens researches the narrative around our use, perception, and future perspective on Dutch ‘nature’. This chapter focuses on the meaning of the phenomenon ‘nature monument’; how this term is being represented in Dutch historical and scientific archives; and how it is currently used in terms of conserving and protecting the Dutch natural landscape. During a walk in an area captured between land and sea, Mennens and founder of the Dutch nature preservation momevent Eli Heimans (1861-1914) explore what already has been lost, and what might happen to nature in a near future.

This work has been made possible with the help and support of the Heimans en Thijsse Stichting, Artis Amsterdam Royal Zoo, Het Nederlands Fotomuseum, The International Institute of Social History; Naomi van Dijck, Inge Molenaar (research); Nicole Peeters (translation), Bergur Anderson (field recording), CBK Rotterdam, and Stichting Droom en Daad.