PIER+HORIZON (2016)

Please note: Storm Eunice has seriously damaged PIER+HORIZON. We recommend visitors to come back at a later time

De Kort was looking at historical maps of the area when he noticed that prior to the draining of the Zuiderzee, there was a 6-km-long longitudinal embankment in this location. The embankment connected the mainland near Genemuiden to an artificial island with a lighthouse keeper’s cottage. This still exists today, but is now located in the middle of the fields of the Noordoostpolder.

At normal water level, part of the embankment is still visible in the Zwarte Meer. Another part is incorporated into the dead straight, concrete cycle path that functions as a driveway leading to PIER+HORIZON. De Kort extended that line behind the Zuiderzeedijk with an actual pier that protrudes more than 100 m into the water.

The title of this work of land art refers to Piet Mondrian’s 1915 painting Pier en Oceaan. The vertical poles and the horizontal reed mats that float on the water form a similar composition.

The 36 poles are arranged around the embankment according to geographer Walter Christaller’s 1933 Central Place Theory and the very polygon that also
influenced the layout of the Noordoostpolder. But despite this strict layout, the reed mats are at the mercy of the wind. Here, the pull of the wind and the ripple of the waves underneath the pier seem to want to stress the fact that the landscape is in motion: that it is constantly changing.

Paul de Kort’s 135-m-long PIER+HORIZON is located on the Zwartemeerdijk in Kraggenburg, The Netherlands. Find its address and coordinates here.

Read more about Paul de Kort's PIER+HORIZON

Artist: Paul de Kort (1961)
Title: PIER+HORIZON
Unveiling: 7 October 2016
Location: Zwartemeerdijk, Kraggenburg
Commissioned by: province of Flevoland Managed by: Municipality of Noordoostpolder The dike is managed by the Zuiderzeeland regional water authority and the area by Natuurmonumenten.
Made possible by the Waterschap Zuiderzeeland, Bouwfonds Cultuurfonds, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Provincie Flevoland en Gemeente Noordoostpolder.

Podcast over PIER+HORIZON

Kunstjournalist Luuk Heezen interviewt historica Eva Vriend, die met kunstenaar Paul de Kort een passie voor de Noordoostpolder deelt. Dit interview is opgenomen in De Verbeelding, Zeewolde tijdens het Land Art Luisterweekend 2020.